Fast food companies and restaurants often keep their recipes under lock and key. Think top-secret blends of herbs and spices, proprietary sauces and signature flavours you can't quite put your finger on. Recently, though, several companies have been generous enough to share their classic recipes for us to try at home. Here are the official recipes for IKEA meatballs, Disney Park beignets, a sausage and egg McMuffin, McDonald's hash browns, Greggs' bakes, and more.
A McDonald’s breakfast isn't really complete without at least one hash brown on the side. The fast food giant shared the secrets of how to make its hash browns online, and all you need is a potato, an egg, seasoning and olive oil. Made by combining grated potato with whisked egg, and then fried until golden, they're easier to whip up than you might think.
The chain also shared its recipe for its iconic sausage and egg McMuffin, usually found on UK and US menus. And there needn't be any cut-off time for enjoying this popular McDonald's breakfast sandwich at home. We reckon it's a good shout at any time of day. The hardest bit (which isn't really tricky at all) is shaping the sausage meat into a round patty. Frying pans at the ready, everyone.
The home of PERi-PERi chicken (spicy Portuguese-style chicken), Nando’s has stores in three US states and Washington DC and a cult following in the UK. And its trademark dish is wonderfully simple to recreate at home. All you’ll need is a bottle of PERi-PERi sauce and chicken thighs. Chicken wings would work too.
No Nando’s meal is complete without its famously delicious side dishes, including the flavour-packed spicy rice. Luckily the chain has posted the recipe for the dish (click through the post to find it), so you can serve it alongside the PERi-PERi chicken or just devour a big bowlful. Basmati rice is cooked with chopped tomatoes, garlic, chilli, pepper, onion and spices. The same Instagram link also has the recipe for Macho Peas, the chain's buttery, herby side dish.
Some people love the global Swedish furniture store’s meatballs so much they visit just to eat them (perhaps picking up some tealights while there). Now you can bring the IKEA café to your home as the company has released a recipe for the dish in the form of flat-pack instructions. The Swedish meatballs contain minced beef and pork and the 'secret' ingredient: soy sauce.
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OK, you could just make some cookies and scrape the raw dough out of the bowl – but that isn’t really recommended. It’s edible cookie dough that goes into what’s arguably Ben & Jerry’s most iconic ice cream flavour. It’s made safe to eat by heating the flour and whisking with brown sugar butter, vanilla, cream and chocolate chips. Add to homemade ice cream or just devour as it is. Find the written recipe here.
Pret A Manger, the coffee chain mainly based in the UK with a few locations in the US, gave away some of its secrets by sharing this coffee and ice cream frappe. You’ll need a blender to make this, plus some whipped cream or grated chocolate to garnish. The company also shared a recipe for the perfect espresso martini (not served in stores) if you fancy something with more of a punch.
Lunchtime favourite Pret A Manger is also well-known for its sandwiches, salads and hot food, including this oozy and comforting macaroni cheese. Here’s the recipe to make the cheesy pasta and cauliflower dish at home. You could even add in bolognese, kale or prosciutto to copy the different variations it offers in store – there are tips on different additions within the recipe post.
When Pret introduced its dark chocolate vegan cookie, it was an instant hit. Have a go at making the decadent dairy-free treat for your morning coffee break. It's laced with almond pieces and chunks of dark chocolate. Lots of fans have tried it out at home and given the recipe their approval.
Popular Japanese-inspired restaurant chain wagamama, which is based in the UK and has a few US outposts, ran a ‘wok from home’ series on social media showing how to make some of its star menu items in your kitchen. This includes the popular yaki soba, a delicious and satisfying soba noodle dish with chicken and prawns. The zingy flavours of ginger, spring onions and Worcestershire and soy sauces are complemented by a fragrant topping of pickled ginger, crispy fried onions and sesame seeds.
Fans of wagamama are probably already familiar with the chain's comforting, warmly spiced chicken katsu curry. The dish consists of panko breadcrumbed chicken, fragrant curry sauce and rice. You can swap chicken with aubergine or sweet potato, and chicken stock with veg stock, to make its vegan yasai katsu curry.
In episode three of 'wok from home', learn how to make the spicy chicken stir-fry firecracker curry. It’s a great dish to cook for the family as it's packed with vegetables – and flavour. You can make it spicier or milder according to everyone’s preferences, and switch chicken for tofu or just some extra veggies to make it vegan.
Anyone who's stayed at a DoubleTree by Hilton will probably be familiar with the soft, chocolate-studded cookies offered as a welcome when you check in. Now the global hotel chain has released the official recipe for its chocolate chip cookie so you can enjoy one (or two) when you're not travelling. Many people have tried to recreate it at home in the past but now they can be sure of the exact quantities and ingredients to make the warm, gooey treat perfectly.
UK favourite Pizza Express posted instructions online to make several of its recipes, including that enduring classic, Margherita pizza. It doesn’t require anything out of the ordinary: just plain flour, water, sugar, yeast and olive oil to make the dough. The topping is passata, mozzarella, oregano and basil, and the entire dish can be ready within an hour. We'll leave it up to you if you want to go half-pizza, half-salad – or devour a whole one by yourself.
Perhaps even more famous than its Margherita pizzas are Pizza Express' signature dough balls, served with a dip of soft garlic butter. Make them at home with this recipe that proves sometimes it's the simplest things that are the best. The link also has recipes for different dips, cheese and bacon dough balls and the seasonal snow balls, given a festive twist with cinnamon and icing sugar.
UK bakery chain Greggs is famed for its pastry-wrapped treats including this sausage, cheese and bean melt – a hot, cheesy puff pastry parcel. Now you can make it at home thanks to a simple video tutorial. All you need is puff pastry, baked beans, frankfurters, grated cheese and an egg. Leave out the sausages or use a plant-based alternative for a vegetarian version (or, for vegan, use dairy-free pastry and cheese and skip the egg).
British bakery Greggs is solving more lunchtime dilemmas with other recipe videos for bestselling items. The steak bake recipe is slightly more complicated because you need to first make the meat filling using diced beef, stock and cornflour. Having said that, it's by no means outside of a kitchen novice’s capabilities.
Here's another treat from the bakery chain's 'Greggs It Yourself' series: a creamy, peppery chicken bake, wrapped in golden puff pastry. It’s crisp on the outside and stuffed with diced chicken in a white sauce made with double cream and cream cheese. Here's the recipe so you can try it yourself.
Add a sprinkle of magic to breakfast or brunch by recreating the chocolate, peanut butter, banana French toast from Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel in California (it's a favourite at the onsite PCH Grill). The indulgent dish features enriched brioche-like challah bread, ripe bananas, chocolate chips, peanut butter, cinnamon and chocolate milk, and is big enough to feed a family of four.
Here’s an idea for lazy days – put on your favourite Disney film and fry up a batch of these churro bites. Churros are a favourite at Disney parks across the world, and you may already have all the ingredients for these in your cupboard. A word of warning, though: these finger-shaped doughnuts, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, are rather moreish.
This grilled cheese sandwich recipe means people can recreate a popular snack served at Woody’s Lunchbox in Disney's Hollywood Studios, Florida. It's made using two slices of artisan bread with a gloriously oozy filling of Cheddar, provolone, garlic mayonnaise and cream cheese. It’s toasted in a skillet until the bread is golden and the cheese has melted.
How can you possibly improve on beignets, the typically round, puffed-up fried doughnuts from Louisiana? Shape them like Mickey Mouse, of course. These Mickey Mouse beignets are a favourite in the parks, inspired by New Orleans–based Disney movie The Princess and the Frog (the heroine, Princess Tiana, makes a batch of beignets). You’ll need a couple of hours to make these as the yeast has to work its magic. If you don’t have a Mickey Mouse cutter, cut around a larger cup and a smaller cup to recreate the face and ears.
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Whopper fans rejoice: Burger King France released a short tutorial on social media showing how to create what it dubbed the Quarantine Whopper. The ingredients, to be assembled in this order, are a bottom bun, beef patty, cornichons, ketchup, slices of raw onion and tomato, lettuce, mayonnaise and a top bun.
US-based burger chain Shake Shack, which also has locations in the UK, takes its fries to the next level with this oozy cheese sauce. Make the dip/pouring sauce at home with the recipe video. It has a mix of American and Cheddar cheese with extra spice from jalapeños, onion, peppercorns and white wine vinegar. Cream and white wine are the secrets to its silkiness.
Guacamole is described as ‘extra’ at Chipotle – and the Mexican-inspired chain is referring to the taste as much as the price. A dollop of the avocado dip is considered an essential addition to tacos, burritos and pretty much everything else. The US-based chain (which also has several UK restaurants) shared this recipe video that gives away its secrets to the perfect guac, including the addition of jalapeños, fresh coriander and lime juice.
These are the top-secret recipes we'd love to get our hands on