Two Ingredients, One Blender, Zero Drive-Thru Lines: Frosted Lemonade at Home

Lemonade and vanilla ice cream go into the blender and come out as the frostiest, tartest-sweetest treat you've made all summer.

It's not a milkshake and it's not lemonade. It's the best parts of both, in one glass.

Dowell Cooks

Two Ingredients, One Blender, Zero Drive-Thru Lines: Frosted Lemonade at Home

Lemonade and vanilla ice cream go into the blender and come out as the frostiest, tartest-sweetest treat you've made all summer.

Simple ingredients, delicious meals. That's the whole game.
Dowell Cooks

Hey friends! If you've ever stood in the Chick-fil-A line purely for the frosted lemonade, I've got great news: you own a blender, which means you already own the machine that makes this. Two ingredients, five minutes, no drive-thru required. This is exactly the kind of recipe I live for around here, quick, a little silly, and genuinely delicious.

Where this one comes from

This drink is a straight-up copycat of the fast food classic, and honestly I don't think it needs an apology. Somebody at Chick-fil-A figured out that lemonade and soft serve belong in the same cup, and it caught on for a reason. My version skips the drive-thru and the soft serve machine and just uses a blender and a tub of vanilla ice cream from the freezer, which means I can make it any random Tuesday I'm craving it.

How it comes together

Pour the lemonade into the blender first, then add the vanilla ice cream on top. If your blender has an ice cream or frozen drink button, hit that and let it do its thing. If not, start on low for about 15 seconds to break up the ice cream, then bump it up to medium for another 30 seconds until everything is smooth and thick. That's it, that's the whole cook.

Don't over-blend it

The one real way to mess this up is to leave the blender running too long. Every extra second melts more of that ice cream into liquid, and suddenly your thick, frosty drink turns into a thin, watery one that tastes more diluted than tart-and-creamy. Blend just until it's smooth, no longer, and pour it immediately. It will not wait patiently for you on the counter.

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Here's what's actually happening in that glass, flavor-wise.

This is basically dessert in a glass, so I keep what's next to it light. A basket of crispy fries or some salty popcorn chicken is the classic move, since the salt plays so nicely against all that sweet-tart cream. If you want to keep it purely a treat, a couple of lemon cookies on the side never hurt anybody.

What to grab at the store

Grab a bottle of your favorite lemonade and a quart of real vanilla ice cream. You don't need anything fancy. If you want a brighter, less sweet drink, swap in fresh-squeezed lemon juice mixed with a little water instead of bottled lemonade, since store-bought versions can carry a lot of added sugar that stacks right on top of the ice cream's sweetness. For the garnish, pick lemons that feel heavy for their size. Those tend to be juicier and slice up prettier.

Short on time or don't feel like measuring? Just eyeball it. Fill your blender about a third of the way with lemonade and top it off with scoops of ice cream until it looks right, then blend. This recipe is forgiving enough that exact measurements are more of a suggestion than a rule.

Freeze your serving glasses for ten minutes before you pour. It sounds like a small thing, but it keeps the drink frosty for way longer instead of melting into a puddle the second it hits room-temperature glass.

How I switch it up

Toss in a handful of frozen strawberries before you blend for a pink, fruitier version that softens the tartness even more. On the flip side, if you love that pucker-your-lips lemon punch, swap in fresh lemon juice for some of the lemonade so nothing dilutes the citrus. Either way, the two-ingredient blender method stays exactly the same.

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Curious where I actually make this stuff? Quick peek behind the scenes.

In the kitchen

Kitchen: Studio

This drink doesn't even need an oven, but the same spirit applies.

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Per serving

Questions from the kitchen

Can I use a different flavor of ice cream?: Vanilla is what keeps this tasting like the original, but a lemon or even strawberry ice cream would push it further into dessert territory. Just know the tartness will shift a bit depending on what you use.
What if my blender doesn't have an ice cream setting?: No problem at all. Fifteen seconds on low followed by thirty seconds on medium gets you the same smooth, thick result.
Can I make this ahead of time?: Not really, and that's kind of the charm of it. It's best blended right before you drink it since it starts melting and separating within minutes.
Is this actually less sweet than the drive-thru version?: It can be, especially if you use fresh lemon juice instead of bottled lemonade. You're in control of the sugar here in a way you're not when someone else makes it for you.

That's the whole recipe, seriously. Two ingredients, one blender, five minutes, and a drink that tastes like summer and a little bit of victory over the drive-thru line. Go make yourself one, and maybe make a second for whoever's hovering around your kitchen hoping for a taste.