How Pickle Lemonade Took Over the Group Chat

When life gives you lemons, the old saying goes, make lemonade. But when life offers up pickles, too, perhaps it’s time for pickle lemonade.

At least that is what happened in the Popeyes test kitchen as its team created its successful chicken sandwich. Sparingly adorned with barrel-aged pickles, the sandwich left the company’s test kitchen with an abundance of pickles and pickle juice.

Recipe: Pickle Lemonade

“The pickle lemonade started as a lark,” said Amy Alarcon, the chain’s vice president of culinary innovation. But its hydration benefits in a test kitchen weren’t lost on the team, and “it was really good.”

It would take more than five years to perfect the recipe and order enough barrel-aged pickles for a nationwide roll out, but Popeyes began selling an electric-green pickle lemonade made with pickle brine on April 1, as part of a special pickle menu that also includes fried pickle chips.