How Does Texas Roadhouse Get Its Iconic Flavor Into Steaks?

Texas Roadhouse, the world's fastest-growing restaurant chain, is a phenomenon that has expanded far outside its home state of Indiana: it boasts 713 locations in 49 American states and 10 countries. What sets Texas Roadhouse apart is the fact that, while its food is delicious, its prices are more budget-friendly than competitors like Longhorn or Outback. Its steaks, in particular, really raise the bar.

Overall, the reason that steaks taste better at restaurants is because these establishments have access to better cuts of meat. While Texas Roadhouse serves some very choice steaks — and they are hand-cut at each restaurant before opening by in-house butchers — the secret to their success is their seasoning blend.

How does Texas Roadhouse season their steaks to make them so luscious? We're convinced that even more affordable steak cuts grilled at home could achieve restaurant-quality taste with the same herbs and spices. Like any eatery, the chain is not quick to give away its secret recipe. However, a little sleuthing gives a pretty good idea of the components that make up the Texas Roadhouse seasoning blend, which marries sweet, salty, and spicy ingredients to tremendous effect.

It's possible to draw a lot of conclusions about the Texas Roadhouse seasoning blend based on social media gossip, the wealth of copycat recipes that all tend to use the exact same ratios of the same ingredients, and, perhaps most convincingly, the contents of the Texas Roadhouse sirloin seasoning formerly sold on Amazon.

It seems that the magic mixture includes kosher salt, coarse-ground black pepper, garlic and onion powders, paprika, thyme, rosemary, turmeric, MSG, and brown sugar, all blended with a tiny amount of cornstarch as a binder. You have a few common threads going on here in terms of flavor: the salt and MSG amp up the taste, the turmeric and paprika give earthy smokiness that compliments the grilled savor of the meat, the brown sugar adds sweetness and adds to the caramelization of the steak's surface, and the thyme and rosemary lend herbaceous notes to the dish. Even just on paper, you can tell it's a winning combination.

Best of all, these ingredients are probably already sitting in your pantry. Combined with a few chef-approved secrets for cooking the juiciest steak ever, the reality will be moist, intensely-flavorful homemade steaks that turn out so scrumptious you may never visit Texas Roadhouse again. Okay, that's a lie. Pass that basket of yeasty rolls and cinnamon butter!