Exclusive signed copy. In this follow-up to Top Secret Recipes Lite! bestselling author Todd Wilbur shows you how to re-create your favorite brand-name foods and restaurant recipes at a fraction of the calories, and how to create popular  and tasty low-fat dishes and treats—in the privacy of your very own kitchen. 

Discover the secrets behind Todd Wilbur's delicious lower-fat versions of: McDonald's Egg McMuffin, Olive Garden Chicken Parmigiana Sandwich, T.G.I. Friday's Potato Skins, Wendy's Classic Greek Fresh Stuffed Pita, Carl's Jr. Bacon Swiss Crispy Chicken Sandwich, Taco Bell Beef Burrito Supreme, Nabisco Reduced-Fat Oreo Cookies, Entenmann's Light Low-Fat Gourmet Cinnamon Rolls, Little Debbie Oatmeal Lights, Otis Spunkmeyer Chocolate Chip Muffins, Keebler Reduced-Fat Pecan Sandies, Planter's Fat-Free Fiddle Faddle and many more. 

Click on "Table of Contents" (underneath the book graphic on the left) to see the full list of recipes in this cookbook.

Other books you may like: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2, Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3.

Exclusive signed copy. America's best copycat recipes! Save money and amaze your friends with all-new culinary carbon copies from the Clone Recipe King! 

For more than 20 years, Todd Wilbur has been obsessed with reverse-engineering famous foods. Using every day ingredients to replicate signature restaurant dishes at home, Todd shares his delectible discoveries with readers everywhere.

Now, his super-sleuthing taste buds are back to work in the third installment of his mega-bestselling Top Secret Restaurant Recipes series, with 150 sensational new recipes that unlock the delicious formulas for re-creating your favorite dishes from America's most popular restaurant chains. Todd's top secret blueprints and simple step-by-step instructions guarantee great success for even novice cooks. And when preparing these amazing taste-alike dishes at home, you'll be paying up to 75 percent less than eating out! 

Find out how to make your own home versions of: Pizza Hut Pan Pizza, T.G.I. Friday's Crispy Green Bean Fries, Buca di Beppo Chicken Limone, Serendipity 3 Frrrozen Hot Chocolate, P.F. Chang's Kung Pao Chicken, Max & Erma's Tortilla Soup, Cracker Barrel Double Chocolate Fudge Coca-Cola Cake, Olive Garden Breadsticks, Cheesecake Factory Fresh Banana Cream Cheesecake, Carrabba's Chicken Bryan, Famous Dave's Corn Muffins, Outback Steakhouse Chocolate Thunder from Down Under, T.G.I. Friday's Jack Daniel's Glazed Ribs, and much, much more...

Simple. Foolproof. Easy to Prepare. And so delicious you'll swear it's the real thing! 

Click on the "Table of Contents" link, underneath the book graphic on the left to see the full list of recipes included in this cookbook. 

You may also like: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2, and Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step.

Exclusive signed copy. After 10 years of research in the Top Secret Lab, America's Clone Ranger emerges with his highly anticipated follow-up to the best-selling Top Secret Restaurant Recipes cookbook. 

Author Todd Wilbur reveals 150 new secret formulas for duplicating the taste of your favorite dishes from America's biggest restaurant chains including Applebee's, Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse and many others. 

Todd's simple recipes and detailed blueprints will have you creating culinary copycats that will fool even the most critical connoisseurs at a fraction of the cost of eating out. But beware, everyone will be so amazed, you may have to start taking reservations! 

Discover the secrets to making your own versions of Original Pancake House Apple Pancake, Olive Garden Sicilian Scampi, The Cheesecake Factory White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake, Chili's Grilled Baby Back Ribs, Romano's Macaroni Grill Penne Rustica, Applebee's White Chocolate & Walnut Blondie, Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits, Tony Roma's Baked Potato Soup, Houston's Chicago-Style Spinach Dip, Benihana Ginger Salad Dressing, IHOP Country Griddle Cakes, Carrabba's Chicken Marsala, T.G.I. Friday's Pecan-Crusted Chicken Salad, Chili's Southwestern Eggrolls, Olive Garden Lemon Cream Cake, Bennigan's The Monte Cristo, P.F. Chang's Orange Peel Chicken, Outback Steakhouse Kookaburra Wings and many more. 

Click on the "Table of Contents" link (underneath the book graphic on the left) to see the full list of recipes included in this cookbook.

Other books you may like: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes and Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3. 

Exclusive signed copy. It's no longer necessary to stand in line for a table at T.G.I. Friday's or Red Lobster, Olive Garden or Outback. You can make the menu items you love right at home—with ingredients from your local supermarket. Included in this book are some of the best-kept restaurant secrets that let you eat in with the great taste of eating out!

In this unique cookbook Todd Wilbur re-creates more than 100 signature dishes from America's most popular chain restaurants—including such hot theme eateries as the Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood. 

Wilbur's easy-to-make knock-offs, the product of years of research, are indiscernible from the originals—and the most ingenious way we know of to cut down on the cost of eating out. But watch out, once you start cooking, people may start calling for reservations at your dinner table!

Find out how to make home versions of Applebees Oriental Chicken Salad, Benihana Hibachi Chicken & Steak, California Pizza Kitchen BBQ Chicken Pizza, The Cheesecake Factory Cajun Jambalaya Pasta, Chi-Chi's Sweet Corn Cake, Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole, Hard Rock Cafe Famous Baby Rock Watermelon Ribs, Hooters Buffalo Wings, Marie Callenders Famous Golden Cornbread, Olive Garden Hot Artichoke-Spinach Dip, Outback Steakhouse Alice Springs Chicken, Pizza Hut Original Stuffed Crust Pizza, Planet Hollywood Chicken Crunch, Ruth's Chris Creamed Spinach, T.G.I. Friday's Potato Skins, and many more.

Click on the "Table of Contents" link (underneath the book graphic on the left) to see the full list of recipes included in this cookbook.

Other books you may like: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2, Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3.

Exclusive signed copy. Ever wonder what makes McDonald's Special Sauce so special, or puts the supreme in a Taco Bell Burrito Supreme, or makes Newman's Own Creamy Caesar Dressing so darn good? 

This cookbook includes all the step-by-step instructions for making your own professional quality clones. With a dash of spicy humor, a spoonful of food facts, and a hearty serving of culinary curiosity, Todd Wilbur serves up another batch of America's favorite recipes. Todd puts his sleuthing taste buds to work to bring us over 85 amazing new clones in Even More Top Secret Recipes. 

Armed with his recipes and blueprints, you can now duplicate your favorite brand-name food, from famous hamburgers to candy bars and snack cakes, right in your own kitchen without spending a lot of dough. Discover how to make your own versions of KFC Extra Crispy Chicken, Girl Scout Cookies Thin Mints, Kraft Stove Top Stuffing, McDonald's French Fries, Panda Express Mandarin Chicken, Wendy's Spicy Chicken Fillet Sandwich, Cadbury Creme Egg, Boston Market Meatloaf, Cinnabon CinnabonStix, Hot Dog On A Stick Hot Dog, Drake's Devil Dogs, Nestle Baby Ruth, and many, many more! 

Click on the "Table of Contents" link (underneath the book graphic on the left) to see the full list of recipes in this cookbook.

Other books you may like: Top Secret Recipes Unlocked and Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3.

Exclusive signed copy. The original clone recipe king has done it again. For the last twenty-three years Todd Wilbur has been creating amazing culinary carbon copies of all your favorite brand-name foods using his special techniques. 

In this, his 9th cookbook, the Clone Ranger brings you over 100 new kitchen clones! Todd reveals key ingredients and the secret-yet-simple steps for duplicating famous foods from Starbucks, McDonald's, Panera Bread, Subway, Burger King, Mrs. Fields, Taco Bell, Orange Julius, Boston Market, Popeyes, Sonic Drive-In, KFC, and many more.

Every recipe is created from scratch in Todd's top secret test kitchen so you know you're getting the best original clone recipes on the planet!

Click on the "Table of Contents" link (underneath the book graphic on the left) to see a full list of recipes included in this cookbook. 

Other books you may like: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 and Top Secret Recipes Step-by-Step.

Exclusive signed copy. The book that started the copycat food craze! This irresistible collection of cloned recipes is the product of years of obsessive research by self-confessed convenience-food addict Todd Wilbur. 

Big food manufacturers guard their recipes like the gold in Fort Knox, but Wilbur's dogged pursuit of taste-alike versions of his—and our—all-time favorites has paid off in this unique cookbook of scrumptious treats. 

Whether you're a kid or just a kid at heart, you'll have a great time making the incredible clones of a McDonald's Big Mac, a Burger King Whopper, a Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpet, Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, Hostess Twinkie, Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookie, and many other famous American foods. Helpful illustrations let you recreate them to perfection. And both taste and guilty pleasures are just like the real thing.

Click on the "Table of Contents" link (underneath the book graphic on the left) to see the full list of recipes in this cookbook.

Other books you may like: More Top Secret Recipes and Even More Top Secret Recipes.
 

Exclusive signed copy. In the follow up to his first and best-selling cookbook, Top Secret Recipes, intrepid kitchen sleuth Todd Wilbur, shows you how to make home versions of over 40 of your favorite foods! Duplicate the taste of Nabisco Oreo Cookies, J & J Super Pretzels, Dunkin' Donuts, Little Caesar's Crazy Bread and many more! All of the recipes are shockingly easy to prepare—with ingredients from your local supermarket. 
 
Wilbur's fabulous clones leave out the preservatives and included suggestions for making high-cholesterol dishes lower in fat—without changing the tastes we all love. 

Find out: What puts the "snap" in Snapple Iced Tea. How to put the shine on the Super Pretzel. How to create the most important ingredient in a 3 Musketeers bar. What puts the "sensation" in a York Peppermint Pattie. Included, too, are the fascinating origins of each product; Todd Wilbur's own amazing kitchen adventures, narrow escapes, and near-death experiences; even his learned-the-hard-way cooking tips. 

Click on the "Table of Contents" link (underneath the book graphic on the left) to see the full list of recipes in this cookbook.

Other books you may like: Top Secret Recipes, Even More Top Secret Recipes, and Top Secret Recipes Unlocked.

Exclusive signed copy. Todd Wilbur shares his best kept secrets for making knockoffs of your favorite drinks—right in your own kitchen and without spending a lot of money. 

You can re-create the delicious taste of America's most popular brand-name soft drinks, beverages, dessert drinks, mixers, and liqueurs by following Todd's easy, step-by-step instructions. If it comes in a glass, cup, bottle, or mug, it's here for you to clone at home. 

Discover how to make your own versions of: Nestea, Cinnabon Icescape, Jamba Juice Smoothies, Orange Julius, Red Robin Jamaican Shake, Bailey's Irish Cream, Sonic Drive In Cream Pie Shakes, Dairy Queen Blizzard. Plus dozens of specialty drinks from T.G.I Friday's, Chili's, Hard Rock Cafe, Outback Steakhouse, Applebee's, House of Blues, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Claim Jumper, and many more from your favorite restaurant chains. Over 200 popular recipes in all! 

Click on the "Table of Contents" link (underneath the book graphic on the left) to see the full list of recipes in this cookbook.

Other books you may like: Even More Top Secret Recipes and Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3.

Menu Description: "Nearly world famous. Often imitated, hardly ever duplicated."

"Hooters is to chicken wings what McDonald's is to hamburgers," claims promotional material from the company. True, the six fun-loving Midwestern businessmen who started Hooters in Clearwater, Florida, on April Fool's Day in 1983 chose a classic recipe for chicken wings as their signature item. But while some might say it's the buffalo wings that are their favorite feature of the restaurant, others say it's the restaurant chain's trademark Hooters girls—waitresses casually attired in bright orange short-shorts and skin tight T-shirts.

Today there are over 375 Hooters across the United States serving more than 200 tons of chicken wings every week. The original dish can be ordered in 10-, 20-, or 50-piece servings; or if you want to splurge, there's the "Gourmet Chicken Wing Dinner" featuring 20 wings and a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne, for only $125. To further enhance the Hooters experience when you serve these messy wings, throw a whole roll of paper towels on the table, rather than napkins, as they do in the restaurants.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

The year 1963 was a big one in McDonald's history. The 500th McDonald's restaurant opened in Toledo, Ohio, and Hamburger University graduated its 500th student. It was in that same year that McDonald's served its one billionth hamburger in grand fashion on The Art Linkletter Show. Ronald McDonald also made his debut that year in Washington, D.C., and the Fillet-O-Fish sandwich was introduced as the first new menu addition since the restaurant chain opened in 1948.

Source: More Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

Update 8/4/19: Current versions of this sandwich come with the bun untoasted. For a classic version, make yours as descirbed below, or skip step 2. Be sure to microwave your finished sandwich for 10-15 seconds to warm up your bun, and steam the sandwich before serving.

per month

($23.88 annually)*
Save $12 vs. monthly

Includes eight (8) 79¢ recipes of your choice each month!

Get a signed copy of the book and free Hell Flakes for a limited time!

Buy the knockout full-color cookbook from America's Clone Recipe King signed by the author and we'll throw in a free bottle of Hell Flakes, Todd's unique 5-pepper blend.

For more than twenty-five years, Todd Wilbur has been obsessed with recreating America's most iconic brand-name foods at home. In his first cookbook with color photos, the New York Times bestselling author brings you 125 new clone recipes: 75 first-time hacks and 50 overhauled all-time favorites. These recipes are not found indivdually on the website with the exception of just a few.

Each recipe comes with easy-to-follow step-by-step photos so that even novice cooks can perfectly recreate their favorite famous foods with everyday ingredients. And your homemade versions cost just a fraction of what the restaurants charge! The result of years of careful research, trial-and-error, and a little creative reverse-engineering, Top Secret Recipes® Step-by-Step hacks: 

• KFC® Original Recipe® Fried Chicken and Cole Slaw 
• Cinnabon® Classic Cinnamon Roll 
• IKEA® Swedish Meatballs 
• Outback Steakhouse® Alice Springs Chicken® 
• Pinkberry® Original Frozen Yogurt 
• Raising Cane's® Chicken Fingers and Sauce 
• Arby's® Curly Fries 
• Lofthouse® Frosted Cookies 
• Wendy's® Chili 
• Panera Bread® Fuji Apple Chicken Salad 
• Starbucks® Cake Pops 
• Cafe Rio® Sweet Pork Barbacoa 
• McDonald's® McRib® Sandwich 
• The Melting Pot® Cheddar Cheese Fondue 
• P.F. Chang's® Chicken Lettuce Wraps 
• The Cheesecake Factory® Stuffed Mushrooms 
• Ben & Jerry's® Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream 
• Chick-fil-A® Chicken Sandwich 
• Chili's® Baby Back Ribs 
• Chipotle Mexican Grill® Adobo-Marinated Grilled Chicken & Steak 
• Cracker Barrel® Hash Brown Casserole 
• Mrs. Fields® Chocolate Chip Cookies 
• Ruth's Chris Steakhouse® Sweet Potato Casserole 

And over 100 more delicious dishes, from snacks and appetizers to entrees and desserts!

Menu Description: "Strips of hand-battered chicken fried to perfection. Served w/sweet corn on the cob, honey-mustard dressing and homestyle fries."

When biting into Chili's delicious trademarked Chicken Crispers, I detect the distinct flavor of MSG, or monosodium glutamate. Although there is no English word for it, the Japanese call this flavor "umami", and it delivers a taste sensation that is different from bitter, salty, sweet, or sour flavors. This "fifth flavor" is created naturally by glutamic acid, an amino acid, and it can be found in mushrooms, ripe tomatoes, fish and dairy products. But rather than adding something like Accent flavor enhancer—which is pure MSG—to this recipe, I thought of another approach. To clone the flavorful batter for this Chili's entree, I decided to bring canned chicken broth into the mix. Most chicken broths, including Swanson brand, contain autolyzed yeast extract. These yeast enzymes release flavor-enhancing compounds that work just like MSG, amplifying flavors in much the same way. Plus, the chicken broth is made with other goodies such as carrot, onion, and celery that will contribute to a tasty, crunchy coating. As for the frying, Chili's has recently switched to a shortening that contains no trans fat. So, if you want the best clone use shortening, but find the kind that has no trans fat. Crisco now makes a version, and so does Smart Balance. Shortening produces a superior clone and it will release less "fry smell" into your house. You can also use vegetable or canola oil. 

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur.
 

Dave Thomas, Wendy's late founder, started serving this chili in 1969, the year the first Wendy's opened its doors. Over the years the recipe has changed a bit, but this Wendy's copycat chili recipe is a great version of the one served in the early 90s. Try topping it with some chopped onion and Cheddar cheese, just as you can request in the restaurant.

Source: Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

It took chefs several years to develop what would eventually become KFC's most clucked about new product launch in the chain's 57-year history. With between 70 to 180 calories and four to nine grams of fat, depending on the piece, the new un-fried chicken is being called "KFC's second secret recipe," and "a defining moment in our brand's storied history" in a company press release. The secret recipe for the new grilled chicken is now stored on an encrypted computer flash drive next to the Colonel's handwritten original fried chicken recipe in an electronic safe at KFC company headquarters. Oprah Winfrey featured the chicken on her talk show and gave away so many coupons for free grilled chicken meals that some customers waited in lines for over an hour and half, and several stores ran out and had to offer rain checks. Company spokesperson Laurie Schalow told the Associated Press that KFC has never seen such a huge response to any promotion. "It's unprecedented in our more than 50 years," she said. "It beats anything we've ever done."

When I heard about all the commotion over this new secret recipe I immediately locked myself up in the underground lab with a 12-piece bucket of the new grilled chicken, plus a sample I obtained of the proprietary seasoning blend, and got right to work. After days of nibbling through what amounts to a small flock of hens, I'm happy to bring you this amazing cloned version of this fast food phenomenon so that you can now reproduce it in your own kitchen. Find the smallest chicken you can, since KFC uses young hens. Or better yet save some dough by finding a small whole chicken and cut it up yourself. The secret preparation process requires that you marinate (brine) your chicken for a couple hours in a salt and MSG solution. This will make the chicken moist all of the way through and give it great flavor. After the chicken has brined, it's brushed with liquid smoke-flavored oil that will not only make the seasoning stick to the chicken, but will also ensure that the chicken doesn't stick to the pan. The liquid smoke in the oil gives the chicken a smoky flavor as if it had been cooked on an open flame barbecue grill.

The grilled chicken at KFC is probably cooked on ribbed metal plates in specially designed convection ovens to get those grill marks. I duplicated that process using an oven-safe grill pan, searing the chicken first on the stovetop to add the grill marks, then cooking the chicken through in the oven. If you don't have a grill pan or a grill plate, you can just sear the chicken in any large oven safe saute pan. If you have a convection function on your oven you should definitely use it, but the recipe will still work in a standard oven with the temperature set just a little bit higher. After baking the chicken for 20 minutes on each side, you're ready to dive into your own 8-piece bucket of delicious indoor grilled chicken that's as tasty as the fried stuff, but without all the fat.

Check out the video demonstration of this recipe.

Jerrico, Inc., the parent company for Long John Silver's Seafood Shoppes, got its start in 1929 as a six-stool hamburger stand called the White Tavern Shoppe. Jerrico was started by a man named Jerome Lederer, who watched Long John Silver's thirteen units dwindle in the shadow of World War II to just three units. Then, with determination, he began rebuilding. In 1946 Jerome launched a new restaurant called Jerry's and it was a booming success, with growth across the country. Then he took a chance on what would be his most successful venture in 1969, with the opening of the first Long John Silver's Fish 'n' Chips. The name was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. In 1991 there were 1,450 Long John Silver Seafood Shoppes in thirty-seven states, Canada, and Singapore, with annual sales of more than $781 million. That means the company holds about 65 percent of the $1.2 billion quick-service seafood business.

Source: Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

While most restaurant chains attempt to keep their menus simple so as not to tax the kitchen, the Cheesecake Factory's menu contains more than 200 items on a 17-page menu. And at the end of the meal there are 40 cheesecakes to choose from for dessert, including the delicious Pumpkin Cheesecake hacked here for you. 

Use an 8-inch springform pan for this recipe. If you don't have one, you should get one. They're indispensable for thick, gourmet cheesecake and several other scrumptious desserts. If you don't want to use a springform pan, this recipe will also work with two 9-inch pie plates. You'll just end up with two smaller cheesecakes. 

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

This super simple salsa can be made in a pinch with a can of diced tomatoes, some canned jalapenos, fresh lime juice, onion, spices and a food processor or blender. Plus you can easily double the recipe by sending in a larger 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, and simply doubling up on all the other ingredients. Use this versatile salsa as a dip for tortilla chips or plop it down onto any dish that needs flavor assistance—from eggs to taco salads to wraps to fish. You can adjust the heat level to suit your taste by tweaking the amount of canned jalapenos in the mix.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur.

Menu Description: "Spicy, shredded beef, braised with our own chipotle adobo, cumin, cloves, garlic and oregano."
 
The original Mexican dish barbacoa was traditionally prepared by cooking almost any kind of meat goat, fish, chicken, or cow cheek meat, to name just a few, in a pit covered with leaves over low heat for many hours, until tender. When the dish made its way into the United States via Texas the word transformed into "barbecue" and the preparation changed to incorporate above-ground techniques such as smoking and grilling. The good news is that we can recreate the beef barbacoa that Chipotle has made popular on its ginormous burritos without digging any holes in our backyard or tracking down a local source for fresh cow faces. After braising about 30 pounds of chuck roasts, I finally discovered the perfect clone with a taste-alike adobo sauce that fills your roast with flavor as it slowly cooks to a fork-tender delicacy on your stovetop over 5 to 6 hours. Part of the secret for great adobo sauce is toasting whole cumin seeds and cloves and then grinding them in a coffee grinder (measure the spices after grinding them). Since the braising process takes so long, start early in the day and get ready for a big dinner, because I've also included clones here for Chipotle's pico de gallo, pinto beans, and delicious cilantro-lime rice to make your burritos complete. You can add your choice of cheese, plus guacamole and sour cream for a super-deluxe clone version.

Source: Top Secret Recipes Unlocked by Todd Wilbur.

Menu Description: "Applewood smoked bacon, grilled chicken and Mozzarella cheese, hearth baked, then topped with Roma tomatoes, chilled chopped lettuce tossed in mayonnaise and fresh sliced avocados."

There's no better way to clone the great pizzas from this creative chain than to start with dough made from scratch. Since the best way to recreate commercial-style pizza dough at home is to use the same slow-rising technique the pros use, you're going to have to plan ahead at least 24 hours. This is the length of time it will take for the gluten in the flour to work its magic while resting comfortably in your refrigerator. And, if you've got the patience, 48 hours is even better. Once the dough is ready to go, you should bake your pizzas—this recipe makes two—on a pre-heated pizza stone in your oven. If you don't already have one, you can find one of the round or rectangular stones in just about any housewares store. This cooking method is the absolute best way to produce an evenly baked finished product with a texture and taste that mirrors the amazing pies CPK whips out of rocket-hot brick pizza ovens.

Source Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur.

Just 15 minutes after the very first Cheesecake Factory opened in Beverly Hills back in 1978, the lines began forming. Here's their cheesecake twist on the delicious Key lime pie. Since Key limes and Key lime juice can be hard to find, this recipe uses standard lime juice which can be purchased bottled or squeezed fresh. If you can find Key lime juice, bear in mind that Key limes are more tart, so you'll need only half as much juice. This recipe also requires a springform pan. If you don't have one, you can use two 9-inch pie pans and make two smaller cheesecakes.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

The talented chefs at Benihana cook food on hibachi grills with flair and charisma, treating the preparation like a tiny stage show. They juggle salt and pepper shakers, trim food with lightening speed, and flip the shrimp and mushrooms perfectly onto serving plates or into their tall chef's hat.

One of the side dishes that everyone seems to love is the fried rice. At Benihana this dish is prepared by chefs with precooked rice on open hibachi grills, and is ordered a la cart to complement any Benihana entree, including Hibachi Steak and Chicken. I like when the rice is thrown onto the hot hibachi grill and seems to come alive as it sizzles and dances around like a bunch of little jumping beans. Okay, so I'm easily amused.

This Benihana Japanese fried rice recipe will go well with just about any Japanese entree and can be partially prepared ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator until the rest of the meal is close to done.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

Menu Description: "Here they are in all their lip-smacking, award-winning glory: Buffalo, New York-style chicken wings spun in your favorite signature sauce."

Since Buffalo, New York was too far away, Jim Disbrow and Scott Lowery satisfied their overwhelming craving in 1981 by opening a spicy chicken wing restaurant close to home in Kent, Ohio. With signature sauces and a festive atmosphere, the chain has now evolved from a college campus sports bar with wings to a family restaurant with over 300 units. While frying chicken wings is no real secret—simply drop them in hot shortening for about 10 minutes—the delicious spicy sauces make the wings special. There are 12 varieties of sauce available to coat your crispy chicken parts at the chain, and I'm presenting clones for the more traditional flavors. These sauces are very thick, almost like dressing or dip, so we'll use an emulsifying technique that will ensure a creamy final product where the oil won't separate from the other ingredients. Here is the chicken wing cooking and coating technique, followed by clones for the most popular sauces: Spicy Garlic, Medium and Hot. The sauce recipes might look the same at first, but each has slight variations make your sauce hotter or milder by adjusting the level of cayenne pepper. You can find Frank's pepper sauce by the other hot sauces in your market. If you can't find that brand, you can also use Crystal Louisiana hot sauce.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur.

It is true that ranch dressing was invented at Hidden Valley Ranch near Santa Barbara, California, by a real salad-wranglin' rancher. In the 50s and 60s Steve Henson and his wife, Gayle, shared their 120-acre dude ranch with University of California at Santa Barbara students and other festive partiers for rousing weekend shindigs. The dozens of guests were served steak dinners and delicious salads topped with Steve's special blend of herbs, spices, mayonnaise, and buttermilk. As word got out about the fabulous dressing, more guests were showing up at the ranch and walking home with complimentary take-home jars filled with the stuff. Eventually Steve figured he could make a little cash on the side by packaging the dressing as a dry mix and selling it through the mail. At first he was filling envelopes himself, but within a few months Steve had to hire twelve more people to help with the packaging. Soon Steve had a multi-million dollar business on his hands with a product that for ten years he had been giving away for free. 

Source: Top Secret Recipes Unlocked by Todd Wilbur.

Menu Description: "Made from scratch in our kitchens using fresh Grade A Fancy Russet potatoes, fresh chopped onion, natural Colby cheese and spices. Baked fresh all day long."

In the late sixties Dan Evins was a Shell Oil "jobber" looking for a new way to market gasoline. He wanted to create a special place that would arouse curiosity, and would pull travelers off the highways. In 1969 he opened the first Cracker Barrel just off Interstate 40 in Lebanon, Tennessee, offering gas, country-style food, and a selection of antiques for sale. Today there are over 529 stores in 41 states, with each restaurant still designed as a country rest stop and gift store. In fact, those stores which carry an average of 4,500 different items apiece have made Cracker Barrel the largest retailer of American-made finished crafts in the United States.

Those who know Cracker Barrel love the restaurant for its delicious home-style breakfasts. This casserole, made with hash brown-sliced potatoes, Colby cheese, milk, beef broth, and spices is served with many of the classic breakfast dishes at the restaurant. The recipe here is designed for a skillet that is also safe to put in the oven (so no plastic handles). If you don't have one of those, you can easily transfer the casserole to a baking dish after it is done cooking on the stove.

Source Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

Menu Description:  "Chunks of Fresh Avocado, Sun-Dried Tomato, Red Onion and Cilantro Deep Fried in a Crisp Chinese Wrapper."

In 1995, Forbes Magazine named The Cheesecake Factory in its list of the 200 best small companies in America. At more than 90 stores now, The Cheesecake Factory plans to continue growing at a rate of about 11 new restaurants per year, and still does not franchise.

The Avocado Eggrolls are one of the most popular appetizers on the menu at the Cheesecake Factory, and it's not hard to see why. The combination of avocado, sun-dried tomatoes, and the cilantro-tamarind sauce makes this one of the tastiest appetizers I've had at any restaurant chain. The trickiest part of this Cheesecake Factory avocado egg rolls recipe might be finding the tamarind pulp at your market. It's a brown, sticky pulp that looks like pureed prunes, and can be found in the spice section or near the ethnic foods—or try a Middle Eastern market. The pulp sometimes contains the large seeds of the fruit, so be sure to remove them before measuring. If you can't find the tamarind paste, you can get by substituting smashed raisins or prunes.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

You can only get this delicious stuff in the restaurant and they won't give you much extra to take home. The good news is you can make it from scratch in minutes (you will need to find anchovy paste—an important ingredient). This dressing keeps for a couple weeks in the fridge in a covered container.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

Anyone who loves Olive Garden is probably also a big fan of the bottomless basket of warm, garlicky breadsticks served before each meal at the huge Italian casual chain. My guess is that the breadsticks are proofed, and then sent to each restaurant where they are baked until golden brown, brushed with butter and sprinkled with garlic salt. Getting the bread just right for a good Olive Garden breadstick recipe was tricky—I tried several different amounts of yeast in all-purpose flour, but then settled on bread flour to give these breadsticks the same chewy bite as the originals. The two-stage rising process is also a crucial step in this much requested homemade Olive Garden breadstick recipe. Also check out our Olive Garden Italian salad dressing recipe.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 by Todd Wilbur.

Menu Description: "Our famous pumpkin pie has just the right amount of spice."

The vittles from Marie Callender's have made an impression beyond the chain's West Coast roots with home-style packaged entrees and side dishes available in frozen food sections of supermarkets across the country. Pie making is where the chain excels. A fresh slice of a Marie Callender's pie is as close as you'll get to homemade heaven this side of Grandma's porch window. This clone is an obvious selection, since the restaurant sells more pumpkin pies than any other, even in non-holiday months. This clone is a perfect opportunity to improve on icky pumpkin pie recipes (like those found on cans of canned pumpkin, for example) in many ways. For one thing, there's no need to use canned evaporated milk when fresh whole milk and cream is so much better. And three eggs, versus two found in many recipes, will add to the richness and firmness of the cooked filling. After mixing the filling we'll let it sit for a bit while waiting for the oven to preheat. This way it can come closer to room temperature, and the pie filling will bake more evenly. The clone recipe included here for the crust uses a chilled combination of butter and shortening for the perfect mix of flavor and flakiness.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur.

Update 10/12/17: I made a few changes to improve this recipe. I increased the pumpkin to 19 ounces (or 2 1/2 cups) to better fill the crust. Get a large can of pumpkin. Also, I took the egg yolk out of the crust for a flakier and more tender finished product. Also, because of the additional filling, I've increased the baking time by 10 minutes to 60 to 70 minutes. If you find your crust getting too dark on top, use a pie crust shield or mold some foil around the top of the crust to prevent it from over-browning.

Menu Description: "Fresh vegetables, beans and pasta in a light tomato broth—a vegetarian classic."

This copycat Olive Garden minestrone soup recipe is jam-packed with beans, zucchini, onion, tomatoes, carrots, pasta, and spices; but O.G.'s secret formula doesn't include chicken broth. Canned vegetable broth found in the soup aisle of most markets works as a base here in this secret formula that bursts with flavor as a purely vegetarian dish.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur.

GrandMa's Cookie Company was founded back in 1914 by Foster Wheeler, but it wasn't until 1977 that the company introduced the popular Big Cookie. This large, soft cookie comes two to a pack and is offered in several varieties, including oatmeal raisin. Now you can bake up a couple batches of your own with this kitchen clone. Just be sure not to over bake these. You want the cookies soft and chewy when cool—just like a happy grandma would make. Be sure to take the cookies out of the oven when they are just beginning to turn light brown around the edges.

Source: Even More Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

Update 1/13/17: For an improved recipe, replace the 1/2 cup shortening with 3/4 cup softened unsalted butter. Also, reduce baking soda to 1 1/2 teaspoons and cinnamon to 1/2 teaspoon. Raising the oven temperature a little—to 300 degrees F—will help with browning and still keep the cookies chewy. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.

It's shrimp, it's bacon, it's cheese; what's not to like about this Red Lobster bacon wrapped shrimp recipe? It's one of the groovy appetizers on the Red Lobster menu, and now you can re-create it at your crib. Find some large shrimp, a wooden skewer or toothpicks, and cook the bacon about halfway to done before you begin. Mix up clones of Red Lobster's top secret seasoning and cilantro-ranch dipping sauce, and you're minutes away from a great appetizer or party finger food dish.  

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur.

One hot summer day in 1946 Dave Barham was inspired to dip a hot dog into his mother's cornbread batter, then deep fry it to a golden brown. Dave soon found a quaint Santa Monica, California location near the beach to sell his new creation with mustard on the side and a tall glass of ice-cold lemonade. Be sure you find the shorter turkey hot dogs, not "bun-length". In this case size does matter. Snag some of the disposable wood chopsticks from a local Chinese or Japanese restaurant next time you're there and start dipping.

Source: Even More Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

Update 5/3/17: If your hot dogs are browning too fast, turn the temperature of the oil down to 350 degrees. And rather than using chopsticks, thick round skewer sticks (corn dog skewers) found in houseware stores and online will work much better.

Menu Description: "Fire-roasted chicken breast topped with mushrooms, prosciutto and our Florio Marsala wine sauce." 

To reverse-engineer this big-time favorite entree, I ordered the dish to go, with the sauce on the side, so that I could separately analyze each component. After some trial and error in the underground lab, I found that recreating the secret sauce from scratch is easy enough with a couple small cans of sliced mushrooms, a bit of prosciutto, some Marsala wine, shallots, garlic and a few other good things. Cooking the chicken requires a very hot grill. The restaurant chain grills chicken breasts over a blazing real wood fire, so crank your grill up high enough to get the flames nipping at your cluckers (not a euphemism) for this Carrabba's chicken marsala recipe. If your grill has a lid, keep it open so you can watch for nasty flare-ups.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur.

Menu Description: "Warm chocolate cake w/chocolate fudge filling. Topped w/vanilla ice cream under a crunchy chocolate shell."

Get out your "easy" button for this one. The clone recipe for this top-requested Chili's dessert is easy to make—and can even be made days ahead of time. A chocolate fudge cake mix is all you need for the cake part of the recipe or you can use the scratch clone recipe here. The cake batter is poured into the large cups of a Texas-size muffin pan. When the cakes are done and cooled, you make a secret hole where the hot chocolate is loaded. Now you can keep the cakes chilled until dessert time. To serve, heat a cake, plop a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, and top it off with some Magic Shell (a chocolate topping that hardens on ice cream). When your diners dig into the cake, the delicious hot fudge center oozes out of the warm chocolate cake.

For a live demonstration of this clone recipe check out this video.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur.

Menu Description: "With vanilla ice cream and sticky bun caramel sauce." 

I've been searching for the restaurant chain with the best bread pudding recipe, and I think I've found it here at Gordon Biersch. This small, yet growing, microbrewery chain serves great beer, awesome pizza, and a bread pudding that is downright amazing. It could be described as what would materialize out the other side if Jeff Goldblum threw an apple pie, some bread pudding and a cinnamon roll into his teleportation machine from "The Fly," and everything came out the other side combined into a single awesome dessert. The sauteed apples laid into the middle of the bread pudding make other bread puddings I eat now seem like they're missing something. And the homemade caramel sauce, with just a little brown sugar thrown into our clone version, adds a sticky bun flavor you'll have dreams about. No matter how big your dinner feast was, everyone will still somehow find room for this. The original at the restaurant is baked in a deep pan, and the pudding is sliced and served on its side, so you'll want to use the biggest loaf pan you can find. I used a 3-inch deep 10x5-inch loaf pan, and it was full. If your pan is smaller, you may have to leave a bit out. The pudding will swell up out of the pan as it cooks, but it will shrink back down as it cools. Fun to watch. You may want to make this the day before so that the bread pudding can set up in the fridge. When you are ready to serve, nuke a serving for 1 minute until warm, then add the sauce and ice cream and a handful of pecans. It appears the restaurant chain uses egg bread in the pudding, but Texas Toast thick-sliced white bread may be easier to find, and it works just as well.  

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 by Todd Wilbur.

We love to eat salad because it seems so healthy. But add just a couple tablespoons of salad dressing and you've gone form no fat to lots of fat, before your main course has even hit the table. If the salad dressing is delicious, as is Olive Garden's, you might be pouring on more than just a couple tablespoons. Here's a way to eliminate the fat grams from the dressing, but keep all the flavor.

We'll take out the oil, and add dry pectin to thicken the dressing, along with more water than used in the original version of this recipe. We can add a decent amount of Romano cheese and a single serving of the dressing still comes in a under 1/2 gram of fat. Add some vinegar, a little corn syrup and lemon juice, some spices—mission accomplished.

Nutrition Facts
Serving size–2 tablespoons
Total servings–11
Calories per serving–42 (Original–90)
Fat per serving–0g (Original–8g)

Source: Top Secret Recipes Lite by Todd Wilbur. 

Menu Description: "Oven baked with fresh apples and pure Sikiyan cinnamon glaze."

Fresh, high-quality ingredients and traditional recipes are what makes this growing chain a frequent favorite for anyone who stops in. The star of the show is the incredible apple pancake, the chain's signature dish. To make a dead-on clone, Granny Smith apples are sauteed in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, then allowed to cool for a bit. That way, when the batter is poured into the pan, the apples and glaze stay anchored to the bottom. This technique also prevents the glaze from penetrating into the batter as the pancake bakes since there is now an apple barrier preventing any mixing of the ingredients. When the pancake comes out of the oven it's flipped over onto a plate and the apples are right there on top, dripping with a delicious cinnamon-sugar glaze. You won't need any syrup for this one, that's for sure. Just a light dusting of powdered sugar on top. Then dig into an apple pancake unlike any other.

You may also like my clone recipe for the Original Pancake House German Pancake. 

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur.

A good chicken pot pie has perfectly flakey crust and the right ratio of light and dark meat chicken and vegetables swimming in a deliciously creamy white sauce. KFC serves up a pie that totally fits the bill, and now I'm going to show you how to make the same thing at home from scratch. You'll want to start this recipe a couple hours before you plan to bake the pies, since the dough for the crust should chill awhile and the chicken needs to soak in the brine. When it comes time for baking, use small pie tins, ramekins, or Pyrex baking dishes (custard dishes) that hold 1 1/2 cups. The recipe will then yield exactly 4 pot pies. If your baking dishes are smaller, there should still be enough dough here to make crust for up to 6 pot pies. And don't forget to brush egg whites over the top of the pies before you pop them into the oven to get the same shiny crust as the original.

Source: Top Secret Recipes Unlocked by Todd Wilbur.

Menu Description: "Our famous Original cheesecake recipe! Creamy and light, baked in a graham cracker crust. Our most popular cheesecake!"

Oscar and Evelyn Overton's wholesale cheesecake company was successful quickly after it first started selling creamy cheesecakes like this clone to restaurant chains in the early 1970's. When some restaurants balked at the prices the company was charging for high-end desserts, Oscar and Evelyn's son David decided it was time to open his own restaurant, offering a wide variety of quality meal choices in huge portions, and, of course, the famous cheesecakes for dessert. Today the chain has over 87 stores across the country, and consistently ranks number one on the list of highest grossing single stores for a U.S. restaurant chain.

Baking your cheesecakes in a water bath is part of the secret to producing beautiful cheesecakes at home with a texture similar to those sold in the restaurant. The water surrounds your cheesecake to keep it moist as it cooks, and the moisture helps prevent ugly cracking. You'll start the oven very hot for just a short time, then crank it down to finish. I also suggest lining your cheesecake pan with parchment paper to help get the thing out of the pan when it's done without a hassle.

This recipe is so easy, even a 2-year old can make it. Check out the video. 

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur.

Every brand of hummus I've tried over the years has been just so-so in taste and texture, until I discovered Sabra. Now this ultra-smooth hummus—which has been rated number one in a blind taste test—is the only hummus in my fridge, unless I've made this clone. Hummus is an awesome snack as a dip for vegetables or pita chips, since it's rich in protein, soluble fiber, potassium, and Vitamin E. The secret to duplicating Sabra's smooth and creamy quality is to let your food processor work the stuff over for a solid 10 minutes. Also, don't use all of the liquid from the can of garbanzo beans or the hummus will end up too runny. Strain off the liquid first, then measure only 1/2 cup back into the food processor. Sabra uses canola and/or soybean oil, but you may think olive oil tastes better. Look for a jar of sesame tahini in the aisle where all the international foods are parked, and while you're there find the citric acid, which may also go by the name "sour salt." The clone below will not have the proper acidic bite without this secret ingredient, and citric acid also works as a preservative to help the leftover hummus stay fresh and tasty.

Source: Top Secret Recipes Unlocked by Todd Wilbur.

In the early 90's Boston Chicken was rockin' it. The home meal replacement chain's stock was soaring and the lines were filled with hungry customers waiting to sink their teeth into a serving of the chain's delicious rotisserie chicken. So successful was the chain with chicken, that the company quickly decided it was time to introduce other entree selections, the first of which was a delicious barbecue sauce-covered ground sirloin meatloaf. But offering the other entrees presented the company with a dilemma: what to do about the name. The bigwigs decided it was time to change the name to Boston Market, to reflect a wider menu. That meant replacing signs on hundreds of units and retooling the marketing campaigns. That name change, plus rapid expansion of the chain and growth of other similar home-style meal concepts sent the company into a tailspin. By 1988, Boston Market's goose was cooked, and the company filed for bankruptcy. Soon McDonald's stepped in to purchase the company, with the idea of closing many of the stores for good, and slapping Golden Arches on the rest. But that plan was scrapped when, after selling many of the under-performing Boston Markets, the chain began to fly once again.  Within a year of the acquisition Boston Market was profitable, and those meals with the home-cooked taste are still being served at over 700 Boston Market restaurants across the country.

Source: Even More Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

It's time to clone America's best-selling brand of instant macaroni & cheese. This recipe is for the "Deluxe" variety of this popular product—that is, the one that comes with an envelope of thick cheese sauce, rather than the dry, powdered cheese. I think the "Deluxe" version, with its two-cheese blend, is the better tasting of the two. Now, with this Top Secret Recipe, you can make creamy macaroni and cheese that tastes like Kraft's original at a fraction of the price of the real thing.

Source: Even More Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur.

Other hacks which claim to duplicate the fabulous flavor of this popular soup do not make good clones, yet the long grain and wild rice mix that many of these recipes call for is a great way to get just the right amount of rice in a perfect blend. But don’t use the flavor packet that comes with those rice kits, or your clone won’t be a clone. Toss out that packet (or use it elsewhere, see Tidbits) and follow the recipe described below for a better solution to a spot-on soup hack. Thanks to Panera Bread's policy of completely transparent ingredients, I discovered a surprising ingredient or two (wow, cabbage!), and was able to craft the best clone you’ll find for this signature soup.

Menu Description: "It takes half a day to make this perfect combination of onion, celery, carrot and garlic."

Before a skilled chef appears tableside to perform his culinary prestidigitation on the hot hibachi grill at Benihana, you're treated to a tasty bowl of chicken broth-based soup with fried onions, sliced mushrooms and green onions floating cheerfully on top. The restaurant menu claims this soup takes a half a day to make, but we can clone it in a fraction of that time using canned chicken broth (I use Swanson brand). This soup works great as a prelude to your favorite Asian dishes or other Benihana clones since it's so light and won't fill up anyone before the main course. I've included a simple technique here for making the breaded fried onions from scratch (for the most accurate clone), but you can skip that step by substituting French's canned French Fried Onions that are sold in most markets.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur.

Menu Description: "A smaller, but equally tender filet...the tenderest corn-fed Mid-western beef. So tender it practically melts in your mouth."

This is the signature item for the Ruth's Chris chain. It's a delicious filet mignon that comes to your table sizzling hot and so tender you can cut it with a fork. If you want to prepare filets the Ruth's Chris way you first need some prime corn-fed filets, which can be found in specialty meat markets or through mail-order outlets such as Omaha Steaks. Prime is your best choice, but the technique will still work with other grades of beef. 

This recipe duplicates the petite filet on the Ruth's Chris menu, since the larger filet is so big—about 14 ounces. Ruth's Chris uses a special broiler which reaches temperatures as high as 1800 degrees F. It's likely you don't have such an oven, so you can use a conventional oven set on high broil, with the rack inches away from the heat source. If you have a gas oven, watch for flame-ups from spattering. If you begin to get flames, move the rack to a lower level. Also, you will need ceramic oven-safe plates to serve the sizzling steak on. 

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur.