Chick-fil-A Pineapple Dragonfruit Lemonade Recipe

Chick-fil-A's Pineapple Dragonfruit Lemonade is its three-ingredient lemonade with pineapple and dragon fruit flavour added. At home: one cup of fresh lemon juice, three-quarters of a cup of sugar and four cups of water, plus half a cup of pineapple juice and a cup of pink dragon fruit, which is what turns it magenta. Six glasses in 15 minutes.

What is in Chick-fil-A's Pineapple Dragonfruit Lemonade

Chick-fil-A lists it as its classic lemonade with natural pineapple and dragon fruit flavours added. The ingredient line has two parts: lemonade of water, lemon juice and sugar, and a flavouring made of vegetable glycerine, natural flavours and vegetable juice for colour. Neither pineapple nor dragon fruit appears as a fruit or a juice; both are flavours. A serving is listed at 290 calories with 60 grams of sugar.

The flavour was launched on 17 March 2025 as a seasonal one, and Chick-fil-A's own FAQ now says the drinks are permanent from 24 August 2026.

This recipe gets the flavour and the colour from real pineapple juice and dragon fruit instead of a flavouring, so it is a reconstruction, not Chick-fil-A's formula. MakeFoodLovely is not connected with Chick-fil-A.

Recipe

Chick-fil-A Pineapple Dragonfruit Lemonade

A reconstruction of Chick-fil-A's Pineapple Dragonfruit Lemonade — fresh lemonade with pineapple juice and pink dragon fruit. Six glasses.

5.0 (3)Print

Prep

15 min

Total

15 min

Serves

6

Cuisine

American

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice (5 to 6 lemons)
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice
• 1 cup frozen pink dragon fruit cubes, thawed
• 3 cups ice cubes, for serving

Instructions

1. Stir the sugar into 1 cup of the water in a small saucepan over medium heat until it has dissolved, about 2 minutes. It does not need to boil. Take it off the heat.
2. Blend the thawed dragon fruit with the pineapple juice until smooth. For a clear lemonade, pour it through a fine sieve to catch the seeds; for the speckled look, leave them in.
3. In a large pitcher, combine the lemon juice, the sugar syrup, the dragon fruit mixture and the remaining 3 cups of cold water. Stir.
4. Taste. Add a tablespoon of sugar if the lemons were sharp, or a splash of water if it is too strong.
5. Pour over ice. Stir the pitcher before each pour, because the fruit settles.

Nutrition

Calories:

130

Calculated from the ingredient quantities above using the USDA FoodData Central database, then divided by the number of servings. It is an estimate and will vary with the exact products you use.

Pink dragon fruit, not white

The colour depends entirely on which dragon fruit goes in. The fruit most often sold fresh has pink skin and white flesh, and it adds no colour at all. The red-fleshed kind is the one that stains a pitcher magenta.

• Frozen cubes or smoothie packs labelled pink or red pitaya are the easy way to get it. They are sold with the frozen fruit.
• Fresh red-fleshed dragon fruit works the same way: one fruit, peeled and cubed, is about a cup.
• Dragon fruit powder is freeze-dried and concentrated. Start with 2 teaspoons whisked into the pineapple juice.

The lemonade underneath

Chick-fil-A describes its lemonade as "three simple ingredients: real lemon juice—not from concentrate, cane sugar, and water", and says so on its menu. The base here is the same three things.

Dissolving the sugar in a cup of warm water first is the only step that matters. Sugar stirred into cold lemon juice sinks and stays gritty. Bottled lemon juice works, but it is usually made from concentrate, which is the one thing the original says it is not.

The same lemonade, made without the pineapple and dragon fruit, is the mixer in the Cîroc strawberry lemonade, a vodka cocktail.

Frosted, Sunjoy and Sprite versions

Chick-fil-A sells the same flavour in five drinks. Three of them are easy to make from this pitcher:

• Frosted lemonade: blend 1 cup of the lemonade with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream. Chick-fil-A makes its version with lemonade and its Icedream dessert.
• Sunjoy: equal parts lemonade and sweet iced tea. Chick-fil-A describes a Sunjoy as its lemonade combined with sweetened iced tea.
• With Sprite: leave the 3 cups of cold water out of the pitcher and top each glass up with lemon-lime soda instead.

Keeping it

The pitcher keeps three days in the refrigerator. The colour holds; the fruit settles, so stir before pouring. Other fast-food drinks rebuilt on this site include the Dirty Baja Blast and the Dr Pepper cream soda.