So now we know what kind of food they serve in heaven. It’s for surely gotta be the entire Cheesecake Factory menu, for surely for sure. There just cannot be anything else. It’s one of those places where the menu is a novel, and I want to order one of everything.
And yes, I’ve seen the calorie counts, but that has never stopped me! Bringing that magic home is a total game-changer.
These copycat recipes are the real deal, covering all those go-to dishes you crave. From the pastas to the salads and, of course, the desserts, you can now recreate the entire famous restaurant menu in your own kitchen.
1. Fried Mac and Cheese
What could possibly be better than a bowl of gooey mac and cheese? I’ll tell you what: deep-fried balls of it! If you have never made fried mac and cheese, now is the time to give it a try. Not only is it unbelievably delicious, but it’s also so easy to make.
There is no big chef’s secret to this one. Just make your favorite mac and cheese recipe and freeze it.
I personally like using ice cube trays to get the perfect sized bites. Once they are frozen solid, you will send them through the egg and breadcrumb bowls before carefully dropping them into hot oil.
2. Cheesecake Factory Santa Fe Salad Dressing
Once you have this recipe down, I promise you will never buy the store-bought stuff again. If you own a food processor, this dressing is super simple to throw together. The only thing to remember is to add the oil slowly.
If you are doing it by hand, you will need to mince the garlic and ginger and give the cilantro a relatively small chop. Again, make sure you whisk the oil in slowly so it has time to emulsify.
3. Creamy Chicken Soup with Artichokes and Mushrooms
At The Cheesecake Factory, soup is not usually my first choice, but this one is pretty tough to resist. I love to make this in a Dutch oven, and it begins with that familiar trio of onions, celery, and carrots.
Once those are soft, you can add in the rest of the ingredients per the recipe, which includes peas, artichokes, garlic, and chicken. The whole thing is thickened up with corn starch and needs about half an hour from beginning to end.
4. Bang Bang Shrimp
I can only guess they named this shrimp dish after it wowed them so much they were left speechless. Between the curry, peanuts, chili, shrimp, and coconut, I’m surprised they stopped with just two bangs!
The list of ingredients might seem a little long, but don’t panic. I am willing to bet that you have most of what you need at home already.
This dish also works just as well with some juicy chicken if you are not a huge fan of shrimp. And if you’re really trying to knock it out of the park, use a Thai chicken marinade for maximum flavor.
5. The Cheesecake Factory’s Chicken Taquitos
There is something just so satisfying about biting into a freshly made batch of taquitos. With the chicken, chilis, corn, and guacamole, they are definitely my go-to midnight vice.
The key to making perfect taquitos at home is making sure you don’t overfill the tortillas. Doing it that way ensures you will have an excellent ratio of crunchy shell to filling.
Feel free to leave out the cilantro, and always remember that a little drizzle of lime juice is never a bad thing.
6. Hibachi Steak with Grilled Wasabi Potatoes
If you are tired of just plain old meat and potatoes, this recipe is for you. This one uses skirt steak, and you don’t even have to marinate it. The trick for cooking a tender steak is to begin with room-temperature meat.
You should pull your steak out of the fridge about 30 to 60 minutes before you plan to cook it. Season it liberally, and make sure to let the meat rest after it’s done cooking.
7. Copycat Cheesecake Factory’s Cilantro Sauce
This one could be a little controversial. Do you love cilantro or do you hate it? It can either be a great enhancer of flavor or a total ruiner of meals.
For some people, it actually tastes like soap, so making a sauce out of it is a pretty bold move! It has a taste that is similar to the tamarind dipping sauce, and if you are a fan of cilantro, you will want to put this on everything.
8. Chicken Madeira – Cheesecake Factory Copycat
Chicken and mushrooms in a creamy sauce, topped with melted cheese and asparagus, is precisely as good as it sounds.
Mushrooms are just so wonderful to work with and they impart a fantastic flavor throughout any dish. They are really the key to this recipe, so I would not recommend leaving them out.
You will only need a couple of pans for this dish, and everything gets combined at the end to serve. This is perfect with some creamy garlic mashed potatoes.
9. Cheesecake Factory’s Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
This recipe is full of chicken, garlic, spinach, and sundried tomatoes, and it’s absolutely bursting with color and flavor. I know it is quicker to just open a jar, but I promise you, this recipe is so easy. It uses fresh ingredients to create a fantastic sauce.
You can have it on the table in the time it takes for the pasta to cook. I like to use a variety of cherry tomatoes for my sauce; using different colors gives you little pops of sweetness throughout.
10. Cheesecake Factory Tex Mex Egg Rolls (Copycat)
These great little snacks can be either fried or baked. They should be eaten right away so you can enjoy the most crunch possible. The filling is super simple to put together and it all comes together in one pot.
Just be careful that you don’t overfill the wrappers, otherwise, the filling will spill out during the cook. Because I like mine extra spicy, I make a chipotle avocado sauce and sometimes even add jalapenos.
11. Cheesecake Factory Corn Cakes (Copycat)
I am a big fan of corn, and I am a big fan of cake, so it’s natural that these are a favorite of mine.
The sweet and crisp pops of corn get enhanced perfectly by the incredible tomatillo salsa and the southwestern sauce. This recipe is super simple to whip up and it only takes a few minutes.
12. Cheesecake Factory Oreo Cheesecake (Copycat)
This recipe is extremely similar to the classic, original cheesecake. The main difference here is the Oreo crust and all the crushed Oreos that get folded through the filling.
You should always make sure to start any cheesecake with room temperature ingredients, and remember to be gentle when you are mixing. If you end up incorporating too much air, the final texture will be more sponge-like instead of dense and creamy.
13. Easy Cajun Jambalaya Pasta
This recipe includes an excellent method for making your own homemade cajun spice. I would bet you even have most of the herbs for it on hand already. Making it yourself means you can adjust the heat level to your own personal liking.
If you have never had jambalaya before, you are in for a real treat. The combination of sausage, chicken, and shrimp is a total dream team, and tossing it all with pasta is just genius.
To avoid getting rubbery shrimp, add them into the pot for just the last few minutes of cooking, not in with the chicken.
14. Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake
Strawberry, pineapple, banana, Reese’s, caramel apple, chocolate… the list of cheesecake flavors just goes on and on. But it all began with this classic. Having this perfect cheesecake recipe in your back pocket ensures you will always have a winning dessert on hand.
Trust me on this; it is creamy, rich, decadent, nutty, smooth, sweet, and unbelievably delicious.
I love making a plain cheesecake because it means I can play around with it. Maybe you have some leftover salted caramel, hot fudge sauce, bananas foster, or baked apples you can throw in. The options are truly endless.
15. Copycat Cheesecake Factory Thai Lettuce Wraps
We all know that a meal at The Cheesecake Factory is not a light one. The cheesecake by itself is a meal! So it is perfectly okay to choose something a little lighter for a starter, like these gorgeous lettuce wraps.
I much prefer these wraps over other similar dishes because this recipe uses chicken tenderloins instead of ground chicken. I just really like the juiciness you get with a chunk of grilled chicken.
16. Cheesecake Factory Avocado Egg Rolls (Copycat)
Crunchy egg rolls served with a tangy dipping sauce is one of my favorite starters of all time. The egg rolls themselves are pretty simple. They are just avocados, sun-dried tomatoes, red onions, cilantro, and salt.
If you decide to use store-bought egg roll wrappers, you can have this amazing starter on the table in only 10 minutes.
17. Tamarind Cashew Dipping Sauce
As good as the avocado egg rolls are, this dipping sauce is what I really reach for. The combination of sweet honey with creamy cashews and the sweet-sour tamarind is just to die for.
For the absolute best results, you should be sure to find tamarind paste. It’s a great mixture of sweet, sour, tangy, and tart, and it is ready to be used right away.
Other than warming up a handful of ingredients, the only other thing you will need for this sauce is a blender. It should keep in the fridge for a good couple of weeks.
18. Better than Cheesecake Factory Luau Salad
I have never actually tried this salad at The Cheesecake Factory, but I will absolutely be making it for every BBQ I go to this summer. The dressing by itself is reason enough to make this salad. It has balsamic, pineapple juice, sesame oil, and honey.
But the salad itself is just so wonderfully unique. It uses fresh mandarins and pineapple chunks along with the chicken and lettuce. It’s light, colorful, and it will not last long on the table!
19. Raspberry Lemonade (Cheesecake Factory Copycat)
When I’m at dinner, I like to order a nice glass of wine to go with my meal. But during the day, I will almost always order the raspberry lemonade. It is just so sweet, so full of flavor, and it uses real raspberries!
I personally like it a little bit thicker, but you can feel free to top it off with some extra water or Sprite to lighten it up. And yes, I have been known to add a little booze in the afternoon. Vodka and rum both work especially well.
20. Copycat Cheesecake Factory BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad
Now this is a salad I can get behind. Lettuce, tomatoes, corn, beans, avocado, BBQ chicken, AND air-fried onion rings? Can you even call it a salad?
The dressing is the absolute perfect partner for the BBQ chicken. It’s just a quick mixture of sour cream, BBQ sauce, ranch seasoning, and a little lemon juice.
It looks fantastic with all the toppings laid out on top of the lettuce, but I prefer to toss mine in a big bowl. That way everything gets a decent coating of dressing, and every bite has something fun in it.
21. Banana Cream Cheesecake
Nine times out of ten, this is the banana beauty that I will order. It is just perfect. The combination of fresh bananas with the creamy cheesecake and that wonderful Bavarian cream on top is truly second to none.
I love that it uses vanilla wafers for the base to get that banana pudding taste. If I bring a slice home, I usually drizzle some salted caramel over the top for good measure.
22. Copycat Cheesecake Factory Red Velvet Cheesecake
One thing that is certain about red velvet is that it really stands out. You just can’t deny the vibrant color and how amazing it looks with a layer of cream cheese frosting on top.
I am a big fan of the dark contrast from the Oreo base, but you could always use something lighter if you prefer. But if you can, you should always try to use gel food coloring. The liquid kind can sometimes affect the outcome if you end up using too much.
23. Grilled Artichokes with Garlic Asiago Dipping Sauce
Fresh artichokes have a flavor that is slightly nutty and similar to asparagus or Brussels sprouts. They will need to be boiled until they are tender and then you grill them for some added char.
When they are fresh off the grill, I like to sprinkle mine with a little bit of sea salt. The dipping sauce is just as easy to whip up. All you have to do is throw it in a blender until it’s smooth.
24. Cheesecake Factory Brown Bread
Have you ever noticed that even the kids will reach for the brown bread when you’re at The Cheesecake Factory? Would it surprise you to learn that it has espresso, cocoa, and molasses inside?
This bread is just slightly sweet, fantastic with a little pad of butter, and great with the added oat topping.
You will ideally want to have a mixer for this recipe since it needs a good 10 minutes for the dough to get to the right consistency. And you shouldn’t be afraid to add another spoonful of flour if it ends up feeling too sticky.
25. Pineapple Upside Down Cheesecake – Cheesecake Factory CopyCat
As if cheesecake was not already decadent enough, now it is being sandwiched between two pineapple upside-down cakes?! You know that I had to give this one a try!
The cakes are so light and buttery, and the pineapple is sweet, tart, and totally amazing with the creamy cheesecake filling.
Since you will be handling the cheesecake, I would suggest that you make it the day before so it can set in the fridge overnight. That will make it nice and firm while you are getting it into place.
This recipe suggests that you trim the cheesecake flat before placing the three components together, but I like to add a thin layer of pineapple frosting in between.
It will flatten out any bumps without losing any cake and it makes sure the layers stick together and stay in a perfect slice.