The Best Restaurant-Brand Seasoning To Pick Up On Your Next Grocery Trip

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From everything bagel to Old Bay, a gourmand's go-to all-purpose seasoning blend is a deeply personal institution. Now, Tasting Table is coming at home cooks with another powerful candidate in the pantry arsenal, designed to suit myriad recipes. In our ranking of six restaurant-brand seasonings available in grocery stores, Red Robin's original seasoning signature blend swept the competition.

To execute our taste-test, we judged on the criteria of balanced flavors (i.e. one tasting note doesn't overpower the others) and uniqueness. The internet is filled with copycat recipes from Red Robin fans, hypothesizing different combinations of spice cabinet staples. Luckily, the chain has eliminated the guesswork for home cooks by selling its fan-favorite restaurant seasoning blend at grocery retailers.

We gave Red Robin's seasoning signature blend high points for balance. The ingredients list includes salt, dried cane syrup, sea salt, spices, dried garlic, onion, tomato, paprika, yeast extract, and natural smoke flavor. All the elements were detectable without any one note stealing the show. As our taste-tester mentioned, "[T]he blend isn't overly salty. Red Robin found a way to equalize the spices in this seasoning so you can't detect its individual components." This wide-ranging, ultra-versatile superstar can elevate everything from potatoes, scrambled eggs, corn on the cob, and more. The chain is no stranger to culinary creativity, in fact, the absolute best burger at Red Robin makes stinky cheese the star, and if it can make that work, it stands to reason that the fries will step up to the plate. 

One Reddit thread asks fellow foodies for the secret behind the famous and "super addicting" fry seasoning. Conveniently, the post's comments section is filled with enthusiastic recommendations for the restaurant's store-bought product. The official Red Robin website promises, "Add that same Red Robin Signature Blend Seasoning taste from the restaurant to every meals." The seasoning totally delivers, capturing the taste of that same Red Robin restaurant flavor in an at-home jar. Typically, the oil is why french fries taste better at a restaurant than at home, but using the very same seasoning blend that the company does is a pretty good way to level up your home cooking.

Amazon (where a 4-ounce jar runs for $4.99) is filled with thousands of rave product reviews with an 80% five-star vote. Multiple commenters call this product their go-to seasoning, mentioning uses from tater tots to popcorn. Elsewhere online, Walmart customers agree that this product is the perfect way to get a restaurant from the comfort of your own home. Especially for those who don't live near the chain's locations, reviewers appreciate the consideration (not to mention, the marketing strategy). Red Robin's signature blend seasoning is available for purchase via Walmart and Amazon.