Book Review: CopyKat.com’s Dining Out at Home Cookbook: Recipes from America’s Most Popular Restaurants by Stephanie Manley

CopyKat.com is a website where one can find over 1500 recipes that duplicate famous offerings from popular restaurants (mostly chains), as well as a few from grocery stores and products on grocery store shelves that are better fresh than made from a box. The question some may ask is, “Why would you make Boston Market meatloaf at home when you can just go over to Boston Market and have it?” Good question.

Many people have visited, but do not live near, the Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, or Boston Market (among the many restaurants included in Dining Out at Home). Cravings for Outback’s Queensland Chicken and Shrimp or Rainforest Café’s Caribou Coconut Chicken (pictured) may not be strong enough to warrant the round trip to a distant restaurant.

No one can promise that the Wendy’s Chili copy you make will taste exactly like the chili you get at Wendy’s, but then again, it’s not made with chopped-up, leftover hamburgers and is, in fact, a whole lot better than the original. Home chefs are not guaranteed restaurant results, but most of the dishes are equal to the originals or close enough to satisfy that T.G.I. Friday’s Nine-Layer Dip from which one suffers.


The techniques for creating the poser dishes are not difficult, however some of the recipes are complex and require a multitude of ingredients. The time spent in the kitchen for a few of the recipes will exceed the time it takes to order dinner and eat it in the restaurant. However, for those who actually enjoy cooking, there’s lots of fun to be had in recreating popular dishes, as well as reinventing them. It’s important to remember, though, that CopyKat.com’s Dining Out at Home Cookbook recipes are not the original recipes from the source restaurants, but CopyKat.com’s version of those recipes. “No sponsorship or endorsement by, or affiliation with, the trademark owners is claimed or suggested by the author or publisher.”

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  • 1 - daretoeatapeach

    Jul 22, 2010 at 9:52 am

    It could be useful to make the dishes with healthier ingredients if you're on a diet.

  • 2 - the real bob

    Jul 22, 2010 at 9:56 am

    #1, What a great idea! These recipes can be customized in so many ways, and there's not many reasons why someone with dietary restrictions can't enjoy them.

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