20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (2024)

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Make your restaurant favorites at home—for less.

By

Robin Shreeves

20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (1)

Robin Shreeves

Robin Shreeves is a food and beverage writer.

Learn about Simply Recipes'Editorial Process

Published February 18, 2024

20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (2)

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If you've ever wished you could recreate your favorite restaurant dishes at home, here's your chance. These 20 copycat recipes—ones designed to mimic the look and flavor you get while dining out—will start you on your way.

From versions of Olive Garden's fettuccine Alfredo and breadsticks to IKEA's famous Swedish meatballs to McDonald's Shamrock Shake (any time of the year!), here are all the copycat recipes to make at home...and save money while doing so. All of those Panera lunches add up, after all.

  • Copycat IKEA Swedish Meatballs

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (4)

    Have you ever gone all the way to IKEA just to buy Swedish meatballs? You won't have to once you realize how easy it is to make these copycats with a creamy sauce that you'll want to serve on top of mashed potatoes.

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  • Copycat Pollo Campero Fried Chicken

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (5)

    This air-fried copycat of the popular Pollo Campero fried chicken uses lime instead of buttermilk and adds bold seasonings like oregano, cayenne, sazón, andadobo.

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  • Copycat Chipotle Sofritas

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (6)

    If you love the vegetarian protein that Chipotle uses in burritos, tacos, and bowls, this is the sofritas recipe you need to recreate it at home using tofu.

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  • Copy Cat Trader Joe's Cauliflower Gnocchi

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (7)

    You'll be amazed at how easy it is to turn fresh cauliflower into gnocchi like the Trader Joe's version. You'll be even more amazed at how much this low-carb gnocchi tastes like potato gnocchi.

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    Continue to 5 of 20 below.

  • Copycat Crunchwrap Supreme

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (8)

    It's hard to beat the Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme, but this version might take the cake. Especially when you use higher quality ingredients.

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  • Copycake Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (9)

    The secret to recreating Cracker Barrel's hashbrown casserole is using refrigerated hashbrowns, not frozen ones. Once you know the secret, it takes just five minutes to put it together and 30 minutes to cook.

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  • Copycat Starbucks Egg Bites

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (10)

    These egg bites are so similar to the Starbucks versions in all but one way. They're much less expensive when you make them yourself. Cream cheese makes them fluffy and Gruyère and bacon make them irresistible.

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  • 20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (11)

    Olive Garden's roasted chicken and gnocchi soup a creamy broth with spinach is a fan favorite. This version is just as good, is a fraction of the cost, and takes just 30 minutes to make.

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    Continue to 9 of 20 below.

  • Copycat Chipotle Guacamole

    Chipotle’s guacamole is always fresh and full of avocado chunks and speckled with fresh produce. So is this version made with ripe avocado, garlic, red onion, jalapeños, cilantro, and lime. It tastes remarkably similar to the restaurant's and you won't get an upcharge for it.

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  • Copycat Wendy's Chili

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (13)

    This recipe tastes and looks like the fast food version—a mixture of three-bean soup and hamburger tortilla soup.Using RO*TEL is the secret to making sure the homemade version is virtually indistinguishable from Wendy's.

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  • Copycat Chipotle Chicken

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (14)

    It's hard to tell the difference between this copycat Chipotle Chicken and the real deal. With it, you can make bowls, tacos, burritos, and more, and save yourself the expense of eating out or delivery fees.

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  • Copycat Shamrock Shake

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (15)

    Now you can enjoy the deliciousness of a McDonald's Shamrock Shake whenever you want by making it yourself with real ice cream. You can add something special you can't at the McD's, too, if you want—vodka, whiskey, or Irish Cream.

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    Continue to 13 of 20 below.

  • Copycat Olive Garden Fettuccine Alfredo

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (16)

    It only takes 20 minutes—less time than it takes to get in the car and drive to Olive Garden—to make this pasta with "legit" Alfredo sauce. So creamy. So garlicky. So like Olive Garden's but from your own kitchen.

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  • Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Bread

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (17)

    Starbucks doesn't always have its pumpkin bread, but you can have all the flavors of its moist, pumpkin-y, baking spic-y bread with this recipe that makes two loaves.

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  • Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (18)

    Panera makes really good soups and its broccoli cheddar is one of the best. This version tastes just like the original with plenty of heavy cream and two types of cheese. Good bread on the side is a must.

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  • Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (19)

    Olive Garden's breadsticks are the stuff of legends, in part because they're so fresh and warm. But these copycat breadsticks come out of your oven, hot and ready to brush with melted garlic butter.

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    Continue to 17 of 20 below.

  • Copycat Levain Fall Chocolate Chunk Cookies

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (20)

    New York City's Levain Bakery makes large chocolate chunk cookies made with ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and molasses. It's seasonal so even if you're in NYC, you can't always get one. If you make these copycat cookies, you can have them whenever you want.

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  • Copycat Neiman Marcus Million Dollar Dip

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (21)

    Created in the 1950s at a Neiman Marcus restaurant, this dip is like a "zhushed-up pimento cheese." The bacon, cream cheese, mayo, and cheddar cheese mixture is super easy to make, and the perfect dip for a buttery round cracker such as a Ritz.

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  • Copycat Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (22)

    Seasoned with garlic andOld Bay seasoning, these cheddar biscuits are easy to make and taste so much like the famous Red Lobster biscuits. Can't eat the entire dozen at once? Freeze unbaked biscuits to bake another time.

    Get Recipe

  • Copycat Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake

    20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (23)

    Top layers of chocolate ice cream, creamy chocolate fudge, crunchy Oreo pieces, and creamy vanilla ice cream with a whipped cream frosting. It's not hard to make, but it does take some time to build and then 8 hours to freeze. Ultimately, you'll be impressed with this super fresh ice cream cake that rivals Diary Queen's cake.

    Get Recipe

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20 Copycat Recipes You’ll Want To Make Forever (2024)

FAQs

What is the yield of a recipe? ›

Yield in culinary terms refers to how much you will have of a finished or processed product. Professional recipes should always state a yield; for example, a tomato soup recipe may yield 15 L, and a muffin recipe may yield 24 muffins.

How much do you have to change a recipe to claim it as your own? ›

The general rule [...] is that three major [emphasis added] changes are required to make a recipe "yours." However, even if you make such changes, it is a professional courtesy to acknowledge the source of or inspiration for the recipe.

When can you call a recipe your own? ›

A general rule of thumb is: if you change three or more ingredients in the recipe, and rewrite the recipe instructions in your own voice, you can consider it your own. Even so, stating that the recipe was “adapted from” or “inspired by” the original recipe is a good idea.

What does RCF mean in culinary? ›

A recipe conversion factor (RCF) or yield factor (YF) is a number that represents a ratio or a percentage of an original recipe. It is used to convert each ingredient in the original recipe to provide a new yield (the resulting quantity or amount).

What does AP weight stand for? ›

AP (As Purchased)

For example, the vegetable you bought with stalk, roots, and leaves are in AP form. It costs 1 Euro when you bought it. That's the AP cost. It weighs 3 kilos when you bought it; that's the AP weight.

How to create a unique recipe? ›

Here's what I find useful:
  1. Try cooking techniques you've never tried before. Make them up if you have to!
  2. Try ingredients or genres of food you've never tried before. ...
  3. Eat at restaurants that inspire you. ...
  4. Try recreating recipes from chefs that inspire you. ...
  5. Cook with a friend.
Feb 18, 2021

Is making your own recipe hard? ›

Recipe writing can be daunting to some, but if you have a good knowledge of cooking, I promise it is possible! It will take practice, which builds experience, but everyone has to start somewhere.

Can you get paid for recipes? ›

You can use online gig websites like Fiverr to find freelance recipe writing gigs online. To get started on a site like Fiverr to start finding gigs you must first create a profile (and this is where your small portfolio will come in handy again). Then you will be able to search gigs to apply for.

Can you get sued for copying a recipe? ›

Recipes are usually not protected by copyright due to the idea-expression dichotomy. The idea-expression dichotomy creates a dividing line between ideas, which are not protected by copyright law, and the expression of those ideas, which can be protected by copyright law.

Is copying recipes legal? ›

Recipes themselves generally aren't protected by copyright law, as they are considered functional instructions. However, the specific expression of a recipe, like the way it's written and presented on a website, can be protected.

Can you legally own a recipe? ›

Copyright law protects original works of authorship, and while a recipe may be original, it is not an "original work of authorship." This means that anyone can freely copy and use a recipe without fear of infringement.

What are people who make recipes called? ›

To simply answer this question, a chef is an individual who is trained to understand flavors, cooking techniques, create recipes from scratch with fresh ingredients, and have a high level of responsibility within a kitchen. A cook is an individual who follows established recipes to prepare food.

How do you not plagiarize a recipe? ›

The cookbook writers should not copy the cooking method or illustrations used as part of the cooking procedure to avoid copyright infringement. They need to use their image, which helps them avoid copyright-related issues, and it even offers protection to their works from getting copied or plagiarized.

What do you call someone who creates recipes? ›

A recipe developer has to be willing to explore and to make mistakes. Although you can come from a home cook background, a formal culinary education can hone your skills and also help you reduce the number of blunders.

What is yielding in cooking? ›

This is known as food yield, or yield percentage, and tells you how much of any ingredient is left after preparation and processing. This may include the parts of the vegetables left after peeling and coring or the usable meat after butchering.

Is yield the same as servings? ›

When it comes to cooking, the term yield refers to the number of servings or the quantity of food that a recipe produces. It is the amount of food you can expect to have once the recipe is prepared. Yield is typically stated in terms of servings, such as four servings, eight servings, or any other specific number.

What is the yield of a recipe quizlet? ›

Yield tells you the number/size of servings the recipe will make. Knowing the yield helps you know is more or less food is needed. Ingredients are listed in the exact amount and order they are needed in.

What does yield percentage mean in cooking? ›

YIELD PERCENTAGE

The percentage of the as-purchased quantity that is edible.

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