10 Restaurant Foods You Can Make Better at Home

pasta penne cheese

Ever craved your favorite restaurant dish but wished it tasted a bit... better? The secret's out: many restaurant staples can be upgraded right in your own kitchen. With fresh ingredients and a personal touch, you can transform these 10 popular restaurant foods into homemade masterpieces that outshine their dine-out counterparts.

1. Cheese Quesadillas

Quesadillas
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All you need for a fabulous cheese quesadilla is a tortilla and cheese of choice. Sprinkle however much cheese you want on the tortilla, and heat in the microwave or stove. If you fancy dipping the quesadilla in guacamole, sour cream, salsa, or any other topping, add it to the side of your plate and save $15.

2. Pasta

Penne pasta in tomato sauce with chicken, tomatoes decorated with parsley on a wooden table
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"Pasta is so easy to get right. You can make amazing pasta with entirely shelf-stable ingredients, no less. For dirt cheap. It's literally one of the single best value dishes to make at home. And yet there it is at a restaurant, oddly expensive. Presumably because if it were too cheap, nobody would spend money on the pricier entrees," this pasta lover reports.

3. Avocado Toast

Avocado Toast
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Someone shared they paid $29 for avocado toast in Hawaii. Although Hawaii does have more expensive food costs than other places in the U.S., $29 is a hefty price for some seasoned avocado slathered on a few pieces of toasted bread.

4. Edamame

Edamame beans in bowl on light background. Close up view
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Edamame is always overpriced at restaurants, but I always order it. There's something satisfying about shelling the peapods before eating sushi or pad thai that keeps me doling out extra dollars for the delicious (yet expensive) soybeans.

5. Steak

Tomahawk steak and veggies on a serving board. Low key image, horizontal orientation
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"This is a big one for me. I get that steak houses are fancy and elegant and have ambiance and whatever, but their main item is dead simple to make with a small investment in equipment. Nothing a steakhouse produces is overly complicated relative to the price. I can make a steak that's just as good or better than most steak houses for the price of drinks and maybe an appetizer," a cook replies.

6. Salads

chicken salad
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Restaurants rarely make salads taste better than a homemade combo of fruit, veggies, croutons, and cheese. Yet, convenience comes into play, and sometimes, eating dishes you can make at home tastes better when a chef prepares them for you. I adore ordering salads when I dine out, although I could fix one at home for a lower price.

7. French Toast

French Toast
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Ordering French toast and breakfast items is similar to ordering salads in restaurants. You could save a profit by making French toast from scratch, considering French toast asks for eggs and bread, cream, and maybe some vanilla.

8. Burgers

burger
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A self-proclaimed burger snob admits he never orders a burger at a restaurant because he makes far better burgers than the undercooked ones restaurants try to serve him. He continues to say that homemade burgers are quicker and cheaper than those made at restaurants.

9. Hotdogs

Hotdogs
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A parent comments their child always asks for a hotdog when they go out to restaurants, but the parent says he can make a tastier, healthier batch of hotdogs for the price of one soggy, undercooked dog at a restaurant.

10. Scallops

Seafood Risotto with Scallops in a pan. Dark wooden background. Top view
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"The last time I ordered scallops in a restaurant, I think they went into a time machine and brought them back from the '60s. The cook had grabbed a fistful of scallops (I say that because they were still in the shape of his inner fist when they arrived), threw the clump of medium-small sized scallops in a stainless steel au gratin dish, dumped a ladle of butter over them and threw them under the broiler. When they took them out, they hit them with a shake of paprika, a sprig of parsley, and two small lemon wedges," a dissatisfied seafood customer recollects.

Source: Reddit.

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gumbo
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Cinnamon Sugar Toast
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phili-cheesesteak
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grandmother cooks
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