Copycat Restaurant Recipes - Everything You Ever Wanted to Know

There is a lot of confusion about copycat restaurant recipes and many people believe that it is impossible to replicate the flavor of your favorite dish in the comfort of your own home.

Most of this confusion stems from the fact that there are authentic copycat restaurant recipes and bad ones. If you have ever followed a bad copycat recipe the experience might have put you off trying another, which is a shame because some copycat recipes are excellent.

Some famous recipes are very simple and easy to copy, whereas others are more tricky and might contain a few elusive ingredients that contribute the special flavor in the dish. There are copycat restaurants for all kinds of famous meals, from Kentucky fried chicken copycat recipes to McDonalds dipping sauce recipes and more.

Simple Fast Food Copycat Recipes

Some copycat recipes are not secret any more thanks to the chefs or cooks in certain restaurants, some recipes have been guessed and others are really simple to make. What about a McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich, for example?

To make this recipe, you simply cook some southern fried fish fillets and fill a hamburger bun with two of these and a slice of American cheese. The "secret dressing" is a combination of mayonnaise, thousand island dressing, sweet relish and sugar. That is all you need.

Once you realize how simple these restaurant recipes are, a lot of the mystique about them is gone and you realize you can quite easily make a near replica of this famous dish at home. McDonalds might use square breaded fish fillets and slightly sweetened hamburger buns but you will be able to make a really close copy of this sandwich.

Copycat Recipe for Outback Steakhouse Shrimp on the Barbie

This very simple recipe uses a dry rub to flavor the shrimp and then they are simply sauteed or grilled with olive oil and white wine. This is a very popular dish at the Outback Steakhouse and it is incredibly easy to recreate yourself. The following recipe makes enough to serve two people.

You will need:

1 lb jumbo shrimp
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
Splash of white wine
Olive oil

How to make it:

Combine the garlic powder, white pepper, poultry seasoning, cayenne pepper and onion powder, and then rub this mixture into the shrimp. Leave them for an hour, and then saute them in some olive oil. Add the white wine while the shrimp are sauteing.

As soon as the shrimp are pink on both sides they are done. You could also grill them, in which case use the olive oil and white wine to baste the shrimp while they cook.