Name: Strawberry Shortcake Dirty Soda Float
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 2 shortbread cookies; 6-ounce Sprite or lemon-lime soda; 1/2 cup ice (nugget ice-sized preferred over regular cubes); 4 medium strawberries; 2-3 tablespoons Hershey’s strawberry syrup; 2 scoops vanilla ice cream; 2 tablespoons heavy cream, light cream, or half & Half

This mashup drink combines strawberry shortcake, dirty soda, and an ice cream float into a refreshing, indulgent, bubbly summer dessert drink. It features mashed strawberries, ice, strawberry syrup, lemon-lime soda, heavy cream, and vanilla ice cream, and is topped with a generous mound of whipped cream and shortbread cookie crumbs. This dessert drink is next level!

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I’m so glad that dirty soda has exploded in popularity across TikTok and other social media platforms, because it brings back one of my favorite indulgences: soda fountain drinks. The dessert drink is nostalgic, refreshing, and so satisfying.

It’s so easy to see why dirty soda is so popular: it’s sweet, cold, creamy, fizzy, and refreshing. This indulgent treat is a perfect summer drink on a hot day and a fun choice for entertaining, especially for kids.

What’s the difference between floats and dirty soda?

Both are delicious in their own way. Traditional floats usually contain soda and ice cream, while dirty soda contains ice, soda, and something “dirty”, usually in the form of a syrup, and a cream such as heavy cream, half-and-half, coffee creamer, or coconut cream. When you add ice cream to the dirty soda, it becomes a dirty soda float. Also, adding ice to a dirty soda float is optional, since the ice cream keeps the drink cold.

Easy to make:

For a basic dirty soda float, just combine all the ingredients in a glass, finish it off with whipped cream, and you’re done.

To jazz it up more, in this strawberry shortcake version, I smash fresh strawberries and layer them into the glass, adding specks of color, extra texture, and strawberry flavor. Then, crushed shortbread cookies to rim the glass and sprinkled them over the whipped cream for the finishing touch.

Ingredients needed:

Fresh strawberries
Shortbread cookies
Sprite or lemon-lime soda
Strawberry syrup
Cream (heavy, light, or half & half)
Vanilla ice cream
Ice

Recipe highlights:

Mash the strawberries with a fork or pestle.
Smash the cookies into crumbs, then rim the glass with them.
Layer the ice, strawberries, syrup, ice cream, cream, and soda in the glass.
Top with whipped cream and garnish with cookie crumbs.
Detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.

Variations:

First off, this recipe isn’t an exact science—I usually just eyeball everything when I make a dirty soda float. The measurements I’ve provided are simply guidelines, so feel free to add more or less of any ingredient to suit your taste. Secondly, have fun with it and swap ingredients to mix things up. Try using strawberry ice cream and/or strawberry soda for a different twist.

Also, try turning other classic dirty soda flavors into dirty soda floats:

Classic—ice, Diet Coke, coconut syrup, fresh lime juice, cream, and vanilla ice cream.

Orange Creamsicle—ice, Sprite or orange soda, cream, vanilla extract, and orange or vanilla ice cream.

Dirty Dr. Pepper—Dr. Pepper, coconut syrup, lime juice, cream, cherry or vanilla ice cream

Root Beer–ice, root beer, caramel or vanilla syrup, lime juice (optional), cream, vanilla ice cream.

Recommended supplies:

(Affiliate links. The products I recommend are either what I use, are on my wish list, or are highly rated.)

An ice cream scoop—this one is heavy-duty and dishwasher-safe.
A tall glass between 17 and 19 ounces. This set of 17-ounce glasses has a heavy bubble base.
Extra wide straws—these 0.47″ wide straws are extra wide and suitable for shakes and bubble tea.

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