Copycat Sonic Ocean Water – so easy to make and so refreshing! It’s perfect for parties or a hot, summer day and is made with water, sugar, coconut extract, Sprite and food coloring.
We love fun, kid-friendly drink recipes, like today’s Ocean Water. For more drinks check out our Pink Punch and Cherry Limeade!
Copycat Recipe
We love to go to Sonic as a family! Personally, I love to get mozzarella sticks and to get Ocean Water. Have you had that drink before?
It’s pretty much blue coconut Sprite, and we love it. Takes minutes to make and is kid-friendly.
We made some a few months ago for a party, and it was a hit. Serve it up with some Sonic ice (our favorite) or look below for some fun ideas on how to serve this for your next party. The options are endless for making this fun, yummy drink.
How to Make Sonic Ocean Water
Like most drink recipes, this one is a cinch!
Just add water and sugar to a glass bowl and microwave for 45 seconds. Take out and stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour into a pitcher and add coconut extract, soda and food coloring. Mix well.
Coconut Extract: you can typically find this near the vanilla in the baking aisle. The extract is pretty strong. For less of a coconut taste, reduce the amount of extract added. If you love coconut flavoring you can add more than what’s suggested. Not a coconut fan? Try pineapple extract instead.
Fun Ways to Serve + Storing
We thought it was super fun to add Swedish fish to this drink. Not only did it look cute, but we could eat the fish too! Here are a few other fun ways to serve this drink:
- Create ocean shaped ice cubes. You can find several options on Amazon
- Use a mini umbrella
- Serve out of a coconut shaped cup
MAKING AHEAD OF TIME: This is best when consumed quickly after mixing up, but can be made up to a day ahead of time and kept in the fridge.
LEFTOVERS: Store leftover drink in the fridge for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Be aware that the carbonation in the soda will diminish with storage. You can also use the leftovers to make a slushy or popsicles.
For more yummy drink recipes, check out:
- Pink Pineapple Lemonade Soda
- Sonic Cherry Limeade
- Watermelon Juice
- Favorite Lemonade Recipe
- Strawberry Lemonade
Ocean Water Recipe
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup water
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 liter Sprite or 7UP
- 1 tablespoon coconut extract
- blue food coloring
Instructions
- Combine water and sugar in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 45 seconds, then stir until the sugar is dissolved.
- Pour into a pitcher and add Sprite, coconut extract, and 3–4 drops of food coloring. Mix well.
- Add ice right before serving.
Video
Notes
Recipe adapted from Food.com.
Ocean water looks really delicious! Definitely making a batch for my kids!
It is super delicious!! They’ll love it! Thanks for stopping by!
My children would love these.
If they love a fun drink, then I bet they would! Hope you give them a try! Thanks for stopping by!
Besides a Blast(if that even counts as a real “drink”), this is the ONLY drink I ever order from Sonic!! So glad I found a recipe that works so I can just make it at home! (;
we love this for parties! It’s incredibly easy to make & always a hit! Love the hint of coconut..so refreshing!
This is one of my favorite drinks over at sonic! Glad I can make some at home now, ESPECIALLY since ours just closed.
My kids will be so excited for me to make them this drink! They always want blue drinks!! This tastes great!
The little kids will love this fun drink. Very easy to make!
Fun summer drink. Its especially refreshing here in AZ
Hey there! This ocean water recipe looks very refreshing and delicious! I am a huge fan of all things Sonic, but I am not a fan of artificial dyes and colouring. As far as the bright blue colour goes, is there a way to naturally colour the drink? Perhaps with berries or fruit of some sort? If not, how would you suggest sprucing up this drink without colour? Maybe a fancy mint leaf, fruit ice cubes, or cranberries? Thank you for the recipe! I’m just too excited to test it out! As a Canadian, Sonic is not available to us, and I am always craving their sweet, sugary, and summery drinks! 😋
You are welcome. I have not tried other ways, but I think you are on the right track..those sound like great ideas!
For natural blue coloring, look into butterfly pea tea leaves! Depending on the acidity of the soda it might turn pink though but it’d still be a pretty, natural drink.
That’s a great suggestion! Thanks for sharing!
Don’t let the fact that the recipe calls for food coloring throw you off. It only for color and contributes nothing to the taste. Feel free to just leave it out. It’ll taste the same. If you want the color, try adding fresh squeezed blueberry juice, or if you’d like a purple color, try pomegranate. Even though the juices have a flavor, you’re not using enough to significantly alter the taste of the original recipe. I do find it odd that you’re more concerned about a few drops of FDA-approved food coloring, than you are the 185g of sugar in this recipe. This drink (which I must confess is awesome tasting!!), contains 7x the recommended daily intake of amount of sugar.
You can use Butterfly Pea Tea that is readily available online and at many grocery stores! Completely 100% natural blossom!
Butterfly Pea Tea turns anything BLUE!
Coconut snow cone syrup is Sonic uses, and you can order it online ( i LOVE coconut snow cones!). Originally they put in cherries and slices of oranges and lime .
An adult drink uses Ocean Water and Malibu or Parrot Bay rum.
Thanks so much for the tip on the Sonic Coconut Snow Cone Syrup! Sounds delicious!
I havent made this recipe yet but i am wondering if i could substitute the sugar with something else that is diabetic friendly like splenda or something like that. i appreciate the help thank you.
I haven’t tried subbing the sugar for Splenda, but I imagine it would work just fine. You’ll have to let us know how it turns out! 🙂
Could you use coconut syrup instead of the extract?
I haven’t ever swapped the two, but you could certainly try!
I doubled the recipe to use a whole 2 liter of sprite. I only used 1 tbsp. Of coconut extract and it’s perfect. Next I won’t double the water or sugar as it’s to much. It makes it to thick!! I’m hoping when I add more sprite it will make it then like sonics ocean water and not thick like drinking syrup.
Thanks for the feedback and for giving the recipe a try!