McDonald's Lemonade Is Finally Getting A Much Needed Upgrade

A big change has come to McDonald's lemonade, starting April 8, 2025. Instead of the Minute Maid brand lemonade it has sold in the past, the Golden Arches has introduced a new recipe which includes real lemon juice, along with lemon pulp and cane sugar. This signals a decidedly different direction than the chain's previous offering; Minute Maid's product is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup and contains ingredients like glycerol ester of wood rosin (which functions as a stabilizer) — with no mention of actual lemon juice in the nutrition information.

McDonald's tested the lemonade a few years back, and The Takeout compared McDonald's lemonade versus Wendy's, when it came out. Our writer enjoyed it, saying, "McDonald's hasn't invented anything new here, but the brand has rolled out a classically refreshing drink, so, good on McDonald's." (Her 7-year-old likened it to "farmers market lemonade," for what it's worth.) It does sound like there's some promise to it, and it could be considered an upgrade when compared to the corn syrup-sweetened stuff, which will no longer be offered.

With McDonald's strategy to bring back beloved items in 2025, the chain appears to be making an open attempt to muscle in on the fast food chicken market. Along with the rerelease of McDonald's chicken tenders (and long-awaited Snack Wraps), it's looking suspiciously like the burger titan is mirroring some big names in the space — namely Chick-fil-A and Raising Cane's, both of which have natural-ingredient lemonade on the menu. Then, of course, there's Wendy's, which has offered a variety of flavored lemonades for some time now.

So it's wholly possible that McDonald's is trying to stay relevant by changing up its lemonade recipe. And with the added benefit of those arguably iconic hamburger options on its menu, it might make a compelling consumer argument that there's something for everyone at the Mickey D's drive-thru. One thing's for sure — there'll be one less option at the self-serve fountain drink station, because the new McDonald's lemonade is no longer self-service.