Chick-Fil-A's Frosted Soda: A Fizzy, Creamy Treat That You'll Be Glad You Tried

Chick-fil-A is, of course, known for its delicious chicken – but it's a great place to stop for a sweet treat as well. From various cookies, brownies, ice cream, and milkshakes, you can always finish off your salty meal with some sugar to wash it down. Did you know that Chick-fil-A has frosted sodas to add to your list?

If you are caught up on the "dirty soda" trend, this Chick-fil-A item may be right up your alley. The dirty sodas usually add some sort of creamer and extra flavor to regular sodas. At Chick-fil-A, you can get the similar effect with the frosted soda. Basically, it's a blended mixture of soft serve ice cream and your choice of soda. Some people may think that it's odd to mix carbonation with something creamy, but trust us — don't knock it 'till you try it.

This trend has been all over TikTok for the past few years, and more and more people have been jumping in their cars to the nearest Chick-fil-A to get a taste. I've seen people trying everything from frosted root beer, Fanta, Dr. Pepper, and even Powerade. I couldn't possibly wait another day to try this tasty treat, so I headed to Chick-fil-A to give it a whirl.

One thing that you need to know before heading to Chick-fil-A for your frosted soda is that it's not actually listed on the menu. Before I made my way out the door, I checked the restaurant's online menu first. Under "treats" you will see a few frosted items listed, but none of them are soda. There is frosted coffee, frosted lemonade, and frosted banana coffee. Under "beverages" where the sodas are listed, there was no sign of a frosted option, either.

It turns out, frosted lemonade has been on the menu since 2015. I also found that there are occasionally other "official" frosted flavors on the menu for limited time periods, like a watermelon mint frosted lemonade that was on the menu in 2023. Frosted sodas, however, have never been on the menu. I'm not sure who exactly started this trend, but I found videos going all the way back to 2020 of customers ordering frosted sodas from Chick-fil-A.

Once I decided to bite the bullet and just head to a location, I carefully scanned the menu above the counter upon arrival. Just as I suspected, nothing about a frosted soda was listed. Ultimately, I found out that this is a secret menu item that, thanks to TikTok, isn't so secret anymore. Average Chick-fil-A customers may not know about this lesser-known option — so I made sure to get all of the information about securing one of these bad boys.

Once this drink made its circuit around the internet, many people discussed their experiences online about getting a frosted soda. One Chick-fil-A employee made a Reddit post years ago, explaining "Frosted sodas aren't in our order system, aren't on the menu, and aren't on any secret menu either. Therefore, if you try to order a frosted soda, 99% of the time the managers are gonna say no even if the team member taking your order doesn't automatically. Every store is run a little differently, but please don't be surprised if they can't do a frosted soda."

There are other recent Reddit posts and TikToks that share about this still being the case. When I headed to the Chick-fil-A on 34th Street in New York City, I was definitely a little bit nervous to ask for the drink. Luckily, I had the kindest cashier who said, "Let me go ask the person that I know is going to let me make it for you," and disappeared for a good two to three minutes. He came back, and let me know that he was allowed to make it for me. Phew!

The frosted drinks are made with the company's frozen drink mixer — which is a soft serve ice cream machine with a metal mixing mechanism on the side. After reading how many people have trouble getting this made at Chick-fil-A locations around the country, I was surprised to see how easy it was to be made.

If your local Chick-fil-A won't make a frosted soda for you — don't worry. There is an easy way to make it on your own. When ordering at the counter, ask for two Icedream cups (Chick-fil-A's version of vanilla soft serve), a small soda of your choice, and an empty milkshake cup.

From there, scoop the ice cream into the milkshake cup and pour the soda on top. The tricky part is mixing. You can rigorously mix the two together with a spoon, and although it won't melt together as well as it does with the mixing machine, it'll still get a pretty close effect. If you want to go all the way, simply use a small handheld mixer/frother. You can get them very affordably on Amazon ranging in prices between $5-$20. This will get you nearly the same exact drink that you would get if the employee made it for you.

You could also recreate this entire ritual at home with your own ice cream and soda. There really is something about getting the ingredients straight from Chick-fil-A. The ice cream at Chick-fil-A doesn't taste the same as regular ice cream, and many people believe that soda from a soda fountain will always taste better than a canned or bottled soda.

Will picking up one of these secret frosted sodas cost you more than a milkshake? Not necessarily. Of course, prices will shift market to market. In New York City, a chocolate milkshake at Chick-fil-A costs about $5.79. A frosted lemonade is around that ballpark, too, costing $5.69. When I ordered my frosted soda at the 34th  Street location, I was charged $6.19 each. Technically, it was a little bit more expensive than the milkshakes and other frosted drinks — however, I felt okay paying that price since the employees were technically performing a favor by selling it to me.

If you wanted to make your own version, two cups of soft serve ice cream are about $4.38 total, and a small order of soda should cost $2.89. The grand total there will be around $7.27, so over a dollar more than if Chick-fil-A made it for you. If you're really craving this soda and ice cream concoction, I'd say the extra money is worth it.

One of the reasons that some Chick-fil-A locations won't make you a frosted soda is actually due to nutrition. One person shared on Reddit, "Corporate doesn't want CFA [Chick-fil-A] employees making frosted sodas due to nutritional info. If you make it for a guest and they somehow have a 'reaction' or whatever they can milk their problem for, then CFA would be responsible because they won't be able to disclose nutritional info, which is a law by the FDA."

Technically, this person is correct. The Food and Drug Administration states that fast food establishments must be able to share written nutrition information for the food sold upon request. Since frosted sodas are only made by mixing two menu items together — it shouldn't be that hard to figure out.

If you add together the nutrition information (which is available on the Chick-fil-A website) for two soft serves plus a small Dr. Pepper — you'd get 420 calories, 7 grams of fat, 84 carbohydrates, and 8 grams of protein. As suspected, a drink mixing together ice cream and soda isn't the healthiest. Most of the carbohydrates are sugar, which we calculated there to be 83 grams of in total. Be aware that this drink is truly a treat, and definitely shouldn't be consumed often if you want to look out for your health.

Many of the viral TikTok videos of Chick-fil-A's frosted sodas feature people getting it made with Dr. Pepper. I was extremely hesitant at first, but I knew it wouldn't be a true taste test if I didn't try this flavor.

At first sip, I was pleasantly surprised by the overall flavor. I immediately could taste the signature bite and sizzle that Dr. Pepper always has, but then the creaminess of the ice cream came through. Normally with any sort of ice cream milkshake or drink, the milk and cream is the dominant flavor. With this frosted soda, however, the Dr. Pepper was the dominant taste. Considering Dr. Pepper is made with a blend of 23 flavors, I could see how those flavors pushed through the cream.

Overall, the drink was absolutely delicious. I enjoyed how it wasn't overly sweet — although there are more grams of sugar than I'd like to think about. There were hints of licorice and ginger that particularly stuck out to me, and perhaps the ice cream helped exemplify that. After each sip, there was also a nice aftertaste of ice cream, instead of the lingering taste of Dr. Pepper. It was as if the taste of Dr. Pepper exploded on my taste buds at the first sip, and then the creamy ice cream settled onto my pallet to finish. I'd absolutely get this drink again.

We all know what a root beer float is — and the frosted root beer soda from Chick-fil-A is essentially the same thing. Instead of the ice cream simply melting into the soda, however, it's blended up perfectly to create more of a milkshake-like consistency. I knew I had to try this flavor, as it's a classic.

As I took my first sip, a wave of nostalgia washed over me. There's clearly a reason that people have been drinking root beer and ice cream together for over a century. The flavors complement each other in a perfectly balanced way.

Upon my first sip, I was surprised that I didn't taste much carbonation. The ice cream definitely took more of a forefront taste wise for this frosted soda. It was as if the ice cream actually cut through the carbonation, leaving you with just the pure root beer flavors mixed with creamy vanilla. I specifically noticed hints of caramel and nutmeg, which made for a nicely balanced and sweet drink.

Chick-fil-A isn't the only fast food restaurant that offers this type of drink. One of the most popular places to get various ice cream drinks is Dairy Queen — and it offers a soda float. You can get your choice of a carbonated soft drink that comes with soft serve swirled in. I've tried this with Coke, and although I found it very enjoyable – I prefer how Chick-fil-A actually mixed together the two ingredients to make it more of a milkshake consistency.

Wendy's actually sells "Frosty Floats" in other countries, which is its signature Frosty mixed with Coke or root beer. Many people in the U.S. make their own version by ordering a Wendy's Frosty and mixing it with their soda of choice. Personally, I would love to try this as I am a sucker for a Wendy's Frosty. There is something so rich and decadent about them, and I'm curious to see if the frosty float would blow the Chick-fil-A frosted soda out of the water.

Another similar version of a frosted soda that you could get is McDonald's frozen Coke. This drink, however, isn't cream based. It can still give you that extra cold and full flavor that you get from the Chick-fil-A frosted soda. I've tasted the frozen Coke, and I found it very refreshing. It was definitely more satisfying than ordering a regular Coke, but I much prefer the creamy addition that Chick-fil-A's soda has.

Overall, I think that Chick-fil-A offers something unique that you can't get anywhere else. The act of actually mixing together the ice cream and soda brings the concept of a float to a whole new level. I definitely think it's worth it to ask the employees to make you one.

As for flavors, I did notice a big difference between my experience with the Dr. Pepper frosted soda versus the root beer. With the Dr. Pepper frosted soda, I could immediately tell it was Dr. Pepper as soon as the drink entered my mouth. With the root beer, however, it more so tasted like a caramel milkshake, but then there was an aftertaste left that made it clear that it was root beer. I thoroughly enjoyed both drinks, and am definitely inspired to try other frosted soda flavors next time I visit Chick-fil-A.

Overall, I would honestly recommend both the root beer frosted soda and Dr. Pepper frosted soda. Depending on what you're craving, both can satisfy in different ways. If you want more of a zingy, flavor bursting drink, I'd say you should go for the Dr. Pepper. If you want a sweeter, well-balanced drink then you should go for the root beer.

Although the Chick-fil-A frosted sodas are not made at every location, I was lucky to come across a location that happily made me two frosted sodas. I tasted both drinks side by side, basing my review on firsthand experience. I also utilized the Chick-fil-A website to find nutrition information, prices, and menu items.