Have a drink nearby when you enjoy this new white-meat chicken entrée from Panda Express. Chunks of chicken breast are breaded with crispy puffed rice for extra crunch, then wok-cooked with onion, red bell pepper, and the hottest sauce ever offered by the popular Chinese takeout chain.

It was clear that perfecting the sauce was essential for my Panda Express Dynamite Chicken copycat recipe, so I started there. After isolating and analyzing the sauce, I noticed it contained more chili bits than other Panda sauces, so I added a generous amount of sambal to boost flavor and color. My sauce was hot but not as fiery as the original until I added Buldak. This Korean chicken-flavored hot sauce gave the sauce a richer red hue and just the right amount of delicious heat.

Once the sauce was hacked, I moved on to the crispy chicken. For the breading, I used smashed Rice Krispies out of curiosity, thinking it probably wouldn't be the right approach since the cereal is slightly sweetened. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the lightly sugared cereal worked so well, delivering great flavor and excellent crunch. Rice Krispies cereal is very easy to find, so it’s a great solution.

The real challenge with the breading was deciding whether to use a wet batter or a dry coating for the best results. As it turned out, I achieved the best results with both. After dredging the chicken in a wet batter, I coated it with the dry, puffed-rice mixture. After frying, the chicken's breading was perfectly thick and craggy, with a great crunch even when tossed in the flavorful sauce. 

Try more of my Panda Express copycat recipes here.

Exclusive signed copy. Hack That Dish - Fantasic famous food forgeries and secret tricks you can use to copy any dish! 

For more than 30 years, Todd Wilbur has been reverse-engineering America's most iconic foods for his series of twelve Top Secret Recipes cookbooks. In his first hard-cover cookbook with color photos, the New York Times bestselling author brings you 101 new copycat recipes and—for the first time—shares his supersleuthing tips and tricks so you can duplicate any food you love. 

No matter what you're craving—from drive-thru breakfast staples to full-service entrees to sweet treats from the candy aisle—you can make amazing clones of your favorite restaurant dishes and brand-name foods whenever you want. And you won't have to leave home or break the bank to satisfy your appettite.  With these mouthwatering recipes, and Todd's expert hacking advice, you'll get to enjoy all your favorites—no reservations needed!

Contents

Applebee’s Chicken Wonton Tacos
Applebee’s Riblets
Applebee’s Spinach & Artichoke Dip
BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse Bacon Jam Wings
Bonchon Chicken Wings
Bonefish Grill Imperial Dip
Brach’s Candy Corn
California Pizza Kitchen Butter Cake
California Pizza Kitchen Carne Asada Pizza
California Pizza Kitchen Roasted Garlic Chicken Pizza
Capital City Sweet Hot Mambo Sauce
Capital Grille Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto
Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s Hand-Breaded Chicken & Waffle Sandwich
Carrabba’s Cannoli Cake For Two
Carrabba’s Traditional Cannoli
Charms Blow Pop
Cheesecake Factory Chicken Piccata
Cheesecake Factory Shrimp Scampi
Cheesecake Factory Spicy Cashew Chicken
Cheesecake Factory Steak Diane
Chick-fil-A Banana Pudding Milkshake
Chick-fil-A Spicy Deluxe Chicken Sandwich
Chick-fil-A Spicy Southwest Salad
Chick-fil-A Zesty Apple Cider Vinaigrette Dressing
Chipotle Carne Asada
Chipotle Chicken Al Pastor
Chipotle Guacamole
Chipotle Smoked Brisket
Chipotle Tomatillo-Red Chili Salsa
Church’s Chicken Original and Spicy Fried Chicken
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Vanilla Ice Blended
Costco (Kirkland) Almond Poppyseed Muffins
Cracker Barrel Buttermilk Pie
Cracker Barrel Country Fried Steak
Cracker Barrel Meatloaf
Crumbl Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunk Cookie
Daelmans Stroopwafels
Del Taco Tamales
Dole Food Company Dole Whip
Domino’s Chicken Taco Pizza
Domino’s Chocolate Lava Crunch Cakes
Domino’s Loaded Tots
El Pollo Loco Shredded Beef Birria
Ferrara Candy Company Butterfinger
Five Guys Cajun Fries
Gino’s East Deep Dish Pizza
Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream
IHOP Classic Eggs Benedict
IHOP Protein Power Pancakes
IHOP Swedish Crepes
Jack Link’s Original Beef Jerky
Jason’s Deli Irish Potato Soup
Jovy Fruit Rolls
Lazy Dog Bacon Candy
Lazy Dog Crispy Deviled Eggs
Little Caesars Crazy Puffs
Maggiano’s Famous Rigatoni “D”
Maggiano’s Italian Meatballs
Maggiano’s Mozzarella Marinara
Manwich Original Sloppy Joe Sauce
Marie Callender’s Chocolate Satin Pie
Marie Callender’s Fresh Strawberry Pie
McDonald's Bacon Egg & Cheese McGriddles
McDonald’s Hotcakes
McDonald’s Strawberry & Cream Pie
Old El Paso Taco Seasoning Mix
Olive Garden Chicken Marsala Fettucine
Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno
Olive Garden Lasagna Classico
On the Border Chicken Tortilla Soup
On the Border Enchiladas
Original Pancake House 49’er Flap Jacks
Original Pancake House Buttermilk Pancakes
Outback Steakhouse Seared Pepper Ahi
Outback Steakhouse Tasmanian Chili
Outback Steakhouse Twisted Ribs
P.F. Chang’s Kung Pao Brussels Sprouts
Panda Express Blazing Bourbon Chicken
Panda Express Chow Mein
Pei Wei Pad Thai
Pizza Hut Creamy Italian Dressing
Popeyes Ghost Pepper Wings
Portillo’s Famous Chocolate Cake
Qdoba 3-Cheese Queso
Red Lobster Crab Your Way
Red Lobster Walt’s Favorite Shrimp
Shakey’s Mojo Potatoes
Smashburger SmashFries, SmashTots, and Smash Sauce
Southern Comfort Traditional Eggnog
Starbucks Almond Croissant
Starbucks Dark Toffee Bundt
Starbucks Pink Drink
Subway Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies
Taco Bell Avocado Verde Salsa
Taco Bell Cantina Chicken
Taco Bell Cinnamon Twists
Taco Bell Meximelt
Tootsie Roll Industries Sugar Daddy
Totino’s Pizza Rolls
Walker’s Shortbread
Wonderful Chili Roasted Pistachios

Craving more of Todd's recipes? There are 13 cookbooks in all! 

McDonald’s goes big with its latest burger, featuring two quarter-pound beef patties, three slices of white cheddar, and a new secret sauce. And the whole thing is easy to knock off at home, including the special sesame- and poppy-seed buns.

For my McDonald’s Big Arch copycat recipe, I made a sauce by mixing ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise with a few other common ingredients. But the key to the flavor was adding dill pickle relish, finely minced with a sharp knife, before mixing it in. You'll end up with nearly a cup of this secret sauce, leaving plenty left over for more burgers after making the two this recipe yields. 

Once you make the sauce, assembling the burger is easy, with both fresh and fried onions, sliced lettuce, and pickles. For buns similar to those used by McDonald's, look for Ballpark Everything Burger Buns, which are baked with poppy and sesame seeds on top, just like the real thing.

I've cloned a ton of items from McDonald's. See if I hacked your favorites here.

Founded by Bob Mandler in California in 1983, Chin Chin quickly became a West Hollywood hotspot, where celebrities dined on dim sum and the iconic Chinese chicken salad with red ginger dressing. The original Sunset Boulevard location closed in 2025 after more than 40 years, but four others are still open in California. And there’s also a Chin Chin in Las Vegas at the New York, New York casino, which made it easy for me to dive into the salad and get a sample to go.

To create my Chin Chin Famous Chinese Chicken Salad copycat recipe, I started by hacking the famous red ginger dressing. The secret ingredient is julienned ginger pickled in a red brine, and it’s easy to find online. It isn’t true red ginger, but the taste and color work great when combined with soy sauce, red wine vinegar, sesame oil, and the other ingredients. You’ll get 1¼ cups of cloned dressing, which is plenty for two big salads, or four smaller ones.

After roasting and chilling a few chicken breasts, and making wonton crisps and fried rice noodles, you’ll be ready to toss your salads with the dressing and pile them high on serving plates. Sprinkle the salads with crispy noodles, green onions, and sliced almonds, and treat your taste buds to a classic dish from Hollywood’s Sunset Strip.

Find more of my salad knock-off recipes here. 

Chicken pot pie, reformulated as soup, is now a popular dish on several chain menus, but Jason’s Deli has a standout recipe. It includes everything you’d expect in a chicken pot pie, including carrots, peas, celery, onion, and potatoes in a flavorful sauce. The crust, which is made from a square of frozen puff pastry, looks beautiful, tastes great, and is quick and easy to prepare.

For my Jason’s Deli Chicken Pot Pie Soup copycat recipe, I was able to get a server to recite the ingredients list to me from her screen at checkout, so this hack should come closer than any other copycat out there. I found that a combination of flour and cornstarch worked great for thickening the soup, and a couple of teaspoons of chicken Better Than Bouillon perfected the flavor.

Use serving bowls that are at least 5 inches across so the puff pastry fits nicely on top of the soup. (4x4-inch pastries measure 5 inches from corner to corner). If you don’t have bowls this big, just be sure to make your puff pastry crusts a bit smaller.

Find more amazing copycat soup recipes here.

I owe many years of a blistered roof of my mouth to these pizzas I ate often as a kid, usually right after school when I was apparently too hungry to let them cool after coming out of the toaster oven. But the classic recipe for this snack that many of you might also fondly remember, has recently changed.

According to most accounts, the manufacturer changed the production process in the summer of 2025 so that the pizzas are no longer made with sliced French bread. Today, the bread is molded to resemble sliced French bread, but it lacks the crusty quality that made the pizzas special. Critics also say the sauce recipe has changed to one that’s sweeter and less tangy than the original.

For my Stouffer’s French Bread Pizza copycat recipe, I’m going back in time to when these pizzas were better. For this knockoff, we'll use real French bread for the crust, and the sauce here is less sweet than the current version, more like the original from back in the day. Find thick slices of pepperoni, and for the best melted cheese, shred your own mozzarella from a block rather than using pre-shredded cheese.

Also, I suggest waiting a bit for these to cool before taking your first bite.

Find more of my Stouffer's copycat recipes here.

There is no patty melt more beloved on the planet than Whataburger’s. It’s the Texas chain’s signature specialty sandwich, and Whataburger has perfected the recipe with 2 beef patties, 2 slices of Monterey Jack, grilled onions, and a creamy pepper sauce so popular that they sell it by the bottle.

Because the sauce is crucial to the sandwich's flavor, I dedicated most of my time to perfecting it. I found that pureeing a can of chipotle peppers for the sauce was the best approach, even though you’ll only need 2 teaspoons of the puree, leaving plenty for another recipe. You’ll also need to plan ahead, since the sauce needs about 30 minutes to rest before you use it on the sandwich. 

While researching my Whataburger Patty Melt copycat recipe, I found that the chain claims the burgers are 4 ounces each before cooking. In my kitchen, that produced cooked patties that were much too big compared to the chain's patties, even with beef that’s 20% fat. To stay true to the chain’s recipe, my hack here calls for 4-ounce patties, but I suggest starting with 3-ounce patties if you’d like a sandwich that's closer to the original and that can more easily fit into your mouth.

Try more of my famous burger and sandwich copycat recipes here.

Hawaii locals have loved Zippy’s fusion of American, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Hawaiian cuisine since the casual restaurant chain debuted in Honolulu in 1966. In 2025, the chain opened its first mainland restaurant—in Las Vegas, which is nicknamed “The Ninth Island” for its large Hawaiian community.

In less than a year, four Zippy’s opened in Vegas, and one was just minutes from my house. Clearly, the universe was telling me it was time to clone this chain’s signature dish—a chili that’s moderately spicy and slightly sweet, with beans, Portuguese sausage, and a scoop of white rice. Thankfully, I found a box of Zippy’s frozen chili at a local market, and the label listed each of its ingredients. That’s the moment I confirmed that the widespread rumor about mayonnaise in the chili is not true.

The ingredients for my Zippy’s Chili copycat recipe are standard stuff, except for the Portuguese brand sausage also known as Linquica, which you can find online or at Costco. The bouillon adds great flavor to the chili, and I’ve found that Better Than Bouillon tastes better than dry bouillon cubes, so try to find that. The recipe here includes a can of beans, but you can also make the chili without beans. If you go beanless, be sure to add an additional ½ cup of water to the pot. 

Find more soup and chili copycat recipes here.

James Dunn and Edward Parsons combined parts of their surnames to name the restaurant they opened at the original Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles, California, in 1938. The eatery served a variety of diner foods, including sandwiches, burgers, and pies, but it’s the huge buttery pancakes that made the restaurant so iconic. Many who have tried these say they’re the best pancakes they’ve ever tasted. And yet, nobody has cracked the secret of the 88-year-old recipe. Until now.

There are enough rumors about the recipe to drive a food hacker crazy. Some suggest the batter takes hours to make, while others say the dry ingredients are pre-mixed in secret and cooks simply add buttermilk. Some claims suggest the recipe requires a special flour, while others say it’s just all-purpose flour. When I asked a server about the recipe, she claimed she couldn’t offer any information, or she would get fired and I would go to jail. Yes, she really said that.

But according to my tests with several batches, the recipe requires two major tweaks to an ordinary pancake recipe to make these “legendary.” For my Du-Par’s Legendary Buttermilk Hotcakes copycat recipe, I increased the number of eggs typically used in pancake batter to re-create the custardy texture of the original. The second big secret is butter. The most notable step that makes Du-Par’s pancakes special is the clarified butter generously ladled over the top before serving.

The steps are simple, the recipe is easy, and the pancakes are incredible. This is one you need to try.  

Find more cool breakfast copycat recipes here.

This new pasta dish introduced as a limited-time entrée at the 200-unit chain is so popular that it's still at the top of the "pasta" section on the menu as I post this. Just one taste makes it clear why this pasta is in such high demand: it’s fantastic, with big chunks of fork-tender short rib tossed with umpteen slices of toasted garlic in a creamy tomato sauce. And if this tasty dish eventually disappears from the menu, now you have a blueprint to re-create a perfect version at home.

My home clone of California Pizza Kitchen Braised Short Rib Ragu begins by braising short ribs until they fall off the bone. Then, you’ll combine the tender chunks of beef with thinly sliced garlic and an easy-to-make tomato sauce that includes some of the flavorful short rib braising liquid.

To finish your servings, you'll add pappardelle pasta to the pan and toss until coated. Sprinkle each of the four plates with freshly minced Italian parsley, and prepared to receive your well-deserved “wows.” 

I've cloned a ton of dishes from California Pizza Kitchen. See if I hacked your favorites here.

After hacking the recipes for Costco’s other popular muffins, including the Blueberry Muffins, Almond Poppyseed Muffins, and Lemon Raspberry Muffins, I would be remiss not to satisfy my fellow chocoholics by cracking the formula for the big box chain’s delicious Triple Chocolate Muffins. And I decided that these need to be really big. Much to the chagrin of many customers, Costco recently reduced the size of all their muffins, so for this recipe, these muffins have been re-created in their former “jumbo” size.

My Costco Triple Chocolate Muffins copycat recipe is simple, requiring basic ingredients, including chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, and Dutch-process cocoa (the dark one), for a rich, dark chocolate flavor. You’ll need a jumbo muffin pan to make these like the big muffins Costco used to sell, but you can also use a standard muffin pan to make smaller muffins if that’s all you’ve got.

Find more favorite famous bread recipes here. 

Streusel is added to IHOP’s signature buttermilk pancake batter, then the flapjacks are coated with cinnamon spread, topped with cream cheese icing, more streusel, and a pile of whipped cream. The stack tastes like a mixture of coffee cake and a cinnamon roll, and with all those sweet toppings, maple syrup won't be needed.

To make my IHOP Coffee Cake Pancakes copycat recipe, start by preparing the streusel, and you’ll notice a surprising ingredient. After closely inspecting the real IHOP streusel, I found that crumbled Nilla wafers are added to the mix. For your recipe, 16 Nilla wafers will do the trick, and they can be easily crushed in a resealable plastic bag with a heavy object.

My recipe makes 14 pancakes, which is enough for 3 1/2 large stacks or many smaller stacks, with plenty of streusel, cinnamon spread, and cream cheese icing for any size serving you prefer.

Click here for more amazing IHOP copycat recipes.

The nautical-themed store that Joe Columbe opened in Pasadena, California, in 1967, took its name from the well-known Los Angeles bar, Trader Vic’s. And if you look closely around the store, there’s a good chance you’ll spot the plastic lobster they hide there every day.

The chain has gained popularity for its branded products, which began with granola in 1972. One of its most popular items is this hot dip, a seasonal product available after the summer Hatch chile season. If you want to knockoff this delicious dip today, and Hatch chilies aren’t available where you are, don’t worry. Anaheim peppers are similar and can be found year-round. 

For my Trader Joe’s Roasted Hatch Chile and Jalapeño Dip copycat recipe, you’ll roast some garlic and peppers, then combine them with cream cheese, sour cream, shredded cheddar, and spices. Heat it in your oven for 15 minutes, then bust out the chips or crackers for a big serving of the popular dip, which is more than twice the size of the original.

Find more of your favorite dip copycat recipes here.

Chipotle’s new sauce, inspired by a traditional Argentinian recipe, is made to enhance several of the chain’s dishes, especially the carne asada. The Mexican restaurant modifies the classic sauce, which typically includes parsley, garlic, oil, vinegar, oregano, peppers, and salt. Instead of parsley, Chipotle uses cilantro and adds lemon juice, lime juice, and smoked paprika to the mix.

My Chipotle’s Red Chimichurri Sauce copycat recipe is simple. After roasting the minced garlic, mix it with all the other ingredients in a small bowl... and wait. Yes, patience is a virtue when it comes to this sauce. Let your chimichurri sit for at least an hour, and you'll be rewarded with a flavorful sauce that elevates dishes like burrito bowls, grilled salmon, chicken, steak, and many other dishes that need a boost of great flavor.

Find more of my Chipotle copycat recipes here.

A Google search for the best Thai restaurants in America will list Lotus of Siam high in the results, and it will likely appear in the #1 spot. The award-winning Northern Thai cuisine is exceptionally good, and practically every dish I’ve had there is memorable. But the small Las Vegas chain does have a few standout signature dishes, and this crispy rice salad is one of them.

For my Lotus of Siam Crispy Rice Salad copycat recipe, I found the best way to fry pre-cooked white rice: first, toss it with flour. The flour helps keep the rice kernels separate when they're dropped into the oil, so they fry without clumping. You’ll start by adding ¼ cup of flour to the cooked rice. If it starts to become sticky and clump, sprinkle on more, a tablespoon at a time, until the rice kernels stay separate.

After frying the rice, toss it with a chili powder blend made from toasted Guajillo and arbol peppers. Once the rice is fully coated, add red onion, green onions, slivered ginger, peanuts, cilantro, Thai sour sausage, and a simple dressing of lime juice and fish sauce. Finish with torn mint leaves, then serve the salad with an optional garnish of lettuce cups on the side to eat with the rice, or just eat it straight up.

Find more of my salad knock-off recipes here.