12 Texas Roadhouse Ordering Hacks You'll Want To Try

Texas Roadhouse had a big year in 2024, raking in nearly $5.4 billion in revenue. That is over $620 million more than it made the previous year. To top it all off, Texas Roadhouse kicked off 2025 by dethroning Olive Garden as America's top casual dining chain, which is impressive considering that Olive Garden has more locations than the steakhouse chain. 

Due to its growing popularity — not to mention the fact that Texas Roadhouse is raising its prices – it's no surprise that the internet is abuzz with tips and tricks for dining at the chain. These recommendations come from both employees and fans of the restaurant. The purpose of most of these ordering hacks is to enhance the diner's experience and, as an added bonus, occasionally even to save some money. We decided to collect the best Texas Roadhouse hacks the internet has to offer and share them with you so that you can try them for yourself on your next visit.

Texas Roadhouse is known for its hand-cut steaks, which it states are always fresh and never frozen. The steaks served at Texas Roadhouse are USDA Choice, which means that they are high quality, but not the highest quality — that would be the Prime label. USDA Choice cuts are already juicy, tender, and full of flavor. If you want to amplify that flavor even further, a diner on Reddit recommended that you request your steak seasoned with either roaster or mushroom seasoning.

The Reddit user claimed that both are outstanding as steak seasonings and that customers will not be disappointed. The roaster seasoning is apparently the same blend of herbs and spices that the steakhouse chain uses on its Herb Crusted Chicken, while the mushroom seasoning is what the restaurant uses for its Smothered Chicken. To go a step further, an employee on Reddit suggested ordering a small side of sirloin seasoning to use as a dip for the chain's famous rolls, noting that although it may sound weird, it tastes really good. A customer in the thread who tried this recommendation confirmed that while their server was clearly not a fan of the idea, the end result was, in fact, tasty.

Like plenty of other chain restaurants, Texas Roadhouse has a secret menu packed with menu hacks that provide delicious options far beyond its regular lineup. Some of these dishes are created using menu items from both the regular menu and the kids' menu. An employee at Texas Roadhouse previously took to TikTok to claim that although they're not advertised on the menu, the restaurant's point-of-sale system can order comfort food classics such as a grilled cheese, chili cheese dog, and plain ice cream.

One of the most exciting options is the Southwest Smother Dog. Just like many other items on the Texas Roadhouse menu, the kids' hot dog can be smothered in sautéed onions and mushrooms. Add cheese and green chiles, and you have the Southwest Smother.

The same server also shared on TikTok how to get a smaller and cheaper version of the dinner salads, explaining that all you have to do is order a protein and a salad from the kids' menu and inform your server that you want the protein on top of the salad. Another employee on TikTok shared a different hack, suggesting asking for garlic lemon butter to turn the bread rolls into garlic bread. Sprinkle a little Parmesan on top, and you have garlic cheese bread. If you're feeling extra ambitious, you can also attempt your own take on poutine. All you have to do is order steak fries topped with melted Jack cheese and brown gravy.

Texas Roadhouse employees on both Reddit and TikTok have shared a hack that they claim gives diners the opportunity to secure more steak as well as an additional side. The trick is to order the Filet Medallions — a dish that comes with three filets, which amount to 9 ounces of steak, topped with the customer's choice of peppercorn or portobello mushroom sauce, and served over the chain's seasoned rice.

The employees pointed out that the restaurant only offers its Dallas Filet in 6- or 8-ounce options, which means that the Filet Medallions come with one more ounce of meat than the regular steaks, yet they cost less. In addition, they noted that the seasoned rice or mashed potatoes that come with the steak can also be substituted for one of the other regular sides on the menu.

The Honey Cinnamon Butter that comes with Texas Roadhouse's famous fresh-baked rolls is so popular that it's even available for purchase in Walmart. However, if you're not a fan of sweet butter or cinnamon, then something you may not know is that there are other options for you to enjoy.

An employee who apparently worked at multiple Texas Roadhouses in the Midwest for several years took to Reddit to share the tips and tricks that they learned during their time at the restaurant. One detail that the Reddit user shared is that right before being brought out to the customers, the steaks and bread rolls are brushed with butter to give them a little extra flavor and make them glisten under the light. This led the employee to reveal that Texas Roadhouse has other butter available besides its Honey Cinnamon Butter. These butters include garlic butter, which is used for the shrimp, and regular butter, which is used for the baked potatoes. Another Texas Roadhouse employee in the thread, who worked primarily as a baker, noted that there is also a lemon pepper butter that the restaurant uses when cooking its salmon.

Yes, you can get Texas Roadhouse's Honey Cinnamon Butter from Walmart, and that is one way to enjoy it at home. However, that tub is going to cost you around $3.48 for 7.35 ounces, while this hack is not only cheaper but also secures a larger helping of whipped butter.

An employee took to TikTok to let customers know that they are able to get an 8-ounce tub of the delectably sweet butter for just $1.99 when they order it to-go. That means that by ordering to-go from the restaurant instead of buying it from Walmart, you are saving almost $2 and taking home more of the butter — and let's be real, everything served at a restaurant tends to taste better than what's sold in stores.

According to other TikTok users, it's common for employees at the restaurant to forget to slip the tub of butter into your bag, so they recommend double-checking before you leave to ensure you have your delicious butter in hand. Otherwise, you may get home and find yourself seriously disappointed.

One of the best parts of dining at Texas Roadhouse is, in our opinion, the baskets of freshly-baked rolls, served with tubs of Honey Cinnamon Butter. Part of what makes Texas Roadhouse's bread rolls so good is the fact that they're baked every five minutes to ensure that they are as fresh as possible. If you want to experience the same pillows of fluffy bread for yourself at home, several TikTok users have revealed how you can add a serving to your order.

In order to do this, you need to submit an order online or through the app. The rolls are located under the "Sides & Extras" section of the menu, and you are able to choose between a half-dozen or a dozen. Each serving comes with Honey Cinnamon Butter. Other TikTok users noted in the comments that you can also call into the restaurant and order the rolls to go if the rolls are unavailable on the website or app. We can't guarantee that you won't be told no, but it can't hurt to try.

If you do manage to get your hands on some of the iconic bread, you can even store it to enjoy later. To reheat the Texas Roadhouse rolls at home and recreate their first-day fluffiness, wrap them in a slightly wet paper towel and microwave them in 10-second intervals until warm. You can also wrap them in foil and pop them in the oven, or air fry them for a few minutes.

A couple on TikTok shared a way for customers to purchase enough food from Texas Roadhouse to serve eight people, all for a fairly reasonable price. To do this, the couple recommended that diners order one of the Family Packs offered by the steakhouse chain.

The chain's Family Pack menu includes hefty servings of entrees such as Chicken Critters, Beef Tips, and Grilled Chicken Salad. Each of the family packs comes with a sizeable portion of one of the listed entrees, plus a large salad, two 16-ounce sides, fresh bread, and a tub of Texas Roadhouse's famous Honey Cinnamon Butter. The exact entree options and prices may differ depending on your location, with other TikTok users quoting their local prices as ranging from $29.99 to $44.99. Regardless of where your restaurant lies on that spectrum, that's still a large amount of food for the price.

Even those who don't have multiple mouths to feed can benefit from the menu, with the Texas Roadhouse Family Pack serving as the ultimate hack for easy meal prep. Depending on which entree you order and how you portion your food, you could have upwards of four meals from one Family Pack.

This hack will help you upgrade Texas Roadhouse's Cactus Blossom with a tasty addition. If you aren't fluent in Texas Roadhouse menu items, the Cactus Blossom is a starter at the steakhouse chain that is composed of onion petals dipped in batter, fried until golden brown, and served with a Cajun horseradish sauce or ranch.

A server on TikTok opened a world of possibility for diners when she revealed that you can also ask your server to smother the starter in pulled pork. That's right, you can take your Cactus Blossom to the next level by combining it with the sweet and smoky meat. But that's not all. Customers are also able to ask for the onion topped with shrimp, grilled chicken breast, salmon, or fried catfish.

If you aren't interested in topping your fried onion with any of these proteins, you can also smother it with melted cheese. On top of that, you are also able to add sautéed onions, mushrooms, or jalapeños. In addition, diners are able to turn the Cactus Blossom into somewhat of a fried onion poutine by requesting the restaurant's gravy either on top or on the side. As if that's not enough, you can also request Texas Roadhouse's chili with your Cactus Blossom.

Anyone who's visited Texas Roadhouse knows that the food portions certainly live up to the promise that everything is bigger in Texas. If you would ever rather order a smaller portion, as well as save some money, then you may want to consider ordering a kids' meal.

One Texas Roadhouse server previously took to TikTok to claim that she orders the kids' 6-ounce steak — also known as Andy's Steak – which comes with a side and a drink, plus the regular unlimited free bread and peanuts for considerably less than the steaks found on the main menu. There is another steak option on the youth-oriented menu that you could order as well — the Lil' Dillo Steak Bites. In a different TikTok, the same server also recommended the mini cheeseburgers, dubbing it the best entree on the kids' menu and tasting better than it looks.

It is important to note that all Texas Roadhouse restaurants offer kids' meals to go. However, whether or not the Texas Roadhouse will allow those who are over 12 years old and dining in the restaurant to order from the kids' menu can vary from location to location.

One thing that Texas Roadhouse customers may not know is that the restaurant offers an early dine-in special where you can pay less for your favorite dishes. The times when the special is offered can vary from location to location. However, it is typically available from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

During these timeframes, diners are able to choose from 11 entrees, including the Country Fried Sirloin, Grilled BBQ Chicken, Herb Crusted Chicken, Country Fried Chicken, and the Pulled Pork Dinner. Prices may be different from location to location, but most of Texas Roadhouse's early bird specials sit at around $10.99. When comparing the special price to the typical costs of the dishes, you are definitely saving at least a few dollars, which is always positive.

It's no secret that bacon is extremely popular in the U.S., adding both extra flavor and protein to a wide range of dishes. Should you ever feel like an extra helping of bacon could upgrade a Texas Roadhouse dish, there's a quick and easy way to make that happen.

According to YouTuber Hungry Vegas, customers can actually order a cup of bacon bits to add to and enhance their meal for just $1. In the video, the reviewer shows a cup with a good amount of bacon bits that he then added to his salad for that little bit of extra crunch and flavor. While Texas Roadhouse doesn't hide the fact that you can pay a small premium to add bacon to its salads, the real hack here is the fact that you can secure a tub of bacon to add to other dishes, too. Just picture extra bites of bacon sprinkled over steak, chicken, mashed potatoes, fries, or even corn. The choice is up to you. After all, what can't be improved with bacon?

Each meal available to order from Texas Roadhouse comes with at least one side alongside the selected entree. The sides that the steakhouse chain offers include the likes of mac and cheese, a baked potato, buttered corn, salad, and seasoned rice. A Texas Roadhouse server revealed on TikTok something that they don't necessarily consider a secret, but rather something the restaurant doesn't actively advertise. As per the employee, diners can actually get half an appetizer as a side instead of the traditional sides listed above.

Theoretically, this would mean that customers could order half of the boneless buffalo wings or fried pickles if they didn't want plain old steak fries or mashed potatoes. This sounded a bit too good to be true, and, after doing some research and talking to Texas Roadhouse's guest services, we discovered that while this isn't an actual company-wide policy, there are some locations that might do it. Based on comments under the initial TikTok, the success of this ordering hack does seem to vary from restaurant to restaurant. Other employees stated that they had never heard of this before, while some diners claimed that they have ordered this way in the past. Ultimately, it never hurts to ask and see what they say.