Starbucks Dragonfruit Refresher

Is The Mango Dragonfruit Refresher Healthy?

Yes! It’s low in calories and sugar. It’s a good choice of drink to get when you’re watching your caloric intake, and much better than grabbing a soda. Aside from that, dragon fruit, also called pitaya, has a ton of antioxidants that protect and preserve your cells from free radicals. 

This drink in the line of refresher beverages will provide you with a natural boost of energy. That makes it an excellent afternoon drink, when you need a little boost to help you get through the rest of your day.

❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe

This mango dragonfruit refresher copycat recipe is easy to make at home with just a few simple ingredients. It’ll surely be a hit at parties, too!

• It’s fun to make with the kids, especially when you add the dragon fruit and can watch the drink change colors.
• You can easily customize this drink for a tasty upgrade with sinkers/add-ins. (More of that later!)
• The vibrant and pretty pink color is a perfect mood-booster!
• This popular pink drink is one of the best flavors of summer.

If you like the fresh fruity mood-boosting flavors of dragon fruit, you should try this Dragon Fruit Popsicle for a guilt free treat for summer.

🥘 Ingredients

For this recipe, we’re using common grocery store ingredients, so you should be able to find them. But just in case something’s not available, you can find alternatives in the next section.

• Lemonade: This is the base. It adds a fresh zing to the mango dragonfruit refresher. You can get it pre-made or make the lemonade yourself to control the grams of sugar.
• Mango juice: Since dragon fruit doesn’t really have much taste and isn’t very sweet, pairing it with real fruit juice like the sweet mango helps boost the flavor. For the best flavor, find a good quality mango juice, and avoid using sugary powdered juice.
• Dried dragonfruit: It’s more convenient to use dried dragon fruit, especially when fresh ones aren’t in season. Be sure to use the red variety to get that beautiful pop of color.
• Coconut milk: It adds a sort of tropical “colada” vibe to the drink. Plus, it’ll turn the color of your drink into pastel pink! It’s optional, so you can leave it out if you want to, or just have some coconut milk in a pitcher on the side and let your guests add it to their drink according to their preferences.

See recipe card for quantities.

🔀 Substitutions

Mango juice: It contributes a good flavor and is also pretty cheap. But if you want, you can try using white grape juice concentrate, which is what Starbucks original refresher recipe actually uses. It’s just a bit more pricey. Flavorwise, it adds a bit of tartness. You can also use apple juice as an alternative.

Dried dragonfruit: Freeze-dried dragon fruit pieces or dragon fruit powder are the best options since they’re more shelf-stable. The flavor is also consistent. But if fresh dragon fruit is in season and you want to try using it for a little flavor variation and a new texture, you definitely can! If you use this, you might want to make the drink in a blender.

To get the best quality dragon fruit, look for those with bright, shiny, plump pink skin that have green tips. Avoid ones with wrinkles and those that are too mushy to the touch. Puree the real dragonfruit pieces, then strain to obtain dragon fruit juice.

Sugar-free lemonade: If you want to cut down on some of the calories, you can use sugar-free lemonade instead of regular lemonade.

🌈 Variations / Options / Add-Ins

Since you’re making the Starbucks refresher drink at home, you can make it however you like. Here are some ways you can customize your mango refresher drink:

• Cocktail – easily turn it into a mango refresher cocktail by switching the mango juice with white wine, and adding a splash of gin or vodka
• Kid-friendly – add gummies or sliced jello into the drinks to make it so much fun for the kids; you can also add fresh cubed dragon fruit. Just make sure the kids are old enough to handle these additions so they don’t choke.
• Garnish – top it with mint leaves and lemon slices for more color and a beautiful garnish

Here’s a recipe for a Caramel Frappuccino for another fun Starbucks copycat drink to try.

🥄 Equipment Needed / Helpful Tools

You will need only 2 things to mix your delicious concoction. How easy is that?!

• Large Pitcher – You’ll want a pretty pitcher to hold this pretty drink
• Long Spoon – A long spoon will make it much easier to make sure your drink is completely stirred

🔪 How to Make Starbucks Dragonfruit Refresher

The instructions in this recipe are easy to follow, and it comes together in five minutes using only five ingredients.

Step 1: Combine the juices

Pour the lemonade and mango juice into a large pitcher.

Give it a good stir to make sure everything’s well incorporated. This is also a good time to taste the mixture of these couple of flavors and add your sweetener of choice, if needed.

Step 2: Fill serving glasses

Add ice to the serving glasses and then fill the glasses with the combined juices from the pitcher. 

Clear glassware offers a more aesthetic presentation but feel free to use plastic or metalware. It’s delicious nonetheless.

Step 3: Add dragonfruit

Add in one tablespoon of dried dragonfruit chips to each glass. You can also add one tablespoon of dragonfruit juice instead. 

The dragonfruit chips or juice will dye the lemonade a bright pink color. Give it a good stir or let your guests do so using straws.

Step 4: Top with coconut milk

This is an optional step. You can fill the glasses just 3/4 of the way full with the juices and then top it off with 1/4 cup coconut milk.

This coconut version will give your pink drink a beautiful ombre color! It’ll also add a creamy taste.

🍽️ Serving Suggestions

To keep the healthy vibe going, serve this refreshing beverage with Trail Mix Cookies or these Air Fryer Pretzel Bites.

❓ Recipe FAQs

🙏 Pairing

These are my favorite dishes to serve with mango dragonfruit refresher: