If you’re on the go and need a quick fix to quench your thirst, a drive-thru might be the perfect option. Fast food chains offer a variety of tasty drinks beyond your standard soft drinks, and especially in the summer, you might be craving a refreshing glass of lemonade.
While many popular chains offer their own unique twist on the traditional citrus drink (not just lemon, but a variety of fruity flavors), not all fast food restaurants offer the freshest, most flavorful drinks.
I recently tried a few lemonades from major fast-food chains to see which ones were worth another sip of and which ones I’d rather skip. Some were very similar, but there were also some standouts that made a lasting impression and some that I’d rather forget.
Below, I’ve ranked each lemonade in descending order, from my least favorite lemonade to the most refreshing fast food lemonade for summer.
Popeyes Chilled Premium Lemonade
Photo: Amanda Maktas, Eat This, Not That!
Nutrition Facts: (Per 22 oz. Serving)
Calories: 270
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 190 mg
Carbohydrates: 71 g (Dietary Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 68 g)
Protein: 0 g
Popeyes currently offers three flavors: Mango Lemonade, Premium Strawberry Lemonade, and a more classic-looking chilled Premium Lemonade. The latter isn’t described in detail on the Popeyes website, but the chain’s nutrition guide suggests it’s made by Minute Maid, a common supermarket brand. A small lemonade costs $3.89.
Appearance: This lemonade is similar to other fast food lemonades in that it’s a pale yellow-green color and is quite cloudy with no visible pulp.
Taste: Wow! Tastes like liquid sugar with a squeeze of lemon juice. It had none of the sourness you’d expect from natural lemonade and it definitely tasted like it had a ton of added sugar, almost syrupy. It was too sweet for me and tasted artificial, I won’t be buying it again.
Chick-fil-A Diet Lemonade
Photo: Amanda Maktas, Eat This, Not That!
Nutrition Facts: (Per serving)
Calories: 60
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 10 mg
Carbohydrates: 16 g (Dietary Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 12 g)
Protein: 0 g
In addition to regular and diet lemonade, Chick-fil-A also offers a lemonade iced tea blend it calls Sunjoy. The diet version contains three ingredients: “real lemon juice, not from concentrate,” the artificial sweetener Splenda, and water, according to its website. A medium drink costs $4.65.
Appearance: It was translucent and more lime green than yellow. I could see some lemon pulp in the liquid, but not a lot.
Taste: This tastes more artificial to me than classic lemonade, but it’s also less sweet. Diet drinks aren’t my thing, and the artificial taste means I won’t be ordering this again.
Chick-fil-A Lemonade
Photo: Amanda Maktas, Eat This, Not That!
Nutrition Facts: (per medium serving)
Calories: 270
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 0g
Carbohydrates: 69 g (Dietary Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 63 g)
Protein: 0 g
Like the diet version, Chick-fil-A’s Classic Lemonade is made with just three ingredients, but this time it uses cane sugar instead of Splenda to sweeten the standard lemon juice and water mixture. A medium cup cost $4.65 in New York City.
Appearance: It has more pulp than the diet version and the color can best be described as lemon-lime.
Taste: Very sweet and full of lemon flavor. As a kid, I would have gobbled this down on a hot day. It’s a bit too much for me as an adult, but I imagine it would be delicious diluted with soda.
Chipotle Organic Lemonade
Photo: Amanda Maktas, Eat This, Not That!
Nutrition Facts: (Per serving)
Calories: 170
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 10 mg
Carbohydrates: 43 g (Dietary Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 37 g)
Protein: 0 g
According to the Chipotle website, Chipotle offers both a fountain-style lemonade and a bottled version made by Idaho-based farmer-founded Tractor Beverage. Both options are labeled as organic. When I visited, only the bottled version was available. The lemonade is made with water, cane sugar, lemon juice concentrate, lemon pulp, citric acid, natural and organic flavors, and turmeric extract for color. Bottles were available for $3.45.
Appearance: Very pale yellow and translucent. There is a lot of pulp settled at the bottom of the bottle, which is a good indication that this brand uses real lemon in their products.
Taste: Strong lemon taste, but not sour at all. Not too sweet, which was nice, but not fresh either. This lemonade didn’t have the “wow” factor for me, but it might be refreshing on a hot day. Overall, it’s not bad, but nothing special.
Arby’s Market Fresh Classic Lemonade
Photo: Amanda Maktas, Eat This, Not That!
Nutrition Facts: (typically per serving)
Calories: 110
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 9 mg
Carbohydrates: 29 g (Dietary Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 27 g)
Protein: 0 g
Arby’s describes its lemonade as “the perfect combination of water, pure lemon juice and cane sugar.” In addition to the standard lemonade, the chain also sells strawberry and peach flavors. A regular-sized cup of the standard version costs $2.89.
Appearance: A very pale, translucent yellow. It has less of the lime green hue than the others, but the color is very similar.
Taste: It reminded me of store-bought lemonade. It didn’t taste freshly squeezed, it wasn’t overly sweet, and it didn’t have the sip-inducing quality of a fresh, tart lemon, but it was still refreshing and drinkable, even if it wasn’t as fresh as some of the standout lemonades in this study.
Chick-fil-A Sun Joy
Photo: Amanda Maktas, Eat This, Not That!
Nutrition Facts: (Per serving)
Calories: 180
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 0g
Carbohydrates: 45 g (Dietary Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 43 g)
Protein: 0 g
Chick-fil-A’s signature drink, the Sun Joy, is the restaurant’s version of an Arnold Palmer. There are many ways to enjoy this drink, but I went for the most common one: half sweet tea, half lemonade (other combinations include diet lemonade and unsweetened tea). Like other medium-sized drinks at the chain, the drink costs $4.65.
Appearance: Light brown in color thanks to the iced tea, with bits of lemonade pulp floating on top of the ice.
Taste: Easy to drink. The bitterness of the iced tea and the sweetness of the lemonade create a well-balanced drink. But there are some things I liked more.
Panela Agave Lemonade
Photo: Amanda Maktas, Eat This, Not That!
Nutrition Facts: (Per serving)
Calories: 210
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 15 mg
Carbohydrates: 52 g (Dietary Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 48 g)
Protein: 0 g
Panera describes the lemonade as “crisp.” The drink is made with lemon juice, sugar, agave syrup, and water. In addition to the classic flavors, Panera Bread also recently launched a blueberry lavender lemonade. A small serving of the classic version costs $3.29.
Appearance: It’s a pale lime green color and very cloudy. At first it didn’t look like it had any flesh in it, but on closer inspection there were about three small pieces.
Taste: Tastes like old-fashioned store-bought lemonade. Not too sweet, and a little tart from the lemon. It doesn’t taste freshly squeezed, but it definitely does. Very drinkable, but not the most memorable of the bunch.
Wendy’s All Natural Lemonade
Photo: Amanda Maktas, Eat This, Not That!
Nutrition Facts: (per serving)
Calories: 190
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 25 mg
Carbohydrates: 48 g (Dietary Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 46 g)
Protein: 0 g
Wendy’s offers a variety of lemonade flavors, including strawberry, pineapple mango, and blueberry pomegranate. The chain also offers Classic Lemonade, which is made with water, lemon juice, lemon pulp, lemon juice concentrate, and natural flavors. A small serving of Classic Lemonade costs $4.29.
Appearance: Very pale in color and very cloudy. From the top, there is no visible pulp, but when I stirred there was a small amount of pulp at the bottom of the cup.
Taste: This was a really tasty, not too sweet lemonade. It didn’t necessarily taste freshly squeezed, but it didn’t seem to have too much sugar like some other lemonades. This lemonade was really tasty, but still not my favourite.
Sonic All Natural Lemonade
Photo: Amanda Maktas, Eat This, Not That!
Nutrition Facts: (per medium serving)
Calories: 270
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 0g
Carbohydrates: 69 g (Dietary Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 64 g)
Protein: 0 g
Sonic is perhaps best known for its limeade. The drive-in chain offers a variety of flavors of limeade, including regular limeade, cherry limeade, strawberry limeade, cranberry limeade, and diet limeade. They also offer an all-natural lemonade. While Sonic’s website doesn’t list the exact ingredients, they boast that the drink is made with “real fruit lemons.” The lemonade cost $2.99.
Appearance: A pleasing pale yellow color, with lots of crushed ice on top but no visible fruit pulp.
Taste: Very sweet and sour. In a good way. The flavor was really good and the sourness made it a natural lemonade that made me swoon. It’s sweet for sure, but the sourness balances it out. This tastes like the classic lemonade you’d get at a kid’s lemonade stand, which is exactly what I want in the summer.
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