We’ve all heard of copycat recipes – recipes from your favorite restaurants that you can make at home! You might be wondering, why would I dirty up my kitchen attempting to recreate my favorite food/drink when I can hop in the car and just buy it? While we admit this might be the “easier” way, hear us out!
Why You Should Be a Copycat
- Restaurants often carry items only during certain seasons. Does your favorite coffee happen to be a particular one that’s only available in the fall, and is gone by the time winter hits? Don’t wait around another year for it to come back – make it at home!
- It saves money. It’s no secret that making recipes at home is much easier on the pocketbook than buying them from a restaurant.
- You’ll know exactly what’s going in it. Who even knows what they put in restaurant food half the time. When you make it at home, you can feel good knowing that you’ve hand-selected your ingredients.
- It’s fun. Trust us, it’s extremely satisfying when you create a copycat recipe that tastes just as good (and oftentimes BETTER) than the one you can get in a restaurant! Plus, it’s super fun to show off your culinary skills to your friends – they’ll be impressed!
Now let’s take a look at our copycat recipes!
Starbucks Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai Tea Latte
For the Chai Tea:
Ice
3 oz chai tea concentrate
4 oz milk
3 oz pumpkin cream cold foam (see recipe below)
For the Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp pumpkin puree
2 tsp Member’s Mark™ Pumpkin Pie Spice
Pour chai tea concentrate in a glass filled with ice. Pour milk into glass. Stir the concentrate and milk.
In a separate cup, mix the heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice with a milk frother. Once combined, pour on top of chai tea. Garnish with cinnamon if desired.
Chick-fil-A Peach Milkshake
2 cups vanilla ice cream
½ cup milk
1 cup frozen or canned peaches
1 tbsp sugar
In a blender, blend ice cream, milk, peaches, and sugar. Blend together until smooth. Pour in a glass and top with whipped cream and cherries.
Panera Bread Autumn Squash Soup
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 pounds butternut squash, chopped (about 7 cups)
3 small carrots, chopped
3 cups vegetable broth
2 cups apple cider or apple juice
½ tsp Member’s Mark™ Curry Powder
¼ tsp Member’s Mark™ Ground Cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
½ cup pumpkin puree
2 tbsp butter
2 ounces cream cheese
1 tbsp brown sugar
Salt to taste
In a large pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onions and saute until translucent.
Add squash, carrots, broth, apple cider/ juice, and spices.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10-15 minutes, or unit squash and carrots are tender. Remove from heat and add pumpkin puree, butter, cream cheese, and brown sugar.
Puree with an immersion blender. Blend until smooth.
Taco Bell Nacho Fries
For the Fries
1 bag of frozen French fries, OR 2 large potatoes sliced into French fries
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp Member’s Mark™ Ground Cumin
1 tsp Member’s Mark™ Garlic Powder
1 tsp Member’s Mark™ Onion Powder
1 tsp Member’s Mark™ Oregano Seasoning
1 tsp Tone’s® Taco Seasoning
1 tsp Member’s Mark™ Spanish Paprika
Member’s Mark™ Sea Salt Grinder
Member’s Mark™ Ground Pepper
Cook fries as directed on bag. If you’re making fries from scratch, cut the potatoes and air fry them for 10-12 minutes at 380 F.
While fries are cooking, mix all the seasonings together until well combined.
Once the French fries are cooked, add them to the seasonings and toss. Mix until all the potatoes are covered with seasoning.
Serve with nacho cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, and the rest of your nacho must-haves!
Have the itch to create even more copycat recipes from your own kitchen? We also like this Gingerbread Latte (a Starbucks copycat), Frisco Melt (a Steak ‘N Shake copycat), Chicken Burrito Bowl (a Chipotle copycat), and this Tostada Pizza (a California Pizza Kitchen copycat)! Which ones are you going to try?
