What's in Mountain Dew Freeze?: A Comprehensive Look

November 29, 2025 •

2 min read

According to the Mountain Dew Wiki, the flavor known as Summer Freeze was originally test-marketed as "Summer Pop" at a special Outpost event in 2022 before its official limited-time release. This frozen beverage is known for its red, white, and blue ice pop flavor profile, offering a nostalgic taste in slushie form. While the exact formula can vary between different flavors and restaurant partners, the core ingredients for many Mountain Dew Freeze products are remarkably consistent.

Quick Summary

Mountain Dew Freeze is a frozen, slushie-style beverage with a flavor profile that varies by version, such as the cherry, lemon, and raspberry combination found in Summer Freeze. Key ingredients include high fructose corn syrup, carbonated water, natural and artificial flavors, citric acid, and preservatives.

Key Points

Summer Freeze's Flavor Profile: The popular limited-edition Summer Freeze is formulated with a mix of cherry, lemon, and blue raspberry flavors, inspired by classic ice pops.
Core Ingredients: Standard Mountain Dew Freeze ingredients include carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, caffeine, and preservatives like sodium benzoate.
Nutritional Content: Like most sugary fountain drinks, Mountain Dew Freeze contains a high amount of added sugar and calories, contributing to its energy content.
Freezing Process: The slushie consistency is achieved by freezing a specific syrup mixture in a fountain machine, not by freezing standard Mountain Dew soda.
Variable Offerings: The Mountain Dew Freeze lineup changes over time, featuring different limited-edition flavors like Summer Freeze and store-exclusive varieties like Baja Blast Freeze at Taco Bell.

Dissecting the Ingredients of Mountain Dew Freeze

Understanding the composition of Mountain Dew Freeze, including popular versions like Summer Freeze, requires examining its ingredients. The foundational elements are largely consistent across different Mountain Dew products, with variations mainly in the flavorings and coloring agents. A flavor like Summer Freeze, for instance, is based on a recipe similar to its bottled equivalent but adapted for a frozen, non-carbonated format.

The Common Components

The typical ingredients found in Mountain Dew Freeze include carbonated water, primarily serving as the slushie base, and high fructose corn syrup, the main sweetener. Citric acid provides the characteristic tartness, while natural and artificial flavors deliver the specific taste profile, such as the cherry, lemon, and raspberry in Summer Freeze. Other common components are sodium benzoate for preservation, caffeine in most variants, sodium citrate to regulate acidity, gum arabic as an emulsifier, calcium disodium EDTA to protect flavor, and various food colorings like Blue 1 and Red 40 for visual appeal.

Comparing Different Mountain Dew Freeze Varieties

Beyond Summer Freeze, various other Mountain Dew Freeze flavors have been available, often as limited or exclusive offerings. These primarily differ in flavor and coloring. The table below compares a few examples:


Feature	Mountain Dew Summer Freeze	Mountain Dew Baja Blast Freeze	Mountain Dew Kickstart Freeze (Black Cherry)
Availability	Limited-Time Release (e.g., 2023, 2025)	Taco Bell Exclusive, year-round	Limited-Time Release (Taco Bell, 2014)
Flavor Profile	Cherry, Lemon, Blue Raspberry	Tropical Lime	Black Cherry
Appearance	Red, White, and Blue (in design), Blue beverage	Greenish-Blue	Red-Orange
Sweetener	High Fructose Corn Syrup	High Fructose Corn Syrup	High Fructose Corn Syrup
Caffeine	Yes	Yes	Yes (Kickstart variants were caffeinated)

The Freezing Process

Mountain Dew Freeze products are specifically formulated syrups designed for fountain machines that create a slushy texture by mixing and freezing the syrup with water. This process requires stabilizers to maintain the desired icy consistency. It's the specialized syrup and machine that produce the Freeze, not simply freezing regular Mountain Dew.

Conclusion

Mountain Dew Freeze combines standard soda base ingredients with unique flavorings and colorings, all adapted for a frozen, slushie format. Flavors like Summer Freeze offer a nostalgic taste profile using ingredients like high fructose corn syrup and citric acid. While core components are shared, the specific flavors and availability differentiate each Mountain Dew Freeze variant.

For additional context on the production and testing of new flavors, the Mountain Dew Wiki on Fandom provides detailed historical and background information.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, Mountain Dew Freeze is not just frozen regular Mountain Dew. It is a specific syrup formulation designed to be processed in a specialized fountain machine that creates a slushie consistency, which often contains different flavorings and stabilizers.

Mountain Dew Summer Freeze is a special limited-time flavor that combines the tastes of cherry, lemon, and blue raspberry, inspired by the nostalgic red, white, and blue frozen ice pops.

Yes, most versions of Mountain Dew Freeze, including Summer Freeze, contain caffeine, similar to their bottled soda counterparts. The exact amount can vary between different flavors and regional variants.

Yes, there have been several different variations of Mountain Dew Freeze. Some are limited-time releases, like Summer Freeze, while others are exclusive to certain restaurant chains, such as the Baja Blast Freeze at Taco Bell.

The main ingredients include carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, preservatives like sodium benzoate, and various food colorings specific to the flavor.

Mountain Dew Summer Freeze is a limited-time offering that returns periodically, such as in the summer of 2025. Availability can depend on the current promotional cycle and can be checked at major retailers.

The vibrant colors in Mountain Dew Freeze come from added food dyes. For instance, the Summer Freeze variety uses both Blue 1 and Red 40 to achieve its visual profile.