Cookout Drinks Menu at a Glance

Cookout Drinks Menu With Prices

Cookout standard fountain beverages are at roughly $1.29 to $2.45, depending on the drink, size, and restaurant. Milkshakes generally cost more than fountain drinks, while floats fall between ordinary soda and a full shake at many locations.

*Prices can vary by location, so check the menu board at your specific restaurant before ordering.

Is a larger Cookout drink a better value?

Not necessarily. A huge drink gives you substantially more beverage than a small one, but if you don’t actually want 32 ounces, paying for the larger portion isn’t automatically a better value.

For someone eating a standard meal, the Regular 16-oz drink is a practical middle ground. The large and huge sizes make more sense when you specifically want a bigger drink for a long drive or extended meal or simply prefer larger portions.

Cookout Drink Sizes

One of the easiest ways to understand the Cook Out beverage menu is by its fountain sizes.

One important distinction: not every beverage is necessarily sold in every size. Floats and milkshakes, for example, have their own serving formats.

Full Cookout Soft Drinks Menu

Cook Out’s fountain lineup is one of its most straightforward beverage categories. The official nutrition information includes several Coca-Cola fountain products and regional favorites.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is available in all four standard fountain sizes.

The calories rise directly with portion size, making the Small Coca-Cola substantially lighter than the Huge.

Diet Coke

Diet Coke is the obvious choice if you want the cola profile without the calories listed for regular Coke.

Cook Out’s official nutrition information lists Diet Coke at zero calories across all four fountain sizes.

Coca-Cola Zero

Coca-Cola Zero is another zero-calorie cola option appearing in Cook Out’s nutrition information. It is particularly useful for someone who wants a cola beverage while avoiding the calories and sugar associated with regular Coca-Cola.

Sprite

Sprite provides a caffeine-free-style citrus soda option for diners who prefer something lighter and more refreshing in flavor.

Pibb Xtra

Pibb Xtra is another fountain option and gives you a spiced, cherry-like soft-drink profile that differs from ordinary cola.

Mellow Yellow

Mellow Yellow is another full-calorie fountain option. Its official nutrition values range from about 108 calories for a Small to 288 calories for a Huge.

Dr Pepper

Dr Pepper is also available in the standard fountain sizes.

Cheerwine: The Cookout Drink You Should Know

If you’re looking for a drink that feels particularly connected to Cook Out’s Southern roots, Cheerwine is the best option. Cheerwine is a cherry-flavored soft drink originating in North Carolina, and Cook Out’s official nutrition information lists it alongside its major fountain beverages.

Its Cook Out calorie values are:

What does Cheerwine taste like?

Cheerwine has a sweet cherry-forward flavor with carbonation and a distinct fruitiness. If regular cola is your usual order, Cheerwine is worth considering when you want something more regional and fruit-flavored.

Cheerwine vs. Coke

And if you want to turn either one into dessert, there’s always the float option.

Fresh Brewed Tea at Cookout

Fresh brewed tea is one of the most practical alternatives to fountain soda. It is available in small, regular, large, and huge sizes, with the unsweetened version listed at 0 calories.

Unsweetened tea

This is one of the easiest lower-calorie choices on the menu.

If your main goal is reducing calories or added sugar, unsweetened tea is considerably different from sweet tea.

Sweet tea

Sweet tea is the more indulgent Southern-style choice. Because the sugar adds calories, its nutritional value depends on the serving size and preparation. If you enjoy sweet tea but are watching your sugar intake, one simple approach is to choose a smaller size or switch to unsweetened tea.

Lemonade and Fruit Drinks

Cook Out’s beverage lineup has also been associated with lemonade-style and fruit beverages, including Hi-C fruit punch and Poppin’ Pink Lemonade in menu information supplied for this guide. These are useful choices if you don’t want carbonation.

Lemonade vs. soda

The acidity and citrus flavor of lemonade provides a different contrast from the caramel sweetness of cola. However, lemonade isn’t automatically a low-calorie drink — sweetened fruit drinks can contain substantial sugar, so check the current nutrition information when calorie or sugar intake matters. Cola’s carbonation helps refresh the palate between rich, fatty, or salty bites, while its sweet, lightly acidic, caramel-like profile complements grilled meat and barbecue sauce. A lemon-lime soda can be a good alternative when you want the fizz but a cleaner citrus flavor.

Powerade and Bottled Water

Cook Out’s official nutrition information lists Powerade Mountain Blast and Dasani bottled water among its beverage choices.

Powerade Mountain Blast

Powerade makes more sense when you specifically want a sports drink rather than simply a zero-calorie beverage.

Dasani water

For straightforward hydration, bottled water is the simplest choice. Calories: 0. If you’re ordering a calorie-heavy tray and don’t want to add another sugary beverage, water is the easiest way to keep the drink itself from increasing your calorie total.

Cookout Floats: Coke Float and Cheerwine Float

Cook Out floats sit between a fountain drink and a dessert.

A float combines soda with vanilla soft serve, so it naturally has substantially more calories than the soda alone.

Coke Float

The Coke Float is the safer choice if you’re already a Coca-Cola fan. The combination of fizzy cola and creamy vanilla makes it more dessert-like than a normal fountain drink.

Cheerwine Float

The Cheerwine Float takes the same concept and replaces Coke with cherry-flavored Cheerwine. If you’re visiting Cook Out specifically for a regional-style drink, the Cheerwine Float is arguably the more distinctive order.

Cookout Milkshakes: 40+ Flavors

Milkshakes are arguably the biggest reason the Cook Out drink menu gets so much attention. Cook Out is known for more than 40 Fancy Milkshake flavors, ranging from traditional flavors to fruit combinations, candy-inspired options, cookies, nuts, and seasonal choices.

Some examples include:

These aren’t small shakes. Cook Out’s official nutrition documents list many Fancy Milkshakes at roughly 31–35 ounces by weight, depending on flavor.

Popular Cookout milkshake flavors

Seasonal flavors

Availability can change with the season and location. Fresh watermelon and fresh eggnog are examples that have appeared in Cook Out’s shake lineup. The safest approach is to check the available flavors at your individual restaurant rather than assuming every seasonal flavor is available year-round.

Which Cookout Drink Is Best?

There isn’t one objectively best drink. The right choice depends on what you want from it.

Best Cookout Drinks for Different Meals

The drink you choose can change how the entire meal tastes.

Carbonation works well with rich, salty foods, while tea gives you a less fizzy alternative. Sweet tea is particularly natural alongside Southern-style BBQ. Citrus and tea provide a refreshing contrast to fried or seasoned chicken. If the drink is effectively serving as dessert, a shake or float makes more sense than ordering a sugary soda and then adding another dessert.

What Is the Lowest-Calorie Cookout Drink?

The simplest answer is water or unsweetened fresh brewed tea at 0 calories. Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero are also listed at 0 calories in Cook Out’s nutrition information. If you want a regular sweetened soda, the answer changes by beverage and size — a small Coca-Cola contains 105 calories, while a small Sprite and small Cheerwine come in close behind (see the soda tables above for exact numbers by size).

Cookout Drinks and Caffeine

Caffeine can matter if you’re ordering late at night or simply want to limit your intake. Cola-based beverages such as Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper generally contain caffeine, while caffeine-free choices can include water and certain non-cola beverages. Because formulas and availability can change, don’t assume that every fountain option has the same caffeine content. If caffeine is important for you, ask the restaurant about the current product formulation rather than relying on an unofficial menu table.

Can You Upgrade a Cookout Tray Drink to a Milkshake?

Cook Out is well known for its Tray, which combines an entrée, two sides, and a beverage. At many locations, customers can substitute or upgrade the standard drink to a milkshake for an additional charge. However, the exact surcharge and availability can vary by restaurant. That makes the tray particularly interesting if you were already planning to buy a shake.

The key point is to ask your specific location about the current upgrade price rather than assuming one nationwide surcharge. Since the tray already includes a beverage, it’s worth comparing that bundled price against ordering a standalone shake or float — the tray can sometimes work out cheaper.

Can You Mix Cookout Milkshake Flavors?

Cook Out is widely associated with customized shake combinations, and many locations allow customers to combine flavors. That opens up possibilities such as:

But flavor availability can depend on the individual restaurant. If you’re ordering a combination that isn’t printed on the menu, simply ask whether both flavors can be mixed.

Cookout Drink Customization

Depending on the beverage and restaurant, useful requests may include:

For unusual combinations or seasonal products, it’s worth confirming availability when you order.

Best Cookout Drink on a Budget

If you’re ordering purely for value, a standard fountain drink or tea is generally the economical choice. A milkshake costs more, but it can also function as both your beverage and dessert.

Are Cookout Drinks the Same at Every Location?

Not necessarily. Cook Out operates across multiple Southeastern states, and its official location directory currently lists restaurants across states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, Alabama, Mississippi, and West Virginia.

Because individual restaurants can have different availability and pricing, you should treat online menu prices as estimates unless you’re looking at the menu for the exact restaurant you’re visiting. This matters especially for:

Does Cookout Have Seasonal Drinks?

Seasonal availability is particularly relevant to the milkshake menu. Cook Out has offered limited-time flavors such as Fresh Watermelon and Fresh Eggnog, but seasonal availability should not be treated as permanent. If you are traveling specifically for a seasonal flavor, check the restaurant before making the trip. This is one area where online lists can become outdated quickly.

Are Cookout Floats Lower in Calories Than Milkshakes?

Generally, yes, based on Cook Out’s published nutrition figures. A 16-ounce Coke Float is listed at 399 calories, while a Cheerwine Float is 401 calories. By comparison, the official nutrition document lists Fancy Milkshake examples from 538 calories for Fresh Banana to 864 calories for Peanut Butter Banana among the flavors shown above.

So if you’re choosing specifically between a float and a milkshake, the float is generally the lighter indulgence. That doesn’t make it a low-calorie beverage — it simply makes it a smaller nutritional commitment than many of the large Fancy Milkshakes.

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