I Tried the Viral Diet Coke with Pickle Juice and Jalapenos

Thousands of food influencers and recipe developers flock to TikTok and Instagram to serve up the latest eye-catching concoctions. Not all TikTok recipes are worth making at home, thoughsome are better left on social media.

The latest trend comes from a short video posted by pop star Dua Lipa. It involves mixing soda, jalapenos and pickles to create spicy Diet Coke. Is this drink something everyone should sip? I had to find out.

What’s in Dua Lipa’s Diet Coke?

In a TikTok video, Dua Lipa shares an unorthodox way to drink Diet Coke while dining at a restaurant in Texas. She mixes Diet Coke with pickle juice, pickle slices, pickled jalapeno slices and jalapeno juice.

The singer’s coy smile throughout the video suggests this all might be a joke, but the swiftness and confidence with which she assembles the beverage could also mean she’s made it before. She gives all her tablemates a taste, each of whom takes a sip and responds with some mix of trepidation, pleasant surprise and/or cringing. Seems divisive, to say the least.

Of course, fans hopped on the trend immediately. Even Gordon Ramsay filmed himself tasting an extra-spicy serving of the Diet Coke and posted it on TikTok. In the video, Ramsay does an immediate spit take, doubling over coughing before exclaiming, “Dua Lipa! For God’s sake, girl! You’ll ruin your vocal cords!”

Not everyone has been so dramatic. For most tasters, spicy Diet Coke lands somewhere between inoffensive and fine. Not many people seem super sold on it, but to be fair, not even Dua Lipa outright claims the drink is delicious. In her video, she takes a sip and merely gives a gesture not quite approaching a chef’s kiss.

Making spicy Diet Coke at home is quick and easy, assuming you have the right ingredients. Now, not all pickles are created equal; a kosher dill slice is more savory than, say, a bread and butter pickle. But Dua Lipa’s viral drink was crafted at la Barbecue in Austin , and the restaurant confirmed to Taste of Home that they make their spicy pickles in-house with red pepper flakes. That means this spicy Diet Coke had extra zing even beyond the jalapenos.

How does Dua Lipa’s spicy Diet Coke taste?

If you are on the fence about pickles, stay away from this drink .

Using equal parts jalapeno juice and pickle juice (three teaspoons each for a 6-ounce serving of Diet Coke ) yielded an ultra-briny sip of soda, almost like drinking juice straight from the pickle jar. There’s no escaping the pickle flavor here, especially since Diet Coke doesn’t have a particularly assertive flavor on its own.

Since the pickles I used were spicy bread and butter slices, their sweetness actually lent itself well to the Diet Coke, making it taste shockingly similar to a regular full-sugar Coca-Cola, just with a sour, puckery finish. The jalapenos got a bit lost under the zesty pickles, so they wouldn’t overwhelm the palate of anyone scared off by spice.

I like to experiment, so I made a version of the drink using only Diet Coke and savory jalapeno juice, which eliminates the distracting sweetness of the pickles. The more vinegar-forward combo tastes closer to a shrub cocktail , with a nice subtle burn at the end of each sip. For a non-alcoholic sipper with a bit of complexity, this is an easy and economical option.

Regardless of whether it started off as a gag, Dua Lipa’s spicy Diet Coke is making waves. The only question is, are you curious enough to give it a try?

The post I Tried the Viral Diet Coke with Pickle Juice and Jalapenos appeared first on Taste of Home .