Bennigans's Recipes

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Bennigan’s Baked Monte Cristo Sandwich recipe

4 x 1 oz slices Swiss cheese
4 x 1 oz slices cooked turkey
8 slices firm white bread
3 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
3 tbsp butter or margarine

Dijon Mustard dipping sauce:

½ cup sour cream
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Place 1 slice of cheese and 1 slice of turkey on each of 4 bread slices.

In pie plate beat eggs, milk, and dry soup mix until well blended. Dip each sandwich into egg mixture, spooning onion pieces onto bread. Make sure all egg mixture is used. Place butter in 15" x 10" jellyroll pan. Set in oven a couple of minutes to melt butter.

Carefully place sandwiches in pan and drizzle any remaining egg mixture over them. Bake 5 minutes. Carefully turn sandwiches and continue baking until golden brown. Serve with Dijon Mustard Dipping Sauce.

For Dijon Mustard Dipping Sauce: Mix well and then chill until ready to serve.

Bennigan’s Bamboo Chicken and Shrimp Skewers

3 chicken skewers
3 shrimp skewers
1 cup lo mein noodles
½ cup peanut sauce.
1 tbsp green onions, chopped
1 tspn black sesame seeds

Satay Marinade:

½ cup fresh jalapenos
½ cup garlic
½ cup ginger, fresh minced
½ cup fresh lemon juice
2 ½ cups soy sauce
1 ¼ cups sesame oil
1 ½ cups brown sugar

Peanut Sauce:

2/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 ½ cups coconut milk, unsweetened
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tspn fresh ginger, grated
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup chicken stock
¼ cup heavy cream
½ tspn cayenne pepper

Remove skewers from marinade and place onto a well oiled section of the grill or large saute pan.

Cook chicken and Shrimp for 3 to 4 minutes until done. Toss cooked lo mein noodles with peanut sauce.

Place skewers on top of noodles, garnish with green onions and black sesame seeds.

For satay marinade: Measure and combine all ingredients in a blender and cover. Blend for 1 minute. Place in appropriate size container. Cover and refrigerate.

For peanut sauce: Combine peanut butter, coconut milk, lemon juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic and cayenne in a saucepan overt moderate heat. Cook until consistency of heavy cream, stirring frequently. Transfer to a blender and pulse briefly three to four times. Add chicken stock and heavy cream to blend. Blend for 1 minute or until smooth and creamy.

Bennigan’s Broccoli Bites

3 eggs
6 oz shredded Monterey jack cheese
6 oz shredded Colby cheese
1 x 16 oz box frozen chopped broccoli, thawed, drained and dried
2½ oz bacon pieces
½ oz diced yellow onion
1 oz all-purpose flour
Italian bread crumbs as needed

Honey Mustard Dressing:

¾ cup sour cream
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/3 cup honey
1 tbsp plus 1 tspn lemon juice

Drain thawed broccoli thoroughly by pressing through a strainer.

Beat eggs in a mixing bowl with a whisk until well blended.

Place all the ingredients into a plastic container, except the bread crumbs.

Stir together with a spatula until thoroughly combined.

Refrigerate mixture for about 1 hour. This will help to bind the mix making preparation much easier.

Heat about 4 cups oil in a fryer or deep pan for frying at 350 degrees F.

Set up a shallow pan with bread crumbs.

Scoop about ½ ounce portion of the broccoli mixture into the bread crumbs. Form each portion into a ball and coat it well.

Place broccoli bites into the fry basket or frying pan. Make sure they do not stick together.

Fry for one minute, then remove and place onto a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil.

Serve with Honey Mustard Dressing

For honey mustard dressing: In a mixing bowl, combine sour cream, mayonnaise and mustard. Blend thoroughly using a whisk. Slowly pour in the honey and lemon juice, continue mixing until smooth and well combined.

Bennigan’s Candy Bar Drink

1¼ oz Frangelico
2 oz Hershey’s chocolate syrup
2 oz Coco Lopez
2 oz coconut, finely shredded in blender
2 oz ice milk

Combine all ingredients in blender.

Serve in champagne or other small glasses.

Bennigan’s Chicken Salad recipe

1 lb chicken breast meat, cooked, skinned, boned and diced
½ cup diced celery
1 cup mayonnaise
¼ tspn salt
¼ tspn pepper
½ tspn sugar
½ tspn onion powder
¼ cup toasted almonds
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
alfalfa sprouts
whole fresh pineapple for serving, optional

Place chicken in large mixing bowl; add celery and mix. Add remaining ingredients and mix with rubber spatula.

To serve in pineapple shell, cut whole pineapple in half lengthwise.

Using a grapefruit knife, cut around the inside of the pineapple, leaving about ¼" from the edge. Scoop out remaining pineapple.

Place a bed of sprouts in the shell and scoop salad mixture on top.

Sprinkle with 1 tbsp toasted almonds and serve chilled.

Bennigan’s Garlic Mashed Potatoes recipe

1 lb red potatoes
3 tbsp butter
¼ cup half-and-half or milk
4 garlic cloves, roasted
salt, to taste
freshly ground white pepper, to taste

To really get their flavor, these potatoes need to be baked, not boiled. So bake them in a 350 degree oven for about 20 to 30 minutes.

This would be a great time to roast that garlic too. You can either use a traditional roaster, or you may wrap a bulb of garlic in foil and roast that, be sure to coat the bulb with some olive oil before you roast it.

Remove potatoes from oven and allow them to cool. You can leave the peelings on or off, I like to leave a few of them on. Chop potatoes, add butter, and half-and-half, and mix with with an electric mixture. Add cloves of garlic, and salt and pepper to taste.

You will want to heat these potatoes in a saucepan until they warm up again.

Bennigan’s Linguini Diablo recipe

1 lb linguini
1 tbsp vegetable oil
12 scallops
10 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
8 clams
1/3 cup garlic lemon butter (see below)
4 cups marinara sauce (see below)
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tbsp parsley plus
1 tspn parsley

garlic lemon butter:

½ cup butter, room temperature
2 tspn crushed garlic
1 ½ tspn lemon juice

marinara sauce:

3 ½ tbsp vegetable oil
8 ½ oz diced yellow onions
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 (6 lb 4 oz ) can crushed tomatoes
3 ½ tbsp minced fresh parsley
2 1/8 tspn dried oregano leaves
1¼ tspn dried basil leaves
1¾ tspn salt
1 whole bay leaf

Cook linguini 8-10 minutes; drain well. Rinse and mix in vegetable oil to prevent sticking. Place garlic lemon butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.

When butter begins to sizzle, add shrimp, scallops and clams; saute for 5 minutes.

Place marinara sauce in the pan and bring sauce to a boil. Flip the mixture to ensure even heating of all the ingredients. Add linguini and toss until noodles are well covered with sauce. Continue to cook for additional 2 minutes. Pour pasta into a large bowl and sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese and parsley to garnish.

For garlic lemon butter: Place butter in mixing bowl; cream with electric mixer. Add garlic and lemon juice; continue mixing until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

For Marinara sauce: In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat until hot. Add onions. Cook, stirring frequently until onions start to become limp and are clear, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients to saucepan; stir well. Bring sauce to boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low, simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

Once cooked, remove bay leaf.

Makes 3 qt.

Bennigan’s Onion soup recipe

½ lb firm white onions, sliced
¼ cup butter
2 tbsp corn oil
3 tbsp flour
1 quart chicken broth
1 quart beef broth
8 slices French bread
Swiss cheese, shredded
parmesan, grated

Saute onions in butter and oil until onions are transparent, but not well browned.

When tender, turn heat to lowest point and sprinkle with flour, stirring vigorously.

Pour into Dutch oven and stir in chicken broth and beef broth.

Heat thoroughly and divide among 8 ovenproof bowls.

Float a slice of bread atop each serving.

Mix equal parts of cheese to smooth paste and spread over bread.

Place all bowls on oven rack 4" from broiler heat and broil until cheese melts.

Serve at once.

Bennigan’s Potato soup recipe

1 ¾ oz ham base
2 quarts chicken stock
8 oz yellow onion, diced
3 oz margarine
2 lb potatoes, cut to bite size
1 ½ tspn black pepper
2 cups milk
3 oz flour
3 oz margarine

Combine chicken stock in sauce pan with ham base. Stir until lumps are gone.

In separate stock pot: melt first margarine measurement; add onion and saute until transparent. Add potato bite size pieces and pepper.

Add chicken stock mix and stir until well mixed. Bring mixture to a boil.

In small pan, melt second margarine measure and add flour to create a roux. It should be light brown in color. When stock comes to a boil, add roux with a wire whisk. This will cause the soup to start thickening. Return to a boil. Slowly add the milk.

If the soup is too thin, make additional roux and add it to the soup. If you need to do this, be sure to cook the roux until a tan color. This will get rid of the raw flour taste. If the soup is too thick, thin it out with more milk.

Bennigan’s Shrimp and Pasta

12 oz penne pasta
1 tbsp stick butter
1 x 12 oz package mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 tbsp minced garlic
½ cup Irish brown ale
1 package white sauce mix, whisked with 1 ½ cups milk
1 cherry tomato, halved
1 ½ lb raw medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

garnish:

chopped scallions
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta as directed on package.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.

Add mushrooms and onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes or until lightly browned and soft.

Add garlic. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute until fragrant. Add ale, white sauce mixture and tomatoes.

Bring to a boil and stir constantly until sauce thickens.

Add shrimp. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 2 to 3 minutes until cooked through.

Drain pasta and place in a large serving bowl.

Add shrimp and sauce. Toss to mix and coat. When serving, sprinkle with the scallions and cheese.

Bennigan’s Smothered Chicken recipe

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thawed
1 cup sliced onions
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tspn hickory smoke flavor
3 tbsp butter or margarine
4 to 8 slices provolone cheese
4 slices cooked bacon
1 tspn basil leaves
1 tbsp garlic powder
3 tbsp hickory smoke flavoring
¼ cup white cooking wine
¼ cup vegetable oil
½ tspn salt
½ tspn black pepper
2 tbsp vinegar

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the last 8 ingredients. Mix together and stir well to blend. This will be the chicken marinade.

Transfer the chicken marinade to a medium sized plastic bag. Add the chicken breasts to the bag and seal. Marinate the chicken by shaking the bag to mix and coat the chicken. Allow the chicken to soak and marinate for at least two hours, shaking occasionally.

While chicken is marinating, slice onions and mushrooms and cook the bacon. Saute mushrooms and onions in butter and hickory smoke flavor for about 3 to 5 minutes, or until onions are transparent but not brown, and mushrooms are tender.

After two hours, remove chicken from marinade, and grill for about 10 minutes. Take care not to overcook chicken. While the chicken is grilling, preheat the oven to a high broil.

After the chicken is done grilling, remove from the grill and place in a shallow baking dish. Cover each breast with a strip of bacon, then provolone cheese, and then some sauteed onions and mushrooms. Broil for 3 to 5 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly. Serve immediately from oven.

Make 4 servings.

Cooks note: If you don’t have a grill, preheat the oven to broil. Broil the chicken, 5 to 7 inches from the broiler, for about 10 minutes. Watch the chicken to prevent burning. About 6 minutes into broiling, top chicken with bacon strips. Once the chicken and bacon is done, remove from the oven, top with cheese and mushroom/onion mixture. Then broil for 2-3 minutes more. Serve immediately from oven.

Bennigan’s Strawberry Cheesecake recipe

crust :

2 cups vanilla wafers or chocolate wafers
½ cup sifted confectioner’s sugar
7 tbsp melted butter
1 tspn cinnamon

filling:

5 x 8 oz pkg cream cheese, at room temperature
½ tspn vanilla
grated zest of 1 lemon
3 tbsp lemon juice
1¾ cup sugar
3 tbsp flour
¼ tspn salt
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
¼ cup heavy cream
large fresh strawberries

For crust: In food processor, crush cookies until very fine. Place rest of ingredients into the processor bowl; mix until well blended. Pat the crumb mixture into and up the sides of a 9" springform pan or a pie shell, set aside.

For filling: Preheat oven to 450°F. In a large bowl or food processor, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, lemon zest and juice.

In small bowl, mix sugar, flour and salt together; add to cheese mixture. Add eggs and egg yolks, a tbsp at a time, beating after each addition. Gently stir in the cream. Pour batter into crust-line pan. Bake for 12 minutes; reduce heat to 300°F and continue baking for 55 minutes, or until center tests done. Remove from oven.

Allow to cool for 30 minutes, then loosen sides of the cake with a spatula. When cake has cooled for about an hour, remove from pan. Chill at least 2 hours before serving.

Garnish with fresh strawberry slices. Cut lengthwise into thin slices and spread around the edge of the cake in a fan-like pattern.