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.

Burger King’s giant breakfast offering has staying power. The Egg-Normous Burrito, introduced in May 2016, still successfully satisfies the a.m. cravings of hungry breakfast seekers who want a complete breakfast plate wrapped in a tortilla.

For my Burger King Egg-Normous Burrito copycat recipe, I realized the spicy sauce is the star of the show that ties everything together. Luckily, I found an insider’s photo of a shipping box for Burger King’s “Spicy Spread” that showed all the sauce’s ingredients.

After perfecting a sauce hack, I cooked pork breakfast sausage (I prefer Bob Evans), two slices of bacon, and a hash brown patty. I scrambled two eggs, then wrapped everything in a large flour tortilla with some cheese and the flavorful sauce. The result: a stunning clone of one of the best breakfast burritos in fast food history.

Now, it’s your turn. The recipe here makes one large burrito, but you’ll have plenty of sauce left over for several more. I hope you’re hungry.

Find recipes for more of your favorite items from Burger King here.  

Before, during, or after a shopping trip at Nordstrom, you may have indulged in a hot bowl of this signature soup from the department store's restaurants and cafés that many say is the best tomato basil soup they've ever had. It's creamy, and it's slightly sweet with the perfect balance of basil in the mix. 

Now you can make a clone version yourself at home with very little effort using canned tomatoes, dried basil, and fresh carrots and onions. I've even included the hacked recipe here for the crispy Parmesan toasts that are served on the side. If you're a fan of great tomato soup, you've gotta try this one.

Try my Nordstrom Roma Tomato Basil Soup copycat recipe below, and find more of my soup copycat recipes here.

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

It’s not your typical French toast. This national pancake chain makes its version special by using sourdough bread and adding almond essence to the eggy batter. And when the battered bread gets cooked in a hot puddle of clarified butter, the delicious flavor profile is complete.

For my Original Pancake House French Toast copycat recipe, I reproduced the batter with vanilla and almond extracts, and used just enough sugar and salt. I found that Nature’s Own made a loaf of sourdough that’s sliced perfectly for this hack, but any thick sourdough bread you find will do. And if you’re not into sourdough, you can always go with Texas Toast. You’re the boss.

Clarify the butter first to remove the milk solids so that it doesn’t burn on the hot cooking surface. And that’s a good thing. Because you’ll need to be generous with the butter if you want your homemade French toast to be just as tasty as the restaurant version. When it’s done cooking, the French toast is dusted in powdered sugar, and topped with butter and maple syrup. Although, this battered bread is so good you could just eat it plain.

Find more of my Original Pancake House copycat recipes here.

In late 2024, the Caramel Apple Empanada made its return to the Taco Bell menu as one of five new items on the chain’s “Decades” menu. The limited-time menu featured popular items from five different decades, including the Green Sauce Burrito from the 1970s, the Meximelt from the 1980s, and this tasty hand pie from the 2000s.

These pies are fried, like McDonald’s Apple Pies used to be, so the dough is crispy. The apple filling is sweetened with caramel, giving this pie an edge over other chains’ apple pies. It’s a good thing I was quick to buy four of these and freeze them, since they disappeared from all Taco Bells in just a few weeks.

For my Taco Bell Caramel Apple Empanada copycat recipe, I developed a dopugh that was easy to work with and could hold up during frying. For the filling, I chose to keep it simple by using canned apple pie filling instead of making it from scratch. In this recipe, you just chop the canned apples, stir in some caramel topping and salt, and it’s ready to be loaded into the dough.

My final step was to decode the secret method for adding a crispy, blistered crust to fried dough. With a bit of shmoozing I was able to obtain an uncooked, frozen empananda from a friendly Taco Bell manager, and I could see that the dough was coated with a cornstarch solution which is applied after freezing. Sure enough, when I coated my empanandas with cornstarch before frying, they came out of the oil with a blistered crust and a light crunch that perfectly mimicked the real thing. 

Find more of my Taco Bell copycat recipes here.

The main ingredients in most burritos and burrito bowls at Chipotle are the flavorful adobo-marinated chicken and beef, which, according to servers, are marinated overnight in a secret adobo sauce.

For my Chipotle Adobo-Marinated Chicken and Beef copycat recipe, recreating the flavors of the adobo marinade is key, but it's also important to use the right chicken and beef cuts. Chipotle only uses dark meat chicken, so use skinless thigh fillets if you're making chicken. If you choose beef, get a pound and a half of New York strip steaks.

Chipotle uses toasted cumin seeds to create a more flavorful ground cumin for this recipe, so I included that technique in the first step (you can also use bottled ground cumin if you prefer). You'll need a coffee/spice grinder or mortar and pestle to grind the toasted cumin seeds–you'll recognize they're ready when your kitchen fills with a toasty aroma. Start this recipe a day ahead to give your chicken or steak 16 to 24 hours to soak in the marinade.

Try my Chipotle Adobo Grilled Chicken and Steak copycat recipe below, and find all your other favorite Chipotle copycat recipes here.

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

The Dubai chocolate bar was created by Sarah Hamouda, a British-Egyptian engineer living in Dubai, who conceived of the bars while pregnant in 2021. However, Sarah didn’t discover the right mix of sweetened pistachio paste, tahini, and shredded phyllo dough to fill the milk chocolate bar until 2023. Soon after the bars were perfected in 2024, a social media campaign on Instagram and TikTok went viral, transforming the Dubai chocolate bars into a worldwide sensation.

Noticing the trend, Shake Shack locations in the Middle East introduced this milkshake version of the candy bar in February 2025. The shake was so popular there that Shake Shack brought it to U.S. outlets for a limited run in the summer, where it received rave reviews. Before it disappeared, I snagged several of the shakes and stashed all but one in my freezer. That one went into my belly, and it was worth every calorie.

To make this shake, Shake Shack uses their famous custard as a base. For my Shake Shack Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Shake copycat recipe, you can either use my hack of the chain’s custard (here) or choose a good store-bought vanilla ice cream (such as Häagen-Dazs). You’ll add pistachio paste, which is easily found online, along with toasted, shredded phyllo dough called kataifi.

The most ingenious part of this recipe is the Magic Shell chocolate sauce that coats the inside of the plastic cup before you add the shake. When you squeeze the cup, the chocolate cracks into the frozen shake, recreating the experience of eating the famous chocolate bar. Use a clear 18-ounce plastic cup (like Solo) for the best re-creation of the original shake.

Try my recipe for the Shake Shack Burger here.

This queso dip is smooth and creamy, packed with peppers, onions, and tomatoes, just like the original, which is a popular menu choice at the Mexican chain.

One of the biggest challenges in making my On the Border Signature Queso copycat recipe was finding the right cheese product that would melt easily and provide the best flavor. I tried Velveeta first but was put off by its sweetness, so I looked for a better option. It wasn’t until I found Tostitos Nacho Cheese Dip that I was able to create a knockoff that tasted like the real thing, and I was confident my version would satisfy fans of the original.

For this clone, sauté the peppers and onion until they soften, then mix them with the cheese, lime juice, and seasoning and heat the dip until hot. Once the queso comes off the burner, stir in the tomatoes and cilantro, then serve immediately with a big pile of tortilla chips.

Try my other On the Border's copycat recipes here.

With Crab Your Way, customers can customize their steamed crab meal at Red Lobster by selecting between snow crab or bairdi crab (a sweeter-tasting snow crab) and pairing it with one of two delicious butter sauces: Cajun or roasted garlic. This is a good way to make crab filled with great flavor, and I’ve got all the tips you need to replicate this ultra-satisfying dish at home in just minutes.

In my Red Lobster Crab Your Way copycat recipe, I’ll show you how to duplicate both sauces, including the new Cajun butter sauce, which is currently the most popular. Once your sauce is ready, apply it to your favorite crab, such as Dungeness, snow crab, bairdi, or my favorite, king crab.

Preparing the crab is simple. Steam the legs for 5 to 10 minutes until they're hot, then brush them with the sauce and serve additional sauce on the side for dipping. Each sauce recipe yields enough for one pound of crab, so if you're making more, you can easily adjust the sauce quantities.

Don't forget the Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits. Find all of my Red Lobster copycat recipes here.

In this creative twist on traditional French toast, sliced sourdough bread is dipped in vanilla custard, then layered with cheesecake filling, and baked until lightly browned. It's sliced and served warm, with fresh berries and strawberry syrup on the side. If you’re a fan of French toast and bread pudding, you’ll really love this.

For their French toast, Cracker Barrel uses soft sourdough from Bay’s Southern Bread, a Nashville-based bakery. And that’s the only place you can buy it. So, for my hack of the Cracker Barrel Fresh Berry French Toast Bake, I found a thick-sliced sourdough bread from Nature’s Own. That bread isn’t quite as soft as Bay’s Southern Bread, but it still works great. If you want your French toast even softer, you can use Nature’s Own thick-sliced brioche bread, as long as you don’t mind giving up the tangy sourdough flavor of the original.

If you aren't serving all six slices at once, leftovers can be stored for several days, and reheated in a microwave for 1 to 1½ minutes on high.

Find more of my Cracker Barrel copycat recipes here.

The calorie count was the key information that helped me decode this recipe. I first tried to clone the milkshake using regular ice cream and whole milk. That produced a rich, creamy treat, but it was much thicker than the one from the restaurant. I also noticed ice crystals in the original that weren’t in my version—a clue that lighter ingredients might be used. 

Next, I calculated the total calories of my version and compared the numbers to the nutritional information on the restaurant's website. My version with regular ice cream and whole milk created a 16-ounce milkshake with a diet-busting total of 1,345 calories. Steak 'n Shake's shakes weigh in with less than half that. When I replaced the regular ice cream with "light" ice cream, my new shake dropped to around 600 calories — the same as the Steak 'n Shake original, and the flavor and consistency were perfect!

For my Steak 'n Shake Milk Shake copycat recipes to work best, find a light ice cream, such as Breyer's Light. Also, you can make a thicker milkshake by chilling the blender container and serving glass before you make the shakes.

And there are many more popular drinks you can make at home! Click here to see if I hacked your favorite.

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

When it became clear that Starbucks Sous Vide Egg Bites had staying power, Dunkin Donuts developed its own sous vide egg products in two flavors: bacon and cheddar, and egg white and veggie. Like Starbucks, Dunkin's eggs are cooked sous vide-style in plastic bags and reheated in a convection oven at each store, but to set theirs apart Dunkin’s version comes with an appropriate hole in the middle.

For my Dunkin' Donuts Omelet Bites copycat recipe, I decided to clone the bacon and cheddar flavor since it’s the most popular of the two. It was also important that my omelets look like Dunkin's with a hole in the middle, and they should also have the same tender, creamy texture as the originals made with the slow-cooked sous vide method.

I had the best results making my bites in a six-ring donut pan that I found online. To cook the omelets with moist heat, I placed the donut pan into a 9x13-inch baking pan with ½-inch of water in the bottom, then covered the pan with foil. I first cooked the eggs at 250 degrees F, but they puffed up wildly and then deflated into odd shapes that looked nothing like the originals. When tried again with the heat reduced to 200 degrees, the eggs never puffed, and they eventually set perfectly. My finished bites didn't have the exact shape of the real ones, but the weight matched at 1 7/8 ounces each.

After your egg bites cool, you can remove them from the pan without breakage. Then, to serve, just heat them in an air fryer or oven for a couple of minutes until hot. 

Find more of my Dunkin Donuts copycat recipes here.