The Iconic Cracker Barrel Dish Reddit Is Dying To Recreate

Copycat recipes are nothing new, and with the boom of online recipe blogs, they've only become more readily available. After all, who hasn't been out for dinner and enjoyed a specific dish they'd just love to make at home?

It's natural for those with a creative streak to want to replicate something they've seen, especially in the kitchen. Any recipe blog out there worth its salt has probably posted a copycat recipe or two, and there are entire online communities dedicated to replicating restaurant dishes. Some people even recreate recipes they've seen onscreen in TV and movies — Andrew Rea of Binging with Babish built a career on doing just that.

Copycat recipes from fast food restaurants and other large restaurant chains are some of the most popular recipes in this category. Everyone knows these dishes, and they're often simple, staple meals prepared in a specific, classic way. A perfect example of this is Cracker Barrel's meatloaf, an old-school meal that's graced many a kitchen over the years. But now, Reddit users have set their sights on another Cracker Barrel dish to make at home.

Cracker Barrel's French toast is the dish that's captured the imagination of some users on Reddit, prompting discussion as to what could be the secret to creating the restaurant's simple but satisfying take on the classic. The discussion was started on the subreddit r/TopSecretRecipes, a community dedicated to sharing, deciphering, and replicating recipes from well-known establishments.

"It really is just simple French toast," one user wrote. "The key is starting with the house brand sourdough bread." Another Redditor suggested it was sourdough from the Bay's Southern Bread, a bakery in Lebanon, Tennessee (per Wilson Post). While the bakery does sell its bread directly to the consumer, if you don't live near Lebanon, you might be out of luck. "You'll never replicate the French toast exactly unless you have their bread," the user writes. However, another Redditor in the thread disagreed, saying you just need a good quality loaf of sourdough.

Commenters generally agreed that the recipe was a simple one, though. Many agreed on nixing the cinnamon you might usually find in a French toast mixture, while one user said the batter was as minimalist as whisked eggs with nothing else added. A copycat recipe from The Simple Parent calls for just milk, eggs, vanilla, sugar, and a little salt to coat your Texas toast.

While no one seems to know the exact secret, it seems the one thing everyone can agree on is that nothing beats Cracker Barrel's French toast.