According to a 2017 QSR Web article, Arby’s Greek Gyro is the best-selling gyro sandwich in America, with over 27 million sold annually. Which means this Top Secret Recipes gyro clone is long overdue.

For my first attempt at making a Greek gyro clone, I started by re-creating the meat traditionally cooked on a vertical rotisserie spit. I formed a dense loaf of ground beef and lamb and baked it like a meatloaf in a small loaf pan. Arby’s combines lamb with beef to keep the gyro authentically Greek, but since beef is cheaper, it's probable that they add a bit less lamb to their blend than I did for this hack.

You can use the gyro meat immediately after it's baked, but to get the thinnest and most authentic slices, I find it best to chill the baked loaf thoroughly before slicing. Freezing it for about an hour also helps make it firmer, so you can slice it extra thin, just like real gyro meat.

The sliced meat is piled on warm pita, slathered with an easy tzatziki sauce made with mayo, like Arby's version (rather than traditional yogurt—and it's good!), along with lettuce, tomato, onion, and a sprinkle of the top-secret Greek seasoning hack that’s also revealed here.

Find more of my Arby's copycat 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.

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.

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.

This limited-time-only offering from the country’s biggest Chinese chain debuted in 2025 from May through July in just five markets: Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Albuquerque-Santa Fe, and Las Vegas. Fortunately, Vegas is my home, so this excellent new dish literally came to my doorstep. Thank you, Uber Eats.

This sauceless entrée uses the chain’s breaded chicken bites, along with chopped white onion, green bell pepper, and dried chilies. At the restaurant, I ordered a large box to go, which triggered the preparation of a new batch in the open kitchen for me to observe. I watched as the cook measured the same amount of onion as pepper, and about half that volume of dried chilies, so I used the same ratio for my clone. I used a slightly tweaked version of my previous Panda Express breading hack, except this time I was sure to use both white and dark meat chicken like the chain does.

For the chili crisp, I found that Fly by Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp or Momofuku Chili Crunch were closest to what Panda Express uses. Both are easy to find online.

After tossing the chili crisp with everything in the wok, the dish is served with a drizzle of hot honey on top. You can use real Mike’s Hot Honey, or you can whip up a batch with my hack here that combines honey with scotch bonnet pepper juice and vinegar for a cost-effective home clone.

Try my Panda Express Chili Crisp Chicken copycat recipe below, and find more of my Panda Express copycat recipes here.

During a trip to Brazil in 2004, Mike Kurtz sampled pizza topped with chile-infused honey for the first time and fell in love with the flavor. He enjoyed the distinct sweet-and-spicy taste so much that he began developing his own version of hot honey when he returned to Brooklyn, New York. He experimented with various formulas using different types of chile peppers until he perfected his hot honey recipe, which he bottled for personal use and to share with friends.

In 2010, while working at Paulie Gee’s Pizzeria in Brooklyn, Mike brought his hot honey and generously drizzled it over the pizza. Customers loved it and asked to buy bottles of the honey for home use, so Mike sold his hot honey by the bottle from the pizzeria. Eventually, word spread about Mike’s Hot Honey, and when Whole Foods became interested in his product, Mike realized its huge potential. Since then, sales have steadily increased each year for the condiment, and in 2025, the brand’s revenue is projected to reach $60 million. 

Like Mike, I also experimented with various types of red peppers for my Mike’s Hot Honey copycat recipe, and Scotch Bonnet peppers worked the best. These chilies have a Scoville rating similar to that of the Brazilian peppers Mike uses, so the heat level of this hack should be very close to the real thing.

After removing the stems and seeds from the peppers, simply purée them in a blender and then mix the concentrated pepper juice with honey and vinegar. This will yield about ½ cup of homemade hot honey for you to use as you see fit.

Find more of my copycat recipes for condiments here.

My Girl Scout Samoas/Caramel DeLites copycat recipe isn't quick, but it's fun.The process involves baking shortbread cookies, coating them with caramel, sprinkling freshly toasted coconut onto the caramel, dipping the bottom of the cookies into chocolate, and then adding a chocolate drizzle over the top.

It takes time to make each one, but the technique I'm revealing here produces a delicious copycat version of Girl Scout Cookies Samoas that will satisfy anyone who loves the snack, which are the #2 most popular of the brand (Thin Mints are #1, and here's my version). This is the perfect recipe to make when you can recruit some joyous and enthusiastic kitchen helpers.

Click here for more of your favorite Girl Scout Cookies. 

Source: Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step by Todd Wilbur.

Dairy stand owners Abraham and Mahala Stouffer opened their first Stouffer’s restaurant in Cleveland in 1924, and by 1990, the Stouffer’s name was on 68 restaurants and 40 hotels. But by 1992, the company's frozen food business, which started in the '50s, was so successful that Stouffer's sold off its hospitality segment to focus on the brand's booming frozen food empire. 

It’s not clear when the company’s spaghetti and meatballs were first sold in freezer sections, but many of Stouffer’s first products were inspired by meals served at the chain’s restaurants, including the popular macaroni and cheese (cloned here), Salisbury steak, corn soufflé, and stuffed peppers.

For my Stouffer’s Spaghetti and Meatballs copycat recipe, I started with the meatballs by first defrosting a frozen serving of the dish, then separating the sauce from the six ½-ounce balls of meat. Using the ingredients list as a guide, I made several batches of tiny meatballs with a combination of beef and pork, along with breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, seasoning, and a little beaten egg to hold everything together, until I achieved a good match. Once I had enough meatballs for six servings of the dish, it was time to move on to the sauce.

The sauce came together nicely after sautéing some onions and garlic in oil, then adding tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and seasonings. After simmering the sauce for 30 minutes, I placed six meatballs on a small pile of cooked spaghetti, then poured the sauce over everything, creating a perfect match to the 12 5/8-ounce single-serving of the famous frozen entrée.

If you're still hungry, check out my copycat recipes for other famous entrées 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. 

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.

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.

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.

The secret to super creamy cheesecake that's not cracked on top—just like those you get at The Cheesecake Factory—is baking the cheesecake in a water bath. You will need a 10-inch springform cake pan for my Cheesecake Factory Vanilla Bean Cheesecake copycat recipe, and another pan that is larger than the springform pan to hold some water for the cheesecake to sit in while it bakes. 

This cheesecake has vanilla bean seeds in each of the three layers (cheesecake filling, vanilla bean mousse, and spreaded whipped cream), so you'll need three vanilla bean pods. Those vanilla beans can be pricey at $3 to $4 per pod, but you're cloning a cheesecake that at the restaurant costs around 60 bucks for a whole 10-inch cake. Even when you figure in the other ingredients, your home knockoff will still cost much less than the real thing. And any leftovers will freeze well for a month or two.

Try more of my Cheesecake Factory hacks here.

Source: Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step by Todd Wilbur.

A good French onion soup is packed with onions, and since the beef broth is responsible for most of the flavor, you’ll want to pick a good one to copy this chain’s tasty take on the classic formula.

For my Outback French Onion Soup copycat recipe, I chose Swanson for the beef broth, but also found that beef broth made with Better than Bouillon worked well. With either one though, the broth wasn’t quite beefy enough so I added ½ of a small beef bouillon cube, and the flavor matched beautifully.

For the bread on top, I first tried using toasted French bread, but it was too chewy and tough to cut with a spoon, so I had to come up with another solution. Upon closer inspection of my soup sample from the restaurant, I noticed that the circular crouton looked like the bottom half of a hamburger bun. Inspired by my discovery, I toasted a hamburger bun, topped it with two slices of provolone, then broiled it until melty and browned.

This time, when my spoon cut right through the soft bread with no problem, I had a great clone.

Find more of my Outback Steakhouse copycat recipes here.

Cheddar cheese fondue may be the most popular cheese fondue selection at this forty-year-old niche chain, but I've always been a fan of the more traditional Swiss cheese version. Emmentaler and Gruyère cheeses are the stars here, melted into a very dry wine such as Chablis – the cheaper, the better. An inexpensive Chablis will not upstage the flavorful cheeses, and that's exactly what you want. It's a great dish to serve for a small get-together, maybe paired up with a nice white wine to drink. I'm all for that.

You'll need a double boiler-style ceramic fondue pot (the kind for cheese and chocolate fondue, not broth) to prepare this very easy recipe that makes a great appetizer for a cheese-loving group of four to six.

Try my Melting Pot Traditional Swiss Cheese Fondue copycat recipe below, and try my Melting Pot Cheddar Cheese Fondue recipe here. 

Source: "Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step" by Todd Wilbur

As you have probably figured out by the name, this moist spiced loaf of gingerbread was once available at Starbucks during the holiday season, but has since been retired to the land of dead foods. Thankfully, I was able to work up this sweet copycat recipe before the pastry went away forever, so you can create a spot-on home version for the holidays, or anytime you want. 

The secret ingredient to my Starbucks Holiday Gingerbread copycat recipe is applesauce in the batter, which helps make the loaf moist and flavorful. Ground ginger and bits of candied ginger add the perfect ginger flavor to the loaf, and orange flavors come in from the zest, orange extract, and candied orange peel on top. With such an overwhelming aroma coming out of your oven as this bakes, the toughest step is waiting for the loaf to cool before frosting it so that you can dig into a slice.

Check out my other copycat recipes for more Starbucks favorites here.

Source: Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step by Todd Wilbur.

Slow-roasted prime rib with "au jus" is a specialty of the popular steakhouse chain, and now you can easily duplicate it at home with these preparation secrets.

This prime rib is served with a delicious jus for dipping, so for my Texas Roadhouse Prime Rib copycat recipe, you'll want a 5-pound roast with bones. After slicing off the bones to use in the jus, tie up the roast, rub it with the marinade/seasoning blend, and let it sit for 24 hours to soak up the goodness.

The next day, you'll sear the roast and slow-cook it for nearly 3 hours, which will give you plenty of time to make the jus with beef broth, carrot, celery, onion, and those bones you sliced off the roast. After about 90 minutes, the beef broth will have reduced to one-quarter its size and will become a fabulous sauce.

After your cooked prime rib has rested for a bit, it's ready to slice—it should be medium-rare and perfectly pink. Serve it with the warm jus and some creamy horseradish on the side.

Try more of my Texas Roadhouse Rolls copycat recipes here.

The best part of a cinnamon roll is the center, so Wendy’s and Cinnabon have teamed up to create a monkey bread-style cinnamon pastry where each bite is like eating the gooey center of the roll. I thought this would be a great hack for home cooks wanting a cool cinnamon roll twist that uses about half the ingredients of a typical cinnamon roll recipe.

My Wendy’s Cinnabon Pull-Apart copycat recipe starts similarly to a traditional cinnamon roll recipe, but for this version, you’ll slice the dough into small strips, fold them into mini cinnamon rolls, and tuck them into the cups of a jumbo muffin pan. After baking, each pull-apart is generously coated with the creamy cream cheese icing I’ve also replicated here for you.

I tweaked my earlier hack of Cinnabon Rolls to improve flavor and streamlined the process for quicker preparation. Unlike the restaurant version, these are big—this copycat hack is about twice the size of the original Wendy’s pastry. But so far, nobody has complained about the heftier serving.

Try my Wendy's Cinnabon Pull-Apart copycat recipe below, and find more of my Wendy's copycat recipes here.

Chicken Parmigiana is one of the most popular choices at any Italian restaurant, just like meatballs, so it makes sense to combine the two dishes for this appetizer that filled me up as much as any entrée. The dish at the restaurant comes with five meatballs, and this recipe makes ten meatballs, giving you enough for two appetizer-sized servings.

The first step in making my Olive Garden Meatballs Parmigiana copycat recipe was to figure out the best way to replicate the chain’s meatballs. According to the chain’s nutrition info, only ground beef, and no pork, is used in the meatballs. After trying several batches, I found a great match using ground beef with 20% fat. Any less fat, and the meatballs turned out too tough.

I already hacked the chain’s marinara sauce for the chain’s Chicken Parmesan, which I spooned into a serving dish, then added the meatballs, cheese, and breadcrumbs. After baking until the cheese was melted, I had a delicious match to the restaurant's original that just needed a little sprinkle of parsley before serving.

Find more of my Olive Garden Copycat Recipes here.

After the success of the chain's Strawberry Cheesecake in a Jar, Red Lobster introduced the Pumpkin Pie in a Jar for the 2013 fall holidays. The dessert, which the menu describes as "layered pumpkin and cream cheese mousse with a graham-cracker crust, topped with sugared pecans," quickly became a hit with customers and the online cooking blog community. I found a few interesting recipes posted online, but none got it all right, so I thought it was time to break down my own Pumpkin Pie in a Jar to find out exactly what's going on in there. 

After getting the dessert back to the lab and separating all the components, I hacked each layer, one at a time, so that I could now present you with this, my Red Lobster Pumpkin Pie in a Jar copycat recipe. 

You'll have to make several parts for this recipe, but they are each pretty easy, and you can make them several hours or even a day ahead of when you plan to serve this. Once you've got all the parts whipped up, it's just a matter of layering everything into 6-ounce canning jars (or drinking glasses if you don't have jars) for an impressive dessert or holiday meal finisher.

Find more Red Lobster recipes here.

Source: Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step by Todd Wilbur.

The pile of buttery, toasted ciabatta garlic bread topped with melted mozzarella would be satisfying enough on its own, but this dish becomes even better when drizzled with truffle oil and crowned with a scoop of homemade ricotta cheese.

For my version of North Italia’s White Truffle Garlic Bread, I knew store-bought ricotta wouldn't match the smooth and creamy texture of the fresh stuff from the restaurant. The only solution was to make my own ricotta, which turned out to be a simple process using just four ingredients. After one taste of my homemade ricotta, I knew it was the way to go.

The process involves heating whole milk to 185 degrees, then adding an acid to coagulate the proteins that form the cheese. You’ll strain the cheese using a cheesecloth to separate it from the whey, then mix in a little heavy cream to give it a creamy texture like the restaurant version. The restaurant adds minced white truffle to the ricotta, which you can find online, or you can just use white truffle oil.

Chill the ricotta cheese until it’s cool, then use an ice cream scoop to place it on top of your broiled garlic bread. Drizzle truffle oil over everything and finish with fluffy microplaned cheese.  

Fans of the Chili Cheese Burrito, AKA Chilito, were thrilled when the chain brought back the discontinued item for a limited time in late summer 2025. Devoted Chilito lovers, who have mourned the loss of their favorite Taco Bell treat for nearly 30 years, experienced an immediate flavor flashback after taking a bite of the soft flour tortilla filled with chili and cheese. However, not everyone was pleased with the reboot.

While many customers were happy to see the product return, most noticed that shrinkflation was clearly evident in this particular item. And I get it. I ordered six burritos at my local Taco Bell, and they were all underfilled, looking nothing like the fully stuffed Chili Cheese Burrito on the Taco Bell website, which apparently was made before tariffs and rising beef prices reduced the fill volume. The burritos are on a value menu, but I was still surprised to find that my $4 burritos contained just two tablespoons of chili!

For my Taco Bell Chili Cheese Burrito copycat recipe, I was determined to make my version more like the Taco Bell photo and Chilito you remember. I created a chili recipe similar to the chili sauce you'd get on a hot dog, using plenty of thickening ingredients. I found it best to combine cornstarch, oat flour, and all-purpose flour with lots of liquid to allow for a 2-hour simmer. This extended cooking time tenderizes the beef like the original and creates a thick sauce that should mostly stay in your tortilla.

After simmering, you’ll end up with about four cups of chili, enough for eight glorious burritos, all stuffed full of chili just like the iconic menu item from your delicious memories.

Find more of my Taco Bell copycat recipes here.

When choosing which baklava to clone from the top Greek chains, I conducted a taste test, and The Great Greek’s version came out on top. The chain's pastry had a satisfying crunch, two layers of spiced walnuts, and was soaked with just enough honey syrup so each bite was perfectly sweet. I also discovered a clever trick to ensure all the walnuts are soaked in the sweet syrup.

For my Great Greek Baklava copycat recipe, I started by making the honey syrup, flavored with a cinnamon stick and orange peel. I then finely chopped the walnuts in a food processor and mixed them with butter, sugar, cinnamon, and clove. Next, I layered and buttered my sheets of phyllo dough in a baking pan. After placing the final sheet on top, with the walnut mixture in the middle, I sliced through the phyllo with a sharp knife and baked the baklava for just over an hour until it was golden brown.

Right after the baklava came out of the oven, I poured honey syrup over the slices and around the edges of the dessert. I also drizzled some syrup into X-shaped cuts I made in the middle of each piece. This trick helped the syrup reach the top layer of walnuts in the middle for a better bite.

After about 6 hours, the syrup soaked into the phyllo, and the baklava was ready to serve. I added a little extra syrup to each slice of my home version before serving, and sprinkled it with almonds for a finished product that resembled the Greek chain’s famous dessert in every way.

Find more of your favorite dessert copycat recipes here.

Good chili con carne is hard to find at a casual restaurant chain, so this delicious bowl of red from Outback Steakhouse is a real treat. It’s a straightforward recipe made with peppers, onions, tomatoes, and garlic, but it’s the chunks of tender filet mignon that elevate this secret formula way above the rest.

For my Outback Tasmanian Chili copycat recipe, I began by searing the filet. Next, I removed the beef from the pan and sautéed the vegetables in the same pan, which was now infused with fabulous fond. After a few minutes, I added everything else, including a small can of El Pato hot tomato sauce, which is my secret ingredient for great flavor and the perfect level of spiciness in this clone.

After two hours of simmering, I had a fantastic pot of chili, with enough for six big servings, each topped with a blend of shredded cheese and chopped green onion, just like in the restaurant.

Find more of my Outback Steakhouse copycat recipes here.

Source: Hack That Dish by Todd Wilbur.