All the Best Dupe Products From Our Taste Tests

There’s nothing quite like the dopamine rush of finding a cheap copy of that coveted luxury grocery item, the store-bought version of your favorite fast food condiment, or the Girl Scout cookie knockoff you can pig out on year-round. You feel smart, savvy, superior to all the ignorant losers (me) still paying ten bucks for artisanal pasta sauce or hoarding McDonald’s ketchup packets. 

When it comes to dupe products, the internet likes to make all sorts of claims—and we love to test them. We’re pretty up front about what deserves the hype and what doesn’t. For example: Sure, Aldi’s Irish Butter tastes pretty good, but it’s not a Kerrygold dupe. (Sorry!) Great Value Buttery Rounds may look like Ritz Crackers, but sadly they don’t have the same irresistible buttery softness. Here’s our ultimate list of the best Sporked-approved grocery and fast food dupes you can find, which we’ll continue to update as we go! 

The following article contains affiliate links that may generate a small commission to us when you make a purchase through the link. Learn more about how we work with affiliates here.


Benton’s Peanut Butter Filled Cookies

Best Tagalong Dupe

Benton’s Peanut Butter Filled Cookies

Not to be controversial, but I love Benton’s PB Filled Cookies, Aldi’s version of Tagalongs, almost more than the real thing. Creamy peanut butter filling? Check. Crunchy cookie with an extremely satisfying crumble and bite? Check. A thick chocolate coating that swathes the cookie with rich and luxurious fudge? Check. That said, rumor has it that Benton’s changes their cookie recipes a little too frequently. Guess we’ll just have to keep tasting the cookies on a regular basis. Oh, well. 

Rear our full ranking of the best Aldi cookies

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

best aldi pasta sauce specially selected marinara rao's

Best Rao’s Marinara Dupe

Aldi Specially Selected Marinara

Does it pain me to add an $8 pasta sauce to my grocery cart every time I check out? Yes, but I do it anyway, because I love how Rao’s rich, homemade marinara tastes like it’s been simmering with fresh herbs and fatty oil for hours. But, since Ralph’s is my go-to grocery store, I don’t have a history of grabbing Aldi’s Specially Selected Premium Marinara, a Sporked-certified dupe for Rao’s. At half the price, this quality product mimics the slightly oily, tangy, perfectly salted richness of Rao’s restaurant-quality red sauce. Don’t be like me, okay? Just shop at Aldi. 

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Just Bare Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast Bites

Best Chick-fil-A Nuggets Dupe

Just Bare Lightly Breaded Chicken Bites

I’m a chicken nugget girl. And while I don’t like to give my money Chic-fil-A, the unfortunate truth is that I have yet to taste a better chicken nugget. So I took the task of buying a whole bunch of frozen breaded chicken “bites” from various brands to find this particular fast food dupe very seriously. While I found that many chicken bites are quite yummy (Kirkland Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast Chunks, you’ve changed my life), the greasy, umami, dill pickle quality of Just Bare Lightly Breaded Chicken Bites captures Chic-fil-A’s addictive essence outright. If you, too, crave that 12-piece Chic-fil-A meal but try to avoid eating there, give these a shot. 

Credit: Merc / Target

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Fritos Japaleno Cheddar Cheese Dip

Best Taco Bell Nacho Cheese Dupe

Fritos Japaleno Cheddar Cheese Dip

We have a whole article dedicated to breaking down Taco Bell sauce dupes, FYI. But let’s focus on the ones that really get it right—starting with Fritos Jalapeno Cheddar Flavored Cheese Dip, a great dupe for Taco Bell’s nacho cheese sauce. This nostalgic, cheesy, and comfortingly over-processed cheese dip made it into our store-bought queso rating, too. And yes, it’s much better than the jarred queso Taco Bell sells in grocery stores, which is a pretty poor rendition of what they actually serve. 

Credit: Merc / Instacart

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Marie Sharp’s Beware Comatose Heat Level Habanero Pepper Sauce

Best Taco Bell Lava Sauce Dupe

Marie Sharp’s Hot Habanero Pepper Sauce + Fritos Jalapeno Cheese Dip

Taco Bell’s infamous Lava Sauce comes and goes, and that’s why this particular dupe “recipe” is important to have in your back pocket. We call it a recipe because it requires two products: the aforementioned Fritos Jalapeno Cheese Dip, plus Marie Sharp’s Hot Habanero Pepper Sauce. Together, they create a creamy, jalapeno and habanero-spiced dip that comes pretty darn close to Lava Sauce. And that’s what makes us true food journalists, folks. We don’t mess around.

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Litehouse Southwest Ranch

Best Taco Bell Spicy Ranchero Dupe

Litehouse Southwest Ranch Dip

If you’re sick of hoarding Taco Bell’s Spicy Ranch tubs in that disorganized part of your fridge, we’ve got the perfect solution: Litehouse Southwest Ranch Dip. It’s a bang-on replica of the real deal. Once again, Taco Bell actually sells their own version in stores, and it just doesn’t live up to what they serve at the restaurant. Not sure why they keep running into this problem, to be honest! Can we get a Taco Bell representative on the phone?

Credit: Liv Averett / Ralphs

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best Thin Mint Dupes

Great Value Fudge Mint Cookies

Again, we’ve got a whole article dedicated to comparing Girl Scout cookies to their Walmart dupes. (This is what we do, y’all.) And for this one, I think I have to let my colleague Jordan Myrick’s words speak for themselves: “I am a Thin Mint loyalist. These are my Girl Scout cookie. I could suck down a sleeve of these in moments. I think Thin Mints are perfect, so you can imagine my surprise when I tasted the Fudge Mint Cookies and found out they’re even better.” Yep. We were shocked, too. They are ever-so-slightly thicker, crunchier, and mintier than the OGs. If that sounds delicious to you, well, you know what to do. 

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Great Value Caramel Coconut & Fudge Cookies

Best Samoas Dupe

Great Value Caramel Coconut & Fudge Cookies

Don’t be fooled: For Girl Scout cookie dupe products, these may look pretty different than the beloved Samoas they’re trying to imitate, but they taste almost exactly the same. In a blind taste test, it’s quite tricky to pick out any real flavor differences at all. Bad news for those entrepreneurial Girl Scouts, great news for anyone who wants to snack on Samoas year-round.

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

JL Kraft Special Burger Sauce

Best Big Mac Sauce Dupe

J.L. Kraft Special Burger Sauce

In an effort to recreate the McDonald’s Big Mac at home, we put together our ingredient recommendations in our best attempt at this iconic fast food dupe. While the bun, patties, and pickles aren’t a one-to-one perfect match, this burger sauce definitely captures Micky Dee’s essence. Unlike most burger sauces, Big Mac sauce famously doesn’t have pickles, and neither does J.L.’s Kraft’s delicious, horseradish-y spread. We adore this stuff—Big Mac or not, you’ve gotta try it on your burgers. 

Credit: Merc / Amazon

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Secret Burger Spread

Best In-N-Out Burger Sauce Dupe

Secret Burger Spread

Look, Secret Burger Spread isn’t trying that hard to be a secret. At every opportunity, they advertise that this is an In-N-Out Burger sauce dupe. And while that does set expectations pretty high, here’s the truth: It’s a decent fast food dupe. You get that signature hint of dill pickle, ​​thousand island sweetness, and ketchupy tang. But it’s not a perfect imitation, since Secret Burger’s flavor leans slightly too vinegary and tangy, whereas In-N-Out just gets that great blend of flavors. Still, I’ll be taking this home with me to keep on hand. 

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Great Value Chicken Finger Dipping Sauce

Best Cane’s Sauce Dupe

Great Value’s Chicken Finger Dipping Sauce

I mean, wow—just wow. It shouldn’t be a secret at this point that Walmart makes great dupe products, but their Great Value Chicken Finger Dipping Sauce is a dead ringer for Cane’s Sauce. So much so that when I tried it myself, I immediately craved Raising Cane’s and knew I would be stopping on my way home from work. (And that’s why brands shouldn’t fear a good fast food dupe; it’s just a roundabout way to advertise, really.) The mayo, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper all come together to recreate this cult-favorite condiment you can put on just about any fried food you want. 

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks


About the Author

Ariana Losch

Ariana Losch is a Sporked contributor, webcomic writer, java junkie, and bad TV enthusiast. She only ever feels at peace laying out on a beach like a kebab, roasting in the sun; sadly, she can never move back to Florida, her home state, because there simply isn’t enough good Mediterranean food. You can find her overstaying her welcome at just about every LA coffee shop, working on a screenplay and avoiding all eye contact. (She is embarrassed to be there, please leave her alone.)

Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!

Your thoughts.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • “And while I don’t like to give my money Chic-fil-A” yall make me laugh. thankfully I just ate there today 😉

    Reply
  • Can you clarify the Chicken Nuggets post? Which do you prefer: Kirkland Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast Chunks OR Just Bare Lightly Breaded Chicken Bites ???

    Reply
    • I think they should clarify what they have against Chic-fil-A. Is it because their food is overpriced and overrated or is it because they have bigotry against the chain’s Christian values?

      Reply