The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (2024)

Home Dinner The Best Copycat Recipes

By Alyssa Rivers

on May 24, 2022

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The best copycat recipes to enjoy with your family are right here waiting for you! Skip the restaurant and make these delicious recipes at home!

Copycat recipes are amazing! They allow me to stay at home and watch my favorite shows without the hassle of going anywhere and I am saving money while I eat delicious food. That sounds like a win to me! A couple of my favorites are Frosted Lemonade, Cherry Limeade, and Chicken Gnocchi Soup.

The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (2)

Copycat Recipes

Have you ever been to a restaurant and loved a dish so much that you bought another entree of it to take home with you? No, just me? Well, I have rounded up all of my very favorite copycat recipes! Making these at home will allow you to have them whenever you want (who cares if you want a Swig cookie for breakfast!). Making them at home also makes it easy for you to decide how much you want! You can make larger batches so that your whole family can enjoy them! I bet that you won’t be able to guess which ones are my favorites. I can’t either! They are all too good to pick just one!

These copycat recipes range from drinks to treats to full-on entrees. What I love the most about them is that anyone can make them! Do you think that something is complicated just because your favorite restaurant makes it taste so good? Wrong. Simple and easy, these tried and true copycat recipes will surprise you! They are so delicious and there is such a big variety that you can use them for any occasion. In fact, another great thing is that you can make a few different recipes at once and save yourself some time driving from restaurant to restaurant!

The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (3)

Air Fryer Avocado Egg Rolls

4 from 2 votes

Whether it is for a party or for your own private dinner, Avocado Egg Rolls in an air fryer are the appetizers to make. Crispy and golden on the outside, creamy and decadent on the inside. You have to try these!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (4)

Copycat Panera Bread Broccoli Cheese Soup


4.87 from 38 votes

This copycat Panera Bread Broccoli Cheese Soup is a thick, rich, and creamy soup with tender broccoli, shredded carrots, and a hint of nutmeg, all cooked together with melted cheese. It's so delicious and easy to make!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (5)

Cafe Rio {Copycat} Sweet Pulled Pork

Perfectly sweet and tender, pulled pork is the absolute best when it comes to meat for your meal! This tried and true recipe is definitely one for the books!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (6)

Chick fil A Copycat Frosted Lemonade

5 from 2 votes

A delicious and creamy frozen lemonade that tastes just like Chick-fil-A! This drink is so refreshing and perfect for summer!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (7)

Fuji Apple Chicken Salad (Panera Bread Copycat)

Spring greens get tossed with crisp apples, chicken, tomatoes, dried cranberries, crunchy pecans and feta cheese. This Panera Bread copycat Fuji apple chicken salad is a must-try! It's fresh, flavorful, and completely irresistible.

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (8)

Cherry Limeade

4 from 1 vote

This beyond-easy cherry limeade is going to become your new favorite summer drink! It is beautiful, tart, and refreshing!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (10)

Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks

4.75 from 8 votes

These copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks are insanely delicious! Fresh, buttery, and garlicky you can still have unlimited breadsticks, only these taste better!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (11)

Raspberry Rose Mickey Macarons

5 from 1 vote

Inspired by Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe in Disneyland, these raspberry rose Mickey macarons are a beautiful and delicious dessert. A light and airy shell paired with a creamy, raspberry mousse filling makes them absolutely irresistible.

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (12)

Copycat Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits

4.67 from 12 votes

Delicious Copycat Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits that are better than the real thing! So easy and fool proof and ready in 20 minutes!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (13)

Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup (Olive Garden Copycat)

4.69 from 48 votes

Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup has a thick and rich broth with shredded carrots, celery, chopped spinach and gnocchi hidden throughout. This tastes even better than the Olive Garden!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (14)

Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls with Cinnamon Honey Butter

5 from 1 vote

Delicious and soft homemade rolls that taste just like Texas Roadhouse Rolls!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (15)

Chicken Madeira

4.34 from 3 votes

Juicy chicken is covered in creamy Madeira sauce, melty cheese, mushrooms, and asparagus in this easy skillet recipe! Chicken Madeira brings all of those delicious Cheesecake Factory flavors right to your kitchen!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (16)

Copycat Olive Garden Salad

5 from 3 votes

Copycat Olive Garden Salad is one of my all time favorite restaurant salads ever! And now you can have this bright zingy incredible salad at home!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (17)

Chili’s Copycat Skillet Queso

3.90 from 10 votes

This Chili's Copycat Skillet Queso combines smooth Velveeta cheese that melts magically with flavorful chili and Mexican spices in a skillet to pure queso perfection, hands down one of the best copycat recipes EVER! A super easy appetizer that will disappear faster than it took to make it.

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (18)

Monte Cristo Sandwich (Disneyland Copycat)

4.50 from 2 votes

Get ready for the best Disneyland food out there with this copycat Monte Cristo sandwich!! The melted cheese combined with delicious turkey and ham sandwiched in crispy bread, all dipped into delicious raspberry jam… It's enough to make anyone's mouth water!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (19)

KFC Coleslaw (Copycat)

4.67 from 3 votes

KFC Coleslaw is the perfect summer side dish and tastes exactly like the real thing! It takes minutes to throw together with crunchy cabbage and carrots and is so creamy delicious!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (20)

Disneyland Copycat Churro Toffee

5 from 1 vote

This churro toffee is covered in delicious white chocolate, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, and leaves your mouth watering after just one bite! It's better than the stuff found at Disneyland, AND you can make it at home!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (21)

Copycat Bang Bang Shrimp

5 from 1 vote

This Copycat Bang Bang Shrimp is a replica of everyone’s favorite shrimp appetizer! Sweet shrimp are fried until crispy, and then tossed in a spicy, creamy mayo, and topped with chives. Perfect for sharing!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (22)

White Chocolate Blondies with Maple Cream Sauce {Applebee’s Copycat}

4 from 1 vote

Warm out of the oven white chocolate blondies that get topped with a scoop of ice cream and drizzled with a maple cream sauce. This is one amazing dessert!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (23)

Copycat Chick fil A Lemonade

5 from 2 votes

This Copycat Chick fil A Lemonade is just what you need to quench your summertime thirst! Super easy it's a sweet n' tart drink that is so refreshing!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (24)

Chili’s Copycat Cajun Chicken Pasta

I have been getting this cajun chicken pasta for years. I even made it a few years back, but nothing was as close as this recipe was! This tastes just like the real thing. Try it yourself and see!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (25)

Copycat Chick-fil-A Nuggets and Chick-fil-A sauce

These Chick-fil-a nuggets taste just like the real thing! They are perfectly crispy and salty with the slightest hint of sweetness. Pair them with the Chick-fil-a sauce and make the perfect family meal!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (26)

Swig Sugar Cookies

5 from 1 vote

Look no more; this is the best copycat recipe out there for the famous Swig sugar cookie!These Swig sugar cookies are perfectly soft and topped with the most delightfullysweet frosting that you will ever try. You will definitely not be able to stop at just one!

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The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (27)

Cafe Rio {Copycat} Cilantro Ranch Dressing

5 from 2 votes

This is the exact same dressing as Cafe Rio's. If I had them side by side I wouldn't be able to tell a difference.

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Originally posted on April 4, 2019

Updated on May 24, 2022

About Alyssa Rivers

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Alyssa Rivers and the food blogger behind The Recipe Critic. The blog launched in 2012 as a place to share my passion for cooking. I love trying new things and testing them out with my family. Each recipe is tried and true, family-tested and approved.

Read More About Me

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6 Comments

  1. thank you for these recipes, Chick Fil A chicken sandwich especially, since that’s the one that I know best from all of these

    Reply

  2. I cant wait to try this. I was never a salad fan before, but now I started loving it. So love trying different salads and dressing. It looks awesome!!

    Reply

  3. Popeyes red beans and rice is great.dont see a recipe.
    Cajun rice is great!
    Has to be left over chilled rice

    Reply

  4. have you ever had any luck copying the Knorr Newburg Sauce packet that was discontinued several years ago ?

    Reply

    1. I haven’t copied that recipe yet. I will add it to the list to try out. Thank you for sharing and following along with me!

      Reply

  5. I love cakes..this list so nice and looking so beautiful cake.i used to bake cakes but till now i didn’t try such one..i will try these recipes..i am very interest in trying different recipes and different taste..i used to travel for different tastes especially for cakes..because i just love it..thank you so much for this new recipes and specially i have to say about the mask, its so innovative and awesome.

    Reply

The Best Copycat Recipes - The Recipe Critic (2024)

FAQs

Who is the recipe critic? ›

Alyssa Rivers | The Recipe Critic (@alyssa_therecipecritic) • Instagram photos and videos.

What is olive garden salad made of? ›

Olive Garden starts with bagged pre-cut lettuce, adds some cut onions, cut tomatoes and a few canned black olives and pepperoncini and croutons - just like this recipe. Really? Come on!

When was the first recipe written? ›

The earliest known written recipes date to 1730 BC and were recorded on cuneiform tablets found in Mesopotamia. Other early written recipes date from approximately 1600 BC and come from an Akkadian tablet from southern Babylonia. There are also works in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs depicting the preparation of food.

Who is the most feared food critic? ›

New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells has been called the most feared food writer in America. He can make or break a restaurant with the power of one of his reviews. When he goes out, he does so in secret, making reservations under fake names because he doesn't want restaurants to know that he's coming.

Who is the most famous food critic? ›

Some of the most well-known and respected food critics include Anton Ego, Jonathan Gold, Ruth Reichl, and Frank Bruni. Each of these individuals has made significant contributions to the world of food criticism, whether through their writing, their television appearances, or their influence on the industry as a whole.

Why is olive garden salad so good? ›

The Ingredients

However, what truly sets this salad apart is the signature Olive Garden dressing. Made with a blend of herbs, oil, and vinegar, this dressing adds a burst of zesty flavor to the salad, making it a true standout.

Is the food at Olive Garden made from scratch? ›

Our soup and sauce masters create dishes by hand and from scratch, every day. With fresh, whole ingredients like kale, peppers and squash. Because they know cooking that way – the Italian way- everything tastes better. to everything they make.

Does Olive Garden make their meals from scratch? ›

It wouldn't be unreasonable to guess that Olive Garden, the massive Italian-American restaurant chain with over 900 locations, follows a similar process. But by most accounts, the majority of items on Olive Garden's menu are made in-house, from scratch, on a daily basis — including its signature soups.

What is the oldest known cooked food? ›

A recent study found what could be the earliest known evidence of ancient cooking: the leftovers of a fish dinner from 780,000 years ago. Cooking helped change our ancestors. It helped fuel our evolution and gave us bigger brains.

What is the oldest dish in the world? ›

Nettle Pudding

Originating in 6000 BCE, England; it is the oldest dish of the world that's rich in nutrients. Nettle pudding is made with stinging nettles (wild leafy plant), breadcrumbs, suet, onions, and other herbs and spices. This dish is steam cooked until it attains a mousse-like consistency.

What is the first food ever cooked? ›

Humanity's earliest known cooked meal was a 6.5-foot fish | CNN.

What are the 5 elements in a standard recipe? ›

  1. Yield. The yield tells the number and size of servings the recipe will make.
  2. List of Ingredients & Amounts.
  3. Step By Step Directions for Mixing & Handling.
  4. Equipment (Container Size & Type)
  5. Temperature & Time.

What does yield mean in 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.

Who is the guy who makes weird recipes on Tiktok? ›

B. Dylan Hollis (@bdylanhollis) Official. TikTok.

What is the recipe book scandal? ›

A cookbook by former MasterChef contestant Elizabeth Haigh has been pulled from circulation over claims she plagiarised the work of another chef. Fellow cook Sharon Wee claimed Haigh's book Makan "copied or paraphrased" recipes and anecdotes from her 2012 book, Cooking in a Nonya Kitchen.

Who is the guy that cooks from old cookbooks? ›

cookbook recipes new life. You never know what B. Dylan Hollis might be cooking.

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