Why Is Everyone Suddenly Obsessed With Dirty Sodas?

Dirty soda—a soft drink enhanced with cream and flavored syrups—is seeing a surge in popularity thanks to the recent premiere of Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, a reality show following a group of Salt Lake City Mormon mom influencers as they navigate a sex scandal.

A mainstay in Utah for over a decade, dirty soda has since spread throughout the country. Swig, the drive-thru chain that prides itself for creating the beverage, first opened its doors in 2010.

Now the “vice,” as one Mormon Wives cast member calls it, is captivating viewers into trying it for themselves. Drink up, we’re giving you the scoop on the trendy bevvy that Mormon reality TV stars, the TikTok girlies, and even Olivia Rodrigo can’t get enough of.

What is dirty soda?

Dirty sodas are made up of a base soda, flavored syrups, and a splash of cream over ice to bring hundreds of combos to life. But it’s far from the first drink to combine a carbonated beverage with dairy. Italian sodas combine carbonated water, flavored syrups, and sometimes a splash of cream while New York egg creams mix milk, carbonated water, and chocolate syrup. Across India and Pakistan, doodh soda is a popular combo of lemon-lime soda and milk. The Korean soda, Milkis, combining carbonated water and sweet milk, has been on the market since the late ‘80s. And let’s not forget the Lindsay Lohan Pepsi-milk ad of Christmas 2022, where she encouraged viewers to combine the two and make “pilk.”

According to Swig, the OG dirty soda shop, the basic formula started out as Diet Coke, lime, coconut syrup, and coconut cream over ice. Some shops swap the coconut cream for dairy.

The drink’s popularity in Utah stems from the state’s large concentration of Mormons. Most Mormons don’t drink alcohol, coffee, or other hot drinks, according to their religious counsel. So many of them turn to soda instead. Some Mormons avoid caffeine and soda altogether, but the guidance is fuzzy and some younger generations are even incorporating coffee into their routines.

“We don’t drink alcohol or do drugs,” said one of the Mormon Wives stars, Demi Engemann. “So soda is kind of our vice.”

Fellow cast member Taylor Paul compared it to the rest of America’s reliance on coffee drive-throughs in the mornings. “In every other state [the way] Starbucks [is] just so busy, that’s how our soda shops are,” she said. “That’s like their [locals’] treat.”

As the drink has risen in favor, the options have expanded too, with soda shops offering dozens of customizations including different soda bases, fruit purées, syrups, marshmallow fluff, blended versus non-blended ice, and more.

Olivia Rodrigo, who previously lived in Utah, has praised the state’s affinity for dirty soda in previous interviews: “I’m very into that,” she told GQ. “It’s really fun.” She hasn’t specified her order publicly, but several Mormon Wives cast members have.

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What are some favorite dirty soda flavor combos?

Mormon Wives star Mayci Neeley told Cosmopolitan that her favorite order is the Berry Bad Doctor from FiiZ, another popular Utah dirty soda spot. It’s a mix of Dr Pepper, coconut, vanilla, cream, and raspberry purée.

Paul says she enjoys drinks with Diet Dr Pepper as the base. Jessi Ngatikaura orders Swig’s Texas Tab, with Dr Pepper, vanilla, and coconut cream.

Meanwhile, Engemann gets a 44-ounce sparkling water with sugar-free coconut, raspberry, vanilla, and pineapple syrups, topped with coconut cream.

And cast member Layla Taylor orders a Swig’s Bloody Wild, composed of Mountain Dew, mango purée, and strawberry purée, with her addition of coconut cream.

Where can I try dirty soda?

The shops are rising in popularity, with Swig announcing plans to expand nationwide and other soda shops following suit. In the last year, Sonic Drive-In launched its own dirty soda menu and an option for customers to make a drink dirty, adding lime, coconut, and cream for an upcharge of $1.30. Spots like Sip City in Texas and Sodabox in North Carolina have also hopped on the trend. Even New York is getting a Midwest infusion with Cool Sips, offering the dirty soda experience in Rockefeller Plaza.

For those who don’t want to make the trip to a shop, many of the drinks can be reverse-engineered at home.

In March, CoffeeMate and Dr Pepper teamed up to launch a creamer specifically created to mix with soda. It retails for $3.29. (Aficionados also say the CoffeeMate coconut créme flavor gets the job done.) Companies like SodaShots are also creating DIY flavor packets meant to “dupe” the classic dirty soda flavors while minimizing the need for extra ingredients. Of course, after you have a can of soda, you can DIY from there. Perhaps Sprite with Summer Fruit Syrup and coconut milk?

How unhealthy is dirty soda?

Well, it’s soda. So it’s probably not surprising that this isn’t a health-boosting drink. But, “as a sports dietitian I am in the mindset that all foods can fit into a healthy lifestyle, we just need to be mindful of the portion sizes,” said Anthony Zamora, a registered dietitian and nutritionist based out of Utah.

In turn, the Mormon Wives’ cast’s obsession with dirty soda and the frequency of which they drink it has some viewers perplexed.

Experts say soda alone is already not ideal, due to being high in refined sugars, non-filling calories, and lacking nutritional advantages. Diet soda loses the sugar and calories but adds additional non-nutritive sweeteners and artificial ingredients. “Nutrition is such a gray space, it’s challenging to truly define what is healthy or not as it all goes back to your personal goals,” said Zamora. He admitted he'll indulge in an occasional diet soda, himself.

By making the soda dirty, consumers are adding additional sugar, calories, and fats from the creamer into the mix.

There are workarounds, like opting for a dirty soda that uses flat or sparkling water as the base instead of a fountain drink, or indulging in moderation.

Of course, moderation has never been the point of dirty soda. "Six out of seven days of the week, I'm having at least one 44-ounce soda," Taylor said in an episode. "I'm only going to live to, like, 50. But it makes me happy."