I Tried Dua Lipa’s Viral Diet Coke Recipe—Here’s How It Really Was
As a professional food and beverage writer, I am an expert on Diet Coke. Next to coffee, it’s the official beverage of our industry, and I drink no less than half a gallon of the stuff each and every day. Is this a good idea? I don’t know, and I don’t care. Additionally, as a woman whose tastes are more hard-core punk than pop, I also don’t know/care much about Dua Lipa. So when my editor called me to say, “Dua Lipa is putting jalapeo and pickle juice in Diet Coke,” I thought she was having a stroke or perhaps had been kidnapped and was trying to send me a secret message from the trunk of a Toyota Camry. But nope, there’s actual video evidence of Dua Lipa making this bizarre cocktail and enjoying it.
At first, I balked at this seemingly unholy concoctionwhy would anyone, much less a talented woman with impeccable tastes, sully a magnificent cup of Diet Coke in such a violent, vinegar-soaked manner? But even though I think Diet Coke tastes perfectly perfect on its own, I do admit it’s occasionally nice to have one with a squeeze of fresh citrus juice, like lemon or lime. Maybe Dua Lipa’s splashes of acidity from surprising sources had some sort of merit? There was only one way to find out, and that was by making Dua Lipa’s Diet Coke for myself.
Read on to learn how to make one of these drinksand if you should.
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What’s in Dua Lipa’s viral drink, exactly?
Dua Lipa’s viral drinkas illustrated in this TikTok videostarts with a glass of Diet Coke over ice. Next, she adds some of the briny liquid from a container of pickles and then does the same with a container of pickled jalapeos. (Dua doesn’t measure, but I’m estimating it’s no more than a tablespoon of each.) She also adds a few pickle and jalapeo slices for garnish.
@dualipaofficial What do we call her?
Though pickle juice sounds like a weird addition, it’s commonly used in cocktails like Bloody Marys, and it’s also a great source of electrolytes if you find yourself dehydrated and out of Pedialyte or Gatorade. It’s a fine thing to drink … if you’re in the mood for something that tastes like pickles. I’ve never thought of putting it in Diet Coke before, but I have definitely drank my fair share of Diet Cokes when eating fried pickles, so I reasoned it could possibly work.
How does it taste?
Dua Lipa’s Diet Coke drink is not horrible … but it is also not good. It tastes like Diet Coke but with a bit of spicy pickle-flavored vinegar that isn’t exactly sure how it ended up there or what it’s supposed to be doing. Is it curing a hangover? Is the pickle juice on a spiritual quest and trying to push itself outside its comfort zone? I have no answers, and Dua Lipa has given us none either. This is a mystery that may haunt me for the rest of my life.
Even though I mixed the drink well, it did nothing to blend the flavors into something new and inventive. It tastes like three entirely separate things that want nothing to do with one another, like mixing oil, water and spicy gasoline. The kick from the jalapeo juice didn’t seem like flavor as much as it seemed like a desperate cry to escape from this sad, sad soda.
What did Gordon Ramsay think of this drink?
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay hated Dua Lipa’s Diet Coke so much that he spit it out in his taste-test video, which was pretty disappointing to watch. I had the decency to drink half a glass before I decided that, yes, this beverage is an abomination. But maybe I’m just made of stronger stuff than Gordon Ramsay is.
After his spit take, Ramsay leaned over, began hacking up the drink like he was dying and screamed, “Dua Lipa, for God’s sake, girl! You’ll ruin your vocal cords!” He’s since posted other TikTok videos, so we can safely assume Dua Lipa’s Diet Coke did not, in fact, kill him.
The pop star replied by commenting “Gordon!! You’re getting lost in the sauce!!!”which is yet another thing I don’t quite understand. Maybe they have a private, sauce-based relationship. We’ll be sure to post updates if this turns out to be true.
Why do these flavors work together?
These flavors don’t work together at all, and I am a woman who goes out of her way to find the best in just about everything. After all, we’re all entitled to our own peculiar tastes, and just because I think something is bad doesn’t mean it’s not good to someone else. That being said, I’m pretty sure Dua Lipa is the only person who thinks this is good, and anyone who agrees with her is lying.
What would you eat with Dua Lipa’s Diet Coke?
I can’t think of any foods that would want to be associated with this drink. I guess if you had to try something, it should be very, very bad, so the drink will look better in comparisonmaybe a plain, extra-dry fast-food hamburger with no condiments, or perhaps a whole raw potato eaten like an apple.
Is this part of the “dirty soda” trend?
Popularized by the TV show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and other Mormon influencers, dirty soda is a soda spruced up with other ingredients, like syrups or creamers, to make it a little more special. In essence, they’re soda cocktails, and by definition, Dua Lipa’s Diet Coke definitely qualifies as dirty soda. However, the point of dirtying up a soda is to make it taste good, while adding jalapeo and pickle juices to Diet Coke seems more like something meant to help with a hangoveror to prank an unsuspecting friend.
If you’d like to try some dirty sodas that won’t make you keel over in disgust like a broken Gordon Ramsay, add a splash of creamer or flavored syrup to your next soda. Here are some combos you can try:
- Cream soda, strawberry syrup and heavy cream
- Lemon-lime soda, raspberry syrup and French vanilla coffee creamer
- Root beer and coconut cream
- Cola, chocolate syrup and maraschino cherries
- Orange soda and French vanilla coffee creamer
You don’t need to measure when making a dirty soda. Like Dua Lipa, you can simply add a small splash, stir and drink up. Just stick to things you think will actually taste good together. Pickle juice has its place, and it’s certainly not in soda.
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AtReaders Digest, were committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on Dua Lipa’s viral Diet Coke recipe, Allison Robicelli tapped her longtime experience as a food writer, cookbook author and chef, and she tried the recipe herself. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
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