Our Favorite Copycat Recipes!
February 25, 2020
If you’ve ever had a craving for a Chick-Fil-A sandwich on a Sunday, you know the definition of disappointment. Same goes for the Mac and Cheese at the six-day-a-week restaurant. If you’ve ever started pining for it on the day that they’re closed, you’ve perfected the art of delayed gratification. That’s why we culled our favorite copycat recipes to share with you – those two for starters — so you don’t have to wait, delay or experience weekly food cravings misery!
Copycat Chicken Sandwich & Mac and Cheese
This copycat recipe for a chicken filet that tastes so much like the real thing you may never use the drive-through lane again. The secret, according to Chungah who blogs for Damn Delicious, is soaking the chicken cutlets in dill pickle juice and milk. Say what?! That’s right – and for at least 30 minutes. After that, you dip your juicy cutlets in an egg mixture and shake in a bag with flour, confectioners’ sugar, salt and pepper.
And if Mac and Cheese from Chick-Fil-A is what you’re hankerin’ for, take a look at . Blogger Stephanie has been analyzing her favorite dishes for years and recreating copycat versions, so you KNOW she has quite a library of taste-alike recipes! For the creamiest mac-and-cheese ingredients, she uses American and Colby-Jack cheese, heavy cream and macaroni pasta!
Zuppa, Soup and Chili
Stephanie at CopyKat.com also has her pages of copycat recipes organized by restaurant, rather than dish name – which is helpful if you like, say, the Little Italy Meatballs from Maggiano’s or the Garlic Parmesan Wings from Wingstop.
If you are fond of the Broccoli Cheese Soup or the French Onion Soup from Panera, she’s got you covered. Ditto the Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup and the Zuppa Toscana!
If on the other hand, you fancy Wendy’s Chili, check out Tablespoon’s copycat recipes. The taste-alike chili is the kind of soup that seems to go best with fluffy scarves and mittens, and NFL football games. You can make a big batch for chilly nights, or freeze a batch for that dinnertime doorbell when friends drop in unexpectedly carrying appetites for more than appetizers!
Shrimp Recipes: A Tall Order
The Panda Express has a Honey Walnut Shrimp dish that’ll make you want to order extra just to take home – because you know there won’t be any left on your plate. Delish came up with a copycat version, using leftover rice for fried rice, and the almost-guarantee you won’t need to pick up takeout, tonight!
Bang Bang Shrimp from Bonefish Grill is one of those memorable palate-pleasers you like ordering off the menu. To make it at home, look at the recipe at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice and see if it isn’t as good as the original. The condiment: mayonnaise, hot sauce, rice vinegar and chili sauce, is a mouth-watering confluence of creamy-spicy-sour that we can’t wait to try.
Inspired by the Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut Shrimp from Red Lobster, these addicting bites of seafood soak up plenty of the piña colada sauce recipe at Taste of Home. You’ll find 26 more copycat recipes there, from pizza and cheese sticks to Red Velvet Cheesecake and Maple Butter Blondies ala Applebee’s.
Make Your Own Steak Sauce
Speaking of sauce, they say deprivation is the mother of invention – or is it necessity? Either way, Todd from Down Under in Todd’s Kitchen can’t get his hands on A1 Steak Sauce – so he makes his own. Combining ingredients like balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, chopped onions, chili sauce plus the juice of one orange (rinds, too!), he heats the conglomeration to a simmer on a stove top and stores the tasty sauce in a mason jar.
Life Imitates Bliss at Southshore
Life at the Lake is where life and bliss connect for residents of the master-planned community of Southshore, with kitchens expansive enough to please any home chef. Take a tour of the brand new homes from Century Communities, Richmond American Homes, Taylor Morrison and Toll Brothers for a taste of feeling remote, but being minutes from everything important! These ranch and two-story designs are priced between the $400s to the $700s, and are close shopping, entertainment, and Cherry Creek Schools!