Best Copycat Restaurant Recipes (90+ Tested at Home)

If you’ve ever come home from a restaurant meal already trying to figure out how to make it yourself, this page is for you. I’ve spent the last several years recreating my favorite restaurant dishes at home, and these are the copycat recipes that worked – the ones my family asks for over and over, the ones that turn out as good as (and sometimes better than) the originals.

Below are my best copycat restaurant recipes organized by chain. Click any title to get the full recipe with ingredients, step-by-step instructions, and the specific tricks I’ve learned to make each one taste right. Most take 30-60 minutes. All have been tested at least three times in my kitchen.

What’s on this page: 90+ tested copycat recipes from 14 restaurants and influencers, sorted by what’s working best (most-loved by readers). Save this page – I update it whenever I publish new recipes.

Last updated: June 2026

Jump to Your Favorite Restaurant

These are the recipes that readers are searching for, making, and sharing most often.

  1. Olive Garden Braised Beef Tortellini Recipe (Better Than the Restaurant) (Olive Garden)
  2. BJ’s Salted Caramel Pizookie Recipe (BJ’s Brewhouse)
  3. Olive Garden Braised Beef and Tortellini Recipe (Olive Garden)
  4. Fresh Kitchen Creamy White Ginger Sauce Recipe (Fresh Kitchen)
  5. BJ’s Baked Ziti Recipe (BJ’s Brewhouse)
  6. Olive Garden Broccoli Recipe (Olive Garden)
  7. Johnny Carino’s Skilletini Recipe (Johnny Carino’s)
  8. Cheesecake Factory Meatballs Recipe (Cheesecake Factory)
  9. Bj’s Brewhouse Brussel Sprouts Recipe (BJ’s Brewhouse)
  10. Bj’s Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe (BJ’s Brewhouse)

Olive Garden Copycat Recipes

Olive Garden is where most of us first fell in love with Italian-American comfort food. Their breadsticks, alfredo, and braised beef tortellini are some of the most-recreated restaurant dishes on the internet, and for good reason. These are my favorite Olive Garden copycats from the blog.

Brand hub: All Olive Garden Recipes →

BJ’s Brewhouse Copycat Recipes

BJ’s Brewhouse is criminally underrated as a copycat target. Their salted caramel pizookie alone is worth recreating at home, but their entire menu (avocado egg rolls, parmesan crusted chicken, chicken tortilla soup) translates beautifully to a home kitchen.

Brand hub: All BJ’s Brewhouse Recipes →

Cheesecake Factory Copycat Recipes

Cheesecake Factory has one of the most cult-followed menus in American casual dining. Their avocado egg rolls, brown bread, chicken madeira, and bang bang chicken and shrimp are constant requests from my readers. I recently expanded to 9 Cheesecake Factory copycats covering most of their iconic dishes.

Texas Roadhouse Copycat Recipes

Texas Roadhouse built its reputation on those legendary yeast rolls with cinnamon butter, killer ribs, and that proprietary steak seasoning. I broke down their full menu and published copycats for the dishes that translate best to a home kitchen. Their ranch dressing is genuinely better than what you can buy bottled.

Cracker Barrel Copycat Recipes

Cracker Barrel is Southern comfort food incarnate. Their hash brown casserole, chicken and dumplings, buttermilk biscuits, country fried steak, and sweet potato casserole are the kind of dishes that taste like Sunday dinner at grandma’s house. I tested every one of these copycats until they were family-approved.

Fresh Kitchen Copycat Recipes

Fresh Kitchen’s bowls and sauces have a fresh, vegetable-forward approach that’s hard to recreate elsewhere. Their creamy white ginger sauce is particularly addictive.

Johnny Carino’s Copycat Recipes

Johnny Carino’s is one of those regional Italian chains with deeply devoted fans. Their skilletini in particular has a flavor profile that’s worth the effort to reproduce.

Joanna Gaines Copycat Recipes

Joanna Gaines isn’t a restaurant – she’s the queen of comfort food cookbooks. Her hush puppies and peppermint bark feel like family favorites.

Round Table Pizza Copycat Recipes

Round Table Pizza’s sauce has a specific tang and sweetness that long-time fans recognize anywhere. Worth recreating if you grew up with their pizzas.

  • Round Table Pizza Sauce Recipe

    When it comes to unforgettable pizza, the sauce is always the star. Round Table Pizza has earned a loyal following&helli

Bahama Breeze Copycat Recipes

Bahama Breeze brings Caribbean flavors to the casual dining space. Their crab dip and seafood dishes are reliable crowd-pleasers.

  • Bahama Breeze Crab Dip Recipe

    If you’ve ever dined at Bahama Breeze and found yourself swooning over their famous crab and three cheese dip, you

Wendy’s Copycat Recipes

Wendy’s has limited copycat opportunities because their menu is so simple – but specific items like their SpongeBob Krabby Patty sauce went viral and are worth recreating.

Mallory Ervin Copycat Recipes

Mallory Ervin’s chili recipe is from her cookbook ‘Living Fully’ and is one of the most-requested chili recipes online.

  • Mallory Ervin Chili Recipe

    Last updated: June 2026. Recipe tested and refreshed for accuracy. There’s something comforting about a warm, hearty bow

Misty Copeland Copycat Recipes

Misty Copeland’s recipes are health-conscious takes on classics. Her salmon recipe is a favorite for weeknight dinners.

  • Misty Copeland Salmon Recipe

    Last updated: June 2026. Recipe tested and refreshed for accuracy. Salmon is a timeless favorite, but when you infuse it

Kellie Rasberry Copycat Recipes

Kellie Rasberry’s mac and cheese recipe is from the Kidd Kraddick Morning Show and has its own dedicated following.

Why My Copycat Recipes Work

Every recipe on this page goes through the same testing process:

  1. Reverse engineering at the restaurant – I order the dish, take notes on flavor profile, identify likely ingredients
  2. First test in my kitchen – I make my best guess at the recipe, note what’s missing
  3. Refinement – Adjust seasoning, timing, technique. Cook again.
  4. Family review – The third test goes to my family without telling them which version. If they ask for it again, the recipe goes on the blog.
  5. Final write-up – Only family-approved recipes make it here.

That’s why every recipe has specific measurements, exact times, and the small details that matter. They come from real cooking, not a quick rewrite.

How to Use This Page

Bookmark this page and come back whenever you need restaurant-quality dinner inspiration. New recipes get added monthly. The recipes are sorted within each brand by reader popularity – the top recipes in each section are the most-tested and most-loved.

If your favorite restaurant isn’t here yet, leave a comment on any recipe and let me know what dish you want me to recreate next. I read every comment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are copycat recipes really like the restaurant’s version?

Yes, when they’re done right. Some come out identical (BJ’s Salted Caramel Pizookie, for example). Others come close – 90-95% of the way there. A handful are actually better than the restaurant version because I can use fresher ingredients and skip the compromises restaurants make for cost or shelf life. I’ll tell you in each post which category the recipe falls into.

Can I share these recipes on Pinterest?

Absolutely – Pinterest sharing is encouraged. The recipes themselves remain my own writing, but Pin away. If you’d like to feature one of my recipes on your blog or social media, please link back rather than reposting the recipe.

Why do you focus on copycat restaurant recipes specifically?

Three reasons: (1) the dishes have a specific flavor target that’s testable – either it tastes like the restaurant or it doesn’t, (2) people are already searching for these recipes daily, which means I can help, (3) eating at restaurants regularly is expensive, and recreating dishes at home is a real money-saver for families.

How often do you add new recipes?

I aim for 2-4 new copycat recipes per month, plus seasonal recipes (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter) that tend to be timely. Subscribe to email updates at the bottom of any recipe to know when new ones go up.

Do you take recipe requests?

Yes – and they’re how a lot of recipes on this page originally got created. Leave a comment on any post with what you want to see recreated. I keep a running list and tackle requests in order of how many readers ask for the same dish.

About Julia

I’m Julia. I started Julia’s Recipe in 2021 to keep track of the dishes I was cooking for my family. The blog grew from there. Read more about how I develop recipes.

Happy cooking,
Julia

J
About Julia

I'm Julia. I cook restaurant copycat recipes at home and share what works. Every recipe on this site is tested at least three times in my own kitchen before I publish it.

Read more about me →

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