What Is A Fakeaway?
It's simply a homemade version of your favourite takeaway dish. Choosing homemade fakeaway recipes is a fantastic way to enjoy the exact flavours you love, but in a way that's healthier, more affordable and often much faster than waiting for a delivery.
Here at HelloFresh, we specialise in delicious fakeaway recipes and ideas to help you recreate those classic dishes in your own kitchen. To find out what to make first, we decided to see which takeaways are Ireland’s favourites. It turned out that the nation’s most popular takeout was - perhaps unsurprisingly - pizza, closely followed by Chinese and fish & chips. Take a look to see if your favourite made the top 5:
- Pizza
- Chinese
- Fish and chips
- Sushi
- Kebab
How to recreate your favourite takeaways at home
The Perfect Pizza Fakeaway
If you’re looking for a more nutritious way to enjoy Ireland’s favourite takeaway food, then you’re in luck. Substituting a thick, doughy base for flatbread and using fresh ingredients, you can enjoy all the flavours of a deep pan pizza takeaway without the carb overload! Our Roasted Red Pepper Flatbread takes twenty minutes in total, which is even quicker than waiting for the delivery guy!
Our Top 3 Tips for a Perfect Fakeaway Pizza:
- Crisp Your Base First: If you're using a flatbread, tortilla or pitta base, pop it in the oven for two to three minutes before adding your sauce and toppings. This ensures a satisfying crunch with every bite.
- Season Your Sauce: Mix a teaspoon of dried oregano, a pinch of garlic granules, and a splash of balsamic vinegar into your tomato base to mimic that authentic Italian pizzeria flavour without the added sugar.
- Turn Up the Heat: Don't be afraid to crank your home oven up (around 220°C/200°C fan). High heat helps the cheese bubble and brown quickly while keeping your veggie toppings fresh and vibrant.
Authentic Chinese Fakeaway Recipes
You might think it’s impossible to get those authentic Chinese flavours without ordering in , but our recipes like the Sweet and Sour Chicken make it much easier than you think to replicate popular takeaway dishes.
Our Top 3 Tips for a Better Chinese Fakeaway:
- Get the Wok Hot: The secret to that smoky "wok hei" flavour is a smoking hot wok before you add any oil.
- Make Your Own Sauce: A simple mix of soy sauce, rice vinegar, a little sugar, and a cornflour slurry (cornflour + water) to thicken beats a jar every time.
- "Velvet" Your Chicken: For restaurant-tender chicken, toss thin strips in a teaspoon of bicarb soda for 15 minutes before rinsing and cooking. It's a game-changer.
Fish Friday - Reinvented!
You can easily make a stunning fakeaway fish and chips at home that delivers all that crispy, flaky satisfaction in a much lighter way. By oven-baking your fish in a crunchy crumb - like our Crumbed Hake and Courgette Chips - and roasting your chips instead of deep-frying, you can have a new family favourite that you can feel great about.
Our Top 3 Tips for Perfect Fakeaway Fish and Chips:
- Get a Crispy Crust: The secret to a golden, crunchy coating in the oven is using Panko breadcrumbs. Mix them with a little parmesan (as in our recipe) or a light spray of oil before baking to guarantee a perfect golden finish.
- Make "Proper" Oven Chips: For a true chipper-shop feel, use Maris Piper or Rooster potatoes. Cut them into chunky chips, parboil for five to seven minutes, drain well, then give the colander a good shake to rough up the edges. Roast on a hot tray with a little oil until golden and crispy.
- Pat Your Fish Dry: Before you bread it, pat your white fish (hake, cod, or haddock are all perfect) completely dry with a paper towel. This is the key step to making sure your flour, egg, and breadcrumb coating sticks perfectly.
