Traditional Irish potato soup—a simple formula made with potatoes, onions, stock, and cream—gets an upgrade with the addition of cheddar cheese, carrots, green onions, and sour cream in Jason’s Deli's delicious take on the classic recipe. These improvements result in a soup that’s not only easy to build but may also be the best-tasting potato soup I’ve hacked so far.

The secret to this soup hack is that it starts as a cheddar cheese sauce, which may raise concerns if you’ve ever made cheese sauce that melted poorly and became grainy. That won’t happen here if you use mild or medium cheddar cheese, as they melt better than sharp varieties. So, choose your cheddar wisely.

Also, shred the cheese yourself. Pre-shredded cheese won’t melt as smoothly because it’s drier and often dusted with cellulose or starch, and possibly other additives keep the shreds from clumping in the bag. For my Jason's Deli Irish Potato Soup recipe below, I highly recommend that you roll up your sleeves and hunt down the cheese shredder. 

Once everything is in the pot, simmer the soup for 45 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. You’ll have enough for eight bowls of soup, each topped with cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon, just like the real thing. 

Find more amazing copycat soup recipes here.

Source: Hack That Dish by Todd Wilbur.

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.

When Joe Tortorice and Rusty Coco opened the first Jason's Deli in Beaumont, Texas, in 1976, they could only dream of one day having more than 177 stores in 27 states. The original Jason's Deli menu of 12 items has exploded to more than seventy-five, with many of the awesome sandwich selections paired up with a side order of assorted fruit and creamy liqueur fruit dipping sauce. 

The super-tasty fruit-dipping-sauce is easily cloned here in my Jason's Deli Creamy Liqueur Fruit Dipping Sauce recipe below. With only three ingredients, my recipe can be customized for those of you watching the fat grams by substituting low-fat or fat-free sour cream. Serve this sauce along with a bowl of your favorite fresh fruit, such as pineapple, strawberries, grapes or whatever happens to be in season.

Check here for more famous dip recipes. 

Source: Top Secret Recipes Unlocked by Todd Wilbur.