Love Chick-fil-A frosted coffee, but don't want to run out to the restaurant to get one? All you need is two simple ingredients and a couple minutes, and you'll be enjoying this delicious drink at home. In fact, this copycat recipe tastes even better than the original!
If you're looking for more copycat frozen drinks, you'll definitely want to try our recipes for Chick-fil-A frosted lemonade and Chick-fil-A frosted sunrise.
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What Is Frosted Coffee?
Frosted coffee is a blended mixture of vanilla ice cream and cold brew. It has a smooth, creamy texture and delightful java flavor that's very refreshing on a hot day.
Chick-fil-A introduced this drink on March 14, 2016 at all their locations. It was originally intended to be a limited-time offering, but customers enjoyed it so much that the drink has been permanently added to their menu.
Why This Recipe Works
- It's made with 2 simple ingredients, just like Chick-fil-A. The restaurant uses Thrive Farmers Central American beans to make their cold brew, which is blended with their IceDream ice milk. We used homemade cold brew and vanilla ice cream.
- It has a great flavor and creamy texture. Using good quality vanilla ice cream makes the drink more creamy than Chick-fil-A's, and the cold brew gives it a "coffee ice cream" flavor.
- It's quick and easy to make. Simply blend the two ingredients together in a blender, and enjoy! Cleanup is also easy: just fill the blender with hot, soapy water and blend for a few seconds to wash, then rinse and air dry.
Ingredients
Curious what ingredients you need to make your own Chick-fil-A frosted coffee at home? Fortunately, you'll only need two simple ingredients, so let's talk about them!
- Cold Brew: You can either buy premade cold brew concentrate, or make your own. I detail how to make your own cold brew later on in this post.
- Vanilla Ice Cream: Chick-fil-A uses their vanilla IceDream, which is technically ice milk, not ice cream, as the fat content is too low to be considered ice cream. However, since you're making this at home, you can use higher fat ice cream for a creamier finish.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations
- Mocha: add 2-3 tablespoons of chocolate syrup.
- Caramel: add 2-3 tablespoons of homemade caramel sauce.
- Espresso: use ¼ cup chilled espresso instead of cold brew.
- Whipped Cream: top the drink with a pile of whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate or caramel syrup.
- Dairy Free: swap the vanilla ice cream for your favorite plant-based vanilla ice cream.
- Low Calorie: use lowfat frozen yogurt instead of the premium ice cream.
How to Make
Let's start by making some cold brew. You'll need 6 cups of cold water and 6 ounces (168g) medium roast beans. Pictured below is Starbucks Pike Place.
- Coarsely grind the beans.
- Dump the ground coffee into a large pitcher or cold brew maker, like this Bodum (affiliate). Pour the cold filtered water on top.
3. Stir the grounds and water together until they're blended, then cover and refrigerate for 12-24 hours. Starbucks does their cold brew for 20 hours, and that's what I like.
4. Once the brewing process is complete, pour the coffee through a paper towel-lined sieve. Don't press on the grounds with a spoon, as that will release bitterness.
5. Now, let's make the frosted coffee! You'll need good quality vanilla bean ice cream (I've used Breyers and Blue Bunny vanilla bean with great results), and the cold brew that we made in the above photos.
Scoop about 2 cups of ice cream into a blender; that's roughly 4 scoops.
6. Pour in ¼ cup of the cold brew.
7. Put the lid on the blender and blend until the drink is smooth.
8. You can enjoy the frosted coffee right away, or re-freeze it for at least 30 minutes for an icier texture.
Recipe FAQs
According to this Chick-fil-A article, each drink contains 156 mg of caffeine.
This popular fast food restaurant uses Thrive Farmers beans, which is 100% arabica beans from Central America. You can order Thrive Farmers beans from their online shop. Any medium roast will work well in this drink, like Starbucks' Pike Place roast, which is what we chose to use for this photo shoot.
When this frosted drink was originally introduced in 2016, it was available in both large and small sizes. However, large drink sizes were discontinued in the summer of 2021, so now the drink is only available in a small.
Yes, this frosted drink is served all day, like CFA's other frosted drinks, the frosted lemonade and now-discontinued frosted sunrise.
Serve
Cool off on a hot day with one of our copycat milkshakes, like Chick-fil-A cookies and cream milkshake, Chick-fil-A peppermint milkshake, or Chick-fil-A peach milkshake.
Store
Leftovers: You'll need to drink this frosted drink immediately after making it for the best texture. However, you can freeze leftovers if you'd like.
Freezing: Yes, you can freeze this drink! Pour into an airtight container or individual glasses and freeze. Let it thaw briefly and stir to break up clumps of ice before drinking.
Expert Tips
- Use homemade cold brew concentrate in this recipe for the best flavor.
- Be sure to use high quality vanilla bean ice cream for the creamiest texture.
- Freeze the drink after you blend it for an extra thick and icy texture.
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Recipe
Copycat Chick-fil-A Frosted Coffee
Ingredients
- 2 cups good quality vanilla bean ice cream, about 4 scoops
- ¼ cup cold brew coffee, undiluted
Instructions
- Scoop the ice cream into a blender and pour the cold brew coffee on top.
- Blend until smooth, pour into a glass, and enjoy right away.
Video
Notes
- Make your own cold brew by coarsely grinding 6 ounces (168g) of medium roast coffee beans. Stir the grounds with 6 cups (1.4 liters) of cold water in a pitcher or cold brew maker, cover, and refrigerate for 12-24 hours. (I like a 20-hour brew, which is what Starbucks does.) Pour it through a sieve lined with paper towels, then refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. You'll end up with 4 ⅓ cups of cold brew concentrate.
- Chick-fil-A uses medium roast Thrive coffee, but I found that any medium roast coffee such as Starbucks' Pike Place works well.
- For a thicker frosted coffee, pour it into a freezer-friendly container and freeze until solid, about 1-2 hours. Let the drink stand at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes until it softens enough for you to mash it with a fork. Enjoy immediately.
Nutrition
Serving sizes and nutritional information are only an estimate and may vary from your results.
Alex
The cool creaminess of the ice cream blends well with the coffee. This drink is sweet, flavorful, and so good! Yum!
Emma
Thanks for your kind review, Alex.
Beth
This cold, creamy delight is divine! The lovely vanilla taste complements the coffee. This is my favorite coffee drink--I just love the creaminess. It's insanely awesome!
Emma
I'm glad you enjoyed this so much, Beth!