TikTok-ers Discovered How to Make Dr. Pepper at Home With Only Two Ingredients
Updated Aug. 30 2020, 12:18 p.m. ET
There's something wonderfully addictive about soda. There are some foods that just go incredibly with the stuff, like a slice of pizza, or some very specific fast food items. And while sales of the beverage continue to plummet every year, there's really no replacing it as a number of caffeinated, sugar-free options still dominate shelves. But what if you could make the barbecue water of sodas, Dr. Pepper, right at home? That's what TikTok users are alleging.
A TikTok trend has people trying to create homemade Dr. Pepper with just two ingredients.
Everyone knows that Diet Dr. Pepper is probably the greatest sugar-free soda of all time. And depending on where you live in America, you can even go to restaurants where they have the stuff on tap. Not just regular Dr. Pepper, but the diet variant too. I know, I almost upped and moved my family to the Midwest based on this fact alone, but after COVID-19 hit, I realized we weren't going to be dining out at places as much as we used to.
Anyway, let's say you're in a pinch, and with the soda shortage occurring that's severely cutting back on the different varieties of flavors soda manufacturers are churning out, you may not be able to get a can or bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper. You're distraught, you look at your fridge, seltzer just isn't going to cut it for the 2 a.m. Crunchwrap Supreme your high butt bought at the drive-thru, and the Circle K was out of Diet Dr. P.
What do you do?
According to TikTok, you grab yourself some unflavored seltzer water (in the case of most testers, they're nabbing Topo Chico) and some black cherry MiO.
MiO's that sugar-free flavored water-shot-stuff people who can't stomach the taste (or non-taste?) of water and need to jooj it up a bit, squirt into their H20.
Tons of people are trying this "Dr. Pepper Hack," which is essentially just flavoring your seltzer with MiO and gives you a completely sugar-free, calorie free version of Dr. Pepper that you can flavor entirely to your liking. There's one little drawback to performing this experiment, however: it creates a little bit of a "soda volcano", so you might want to make it in the sink.
As someone who drinks a lot of Diet Dr. Pepper, I had to go and try this little thing for myself. And while I could totally tell the difference between the two, I have to say that the Black Cherry MiO and Seltzer combination, in a pinch, is actually pretty darn good. No, it's no Diet Dr. Pepper (but then again, what is?), but some might actually prefer the taste of this messy alternative.
If you're a fan of MiO and these sugar-free flavor boosters and want a low-calorie cocktail option, I highly suggest seltzer, tequila, and Orange-Tangerine flavored MiO combined. It tastes like Ecto Cooler juice with the added benefit of getting you drunk if you imbibe enough.
Other "healthy" TikTok options: Sour Patch Kids and chickpea cookie dough.
These less calorie-dense alternatives to popular snack foods DO NOT taste like their junk food counterparts, however, they're pretty good. For SPKs, Yahoo suggests freezing the grapes first then putting lime juice on them for that wonderful combination of sweet and sour.
The chickpea cookie dough dessert combines peanut butter, vanilla, almond flour, maple syrup, and a bit of salt.
Did you try these "food hacks" for yourself? Were you impressed with them? Or is it better to leave this kind of junk food deliciousness up to the food conglomerates?
