Here is the ultimate guide to Cafe Rio Copycat Recipes! You’ll find cafe rio pork barbacoa, guacamole, beans, rice, and sauce here. This guide also tells you how to adapt each recipe to serve a large crowd!
Since we graduated, and are moving from the area soon, I thought we should throw a graduation party! Forrest and I tried to decide on what to have for the longest time, and finally settled on making homemade Cafe Rio. I had the hardest time finding recipes that were sized for larger than like five or six people, so I had to experiment a little bit. So, below, you will find Cafe Rio copycat recipes sized for about 30-40 people! If that’s all you are here for, skip to the bottom of this post. Otherwise, here’s a brief overview of our graduation party (and where we got our awesome decorations!)
Despite that little fiasco, our party turned out great. I got some great decorations from Zurchers. Zurchers is seriously graduation party central — they had decorations for all of the universities and even high schools in the area, as well as some generic graduation decorations. They also have napkins, cups, and utensils in every color imaginable! I had looked EVERYWHERE for aluminum tin foil pans, and Zurchers was the only place I could find them, without ordering them online. In addition, I was able to find aluminum serving pans, and best of all, a wire chafing set to keep some of our food warm, and some great serving utensils. It was definitely one stop shopping for us, and best of all, wasn’t too expensive!
And of course, the best part was all the guests! It was fun to have so much family and good friends together. We had a blast talking with everyone.
Just have to put a little shout out to Costco and their cakes. They are price pretty fairly, and are always so yummy! I love how this turned out. It was kind of funny because the graduation cap turned out to be chocolate, and not frosting.
–Your favorite flour tortillas. We bought 40 at Costco for less than $5, which is the cheapest I’ve seen them.
–Parmesan Cheese or crumbled cojita, if you want to be really fancy
–Tortilla Strips. You can make these, but I thought it was easier just to buy two bags from the grocery store. They are usually located in the produce aisle.
–Lettuce. We got a spring mix from Costco and it seemed to work pretty well.
–Tortilla chips
–Your favorite salsa
And now for the recipes — just click on over to whichever one you need. When you view the recipe, you will notice I listed two different ingedient quantities. One is for serving 6-8 people, and one is for serving a larger group (around 30-40.)
Cafe Rio Sweet Pork
Cafe Rio Cilantro Rice
Cafe Rio Black Beans
Cafe Rio Guacamole
Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Dressing
Rob says
Should have used a pressure cooker. Could have had one of those roasts done in under 45 minutes 🙂
Katie says
I know! If only I had one back then. Will definitely be doing it now 🙂
Amy m says
I saw this part in Pinterest, and when I saw the BYU table cloth, I knew a fellow alum couldn’t go wrong! I love your candidness and energy! Great post!
Katie says
Thank you! Go Cougars!
Krista Low says
Sometimes pressure brings out the best work right? It looks like it was a hit despite the setbacks 🙂 Thanks for the links for the recipes. I love eating at Cafe Rio when I go home but we don’t have it on the East Coast. Krista @ A Handful of Everything
Ashley says
wow! you nailed it! I made everything {the smaller recipe} tonight and we are floored how good it is. Clever you!
marissa | Rae Gun Ramblings says
looks so good pinned!
Amber Brady says
YUM! I LOVE Cafe Rio! Looks like a great party!
AJ and Cindy says
it was all so yummy! Way to throw such a great party 🙂 I love that pic of Phoebe and mom, too! I stole it 🙂
Heather King says
Great recipes and it looks like you had a blast despite the meat fiasco.