When you’re on the go and looking to quench your thirst in a pinch, sometimes the drive-thru is the way to go. Fast-food chains offer a wide range of delicious beverages beyond the standard soft drinks, and in the summertime especially, you may be on the hunt for a refreshing lemonade.
Many popular chains offer their own spin on the classic citrusy beverage—sometimes in a range of fruity flavors beyond just lemon—but not all fast-food spots pour the freshest or most flavorful options.
I recently tried the lemonades from several major fast-food chains to see which ones are worth a second sip and which ones you should skip. While a handful of them were very comparable, there were a few memorable standouts and a few to forget.
Here’s how each lemonade ranked in descending order from my least favorite to the most refreshing fast-food lemonade for summer.
Popeyes Chilled Premium Lemonade
Nutrition: (Per 22-oz. Serving)
Calories: 270
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 190 mg
Carbs: 71 g (Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 68 g)
Protein: 0 g
Popeyes currently offers three flavors, including mango lemonade, premium strawberry lemonade, and the more classic-looking chilled premium lemonade. There is no further description of the latter on Popeyes’ website, but according to the chain’s nutrition guide, it appears to be made by the common supermarket brand Minute Maid. A small lemonade cost me $3.89.
The look: This one looked very similar to other fast-food lemonades, with a light, yellow-green hue. It was quite cloudy too, with no visible pulp.
The taste: Eek! This tasted like liquid sugar with some lemon juice squeezed in. There was no tartness that you’d expect from a natural lemonade and it definitely tasted like there was a lot of added sugar—almost syrupy. This was way too sugary and artificial tasting for me and I would not buy this one again.
Chick-fil-A Diet Lemonade
Nutrition: (Per Serving)
Calories: 60
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 10 mg
Carbs: 16 g (Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 12 g)
Protein: 0 g
Chick-fil-A offers both regular and diet lemonade, as well as a lemonade-ice tea blend which the chain calls Sunjoy. The diet version contains three ingredients: “real lemon juice—not from concentrate,” according to the website, the artificial sugar substitute Splenda, and water. This medium-sized drink cost me $4.65.
The look: Translucent and more lime green in color than yellow. I spotted some pieces of lemon pulp in the liquid, but not many.
The taste: This one tastes more artificial to me than a classic lemonade, but is also less sweet. Diet drinks aren’t really my thing and due to the artificial taste, I wouldn’t order this again.
Chick-fil-A Lemonade
Nutrition: (Per Medium Serving)
Calories: 270
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 0 g
Carbs: 69 g (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, this time including cane sugar instead of Splenda to sweeten the standard lemon juice and water mixture. A medium-sized cup in New York City set me back $4.65.
The look: Much more pulpy than the diet version and the color can be best described as lemon-lime.
The taste: Very sweet and packed with lemon flavor. If I was a kid on a hot day, I would gobble this up. As an adult, it’s a bit much for me, but I think it would taste great diluted with some sparkling water.
Chipotle Organic Lemonade
Nutrition: (Per Serving)
Calories: 170
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 10 mg
Carbs: 43 g (Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 37 g)
Protein: 0 g
According to its website, Chipotle offers both a fountain-style lemonade and a bottled version by the farmer-founded, Idaho-based Tractor Beverage Co. Both options are labeled as organic. When I visited, I was only offered the bottled version. This lemonade is made using water, cane sugar, lemon juice concentrate, lemon pulp, citric acid, natural and organic flavors, and turmeric extract for coloring. The bottle cost me $3.45.
The look: Very pale yellow and translucent. There was a lot of pulp settled at the bottom of the bottle, which was a good indication that the brand uses real lemons in their product.
The taste: Very lemony, but with zero tartness. It wasn’t too sweet, which I appreciated, but it didn’t taste fresh, either. This lemonade had no “wow” factor for me, but it could be refreshing on a hot day. All in all, it was fine, but nothing special.
Arby’s Market Fresh Classic Lemonade
Nutrition: (Per Regular Serving)
Calories: 110
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 9 mg
Carbs: 29 g (Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 27 g)
Protein: 0 g
Arby’s describes its lemonade as “the perfect mix of water, pure lemon juice, and cane sugar.” Besides its classic lemonade, the chain also sells strawberry- and peach-flavored lemonades. A regular-sized cup of the classic version cost me $2.89.
The look: A very pale, translucent yellow. It had less of a lime-green hue than some of the others, but very, very similar in color.
The taste: Reminiscent of a store-bought lemonade. It doesn’t taste freshly squeezed or overly sweet. It also didn’t make me pucker like a fresh, tart lemon, but it’s refreshing and drinkable, if not quite so fresh as some of the stand-out lemonades in this survey.
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Chick-fil-A Sunjoy
Nutrition: (Per Serving)
Calories: 180
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 0 g
Carbs: 45 g (Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 43 g)
Protein: 0 g
A Chick-fil-A staple, the Sunjoy beverage is the restaurant’s take on an Arnold Palmer. There are many ways to enjoy this drink, but I took the most common route: half-sweet tea and half-lemonade (other combos include diet lemonade or unsweetened tea). Like the chain’s other medium beverage options, this one clocks in at $4.65.
The look: Light brown in color, thanks to the iced tea, with visible pulp from the lemonade floating on top of the ice.
The taste: Easily drinkable. The slightly bitter flavor of the iced tea juxtaposed with the sweetness from the lemonade made it a well-balanced drink. Even so, there were a few other options that I liked even more.
Panera Agave Lemonade
Nutrition: (Per Serving)
Calories: 210
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 15 mg
Carbs: 52 g (Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 48 g)
Protein: 0 g
Panera describes its lemonade as “crisp.” The drink is made with lemon juice, sugar, agave nectar, and water. In addition to the classic flavor, Panera Bread also recently came out with a blueberry-lavender lemonade. A small size of the classic version cost me $3.29.
The look: A light lime green in color and extremely cloudy. At first, it didn’t look like there was any pulp inside, but upon closer inspection, I counted about three small pieces.
The taste: Like a classic store-bought lemonade. It wasn’t overtly sweet and had a slightly acidic quality due to the lemon. It doesn’t taste fresh-squeezed, but it definitely does the job. It’s very drinkable, but still not the most memorable in this survey.
Wendy’s All-Natural Lemonade
Nutrition: (Per Small Serving)
Calories: 190
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 25 mg
Carbs: 48 g (Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 46 g)
Protein: 0 g
Wendy’s offers several different flavored lemonades, including strawberry, pineapple mango, and blueberry pomegranate. The chain also serves a classic lemonade, made with water, lemon juice, lemon pulp, lemon juice concentrate, and natural flavors. A small size of the classic lemonade cost me $4.29.
The look: Very pale in color and very cloudy, too. Looking from above, there is no discernible pulp, but when I gave it a stir, I could can some pieces it at the bottom of the cup.
The taste: This was a really pleasant, not-too-sweet lemonade. It didn’t necessarily taste freshly-squeezed, but it didn’t seem like there was too much added sugar like some of the other lemonades. I really enjoyed this one, but it was still not my absolute favorite.
Sonic All Natural Lemonade
Nutrition: (Per Medium Serving)
Calories: 270
Fat: 0 g (Saturated Fat: 0 g)
Sodium: 0 g
Carbs: 69 g (Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 64 g)
Protein: 0 g
Sonic is perhaps best known for its limeades. The drive-in chain offers these in a range of flavors, including regular limeade, cherry limeade, strawberry limeade, cranberry limeade, and diet limeade. But it also serves an all-natural lemonade. Sonic doesn’t list the exact ingredients on its website, but it does boast that the drink is made with “real fruit lemons.” This lemonade cost me $2.99.
The look: A pleasant pale yellow with lots of crushed ice on top and no visible pulp.
The taste: Very sweet and tart—in a good way. The flavor was really good and the acidity made me pucker like a natural lemonade should. It is certainly sweet but the sourness helped to balance it out. This tastes like a classic lemonade you’d get at a kid’s lemonade stand, which is exactly what I want in the summertime.
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