How To Hack This Popular Texas Roadhouse Appetizer Into A Full Meal

Texas Roadhouse is known for serving up quality steaks at reasonable prices, but it turns out the chain's appetizer list is full of solid options, too. In fact, a number of appetizers ended up on Chowhound's ranking of the best Texas Roadhouse menu items. And if you want a full, meaty meal without having to spend the money on something like a steak or ribs, try an easy hack: Upgrade an appetizer into something bigger and better. Specifically, order the cheese fries, then top them with chili and a side of sautéed onions for a hearty dish that costs less than just about every steak or rib dinner on the menu.

If you're dining in, you'll also get an order of bread for the table. Between the bread and the loaded fries, you'll walk away feeling full — and so will your wallet. The trick to upgrading an appetizer into a meal is finding a dish that can be enhanced without spending too much. It only costs $0.99 to add Texas chili to the cheese fries, so you're getting a filling meal that's much cheaper than if you'd paired it with something else, like a side of ribs (which costs $10).

The loaded cheese fries are just one way to turn a Texas Roadhouse appetizer into a full meal — there are several other ways to make the most from one of the chain's apps. If you order the grilled shrimp appetizer and pair it with a sidekick of ribs, then you get a tasty, surf and turf-style dinner for $4 less than the cost of the cheapest surf and turf option on the menu. Of course, the downside is that this cheaper surf and turf doesn't come with sides, but if you want to feel comfortably full, order this combo, and you won't even need them.

If you can't decide on what to order, the combo appetizer platter might be a good choice. For the combo, you choose three of the following options: boneless wings, fried pickles, rattlesnake bites, tater skins, or twisted mozzarella. It costs $14, so if you split it with someone and added a hearty side dish, such as $10 side of ribs, you'd walk away paying only $12 each for four different types of food. When you're hungry but have no idea what to order, check out our ranking of every Texas Roadhouse appetizer.