Drinks With Sunny D: The Lunchbox Orange Drink, All Grown Up
Somebody brought a jug of Sunny D to our last potluck as a joke, and it was empty before the chili was. That shade of orange does something to people. One look and we were nine again, in a kitchen with a yellow phone on the wall, shaking the bottle like the label said.
It was never quite juice, and we knew that even then. It sat in the cold case beside the real orange juice, sweeter and louder and far more exciting. That same loudness makes it a decent mixer. The tang holds up under ice and the sugar softens a cheap pour.
Our database lists it in more than 35 recipes, under a few different names, because people have been quietly doing this for a long time. Plenty of those recipes are silly. These are the ones we’d pour for friends.
What do you call Sunny D and vodka?
It’s a screwdriver with a substitution, and no official name exists. Our recipe box has the best answer we’ve heard, the Phillips Screwdriver: two ounces of vodka, six of Sunny D, and two or three ice cubes. A slightly different tool for the same job, you see. It tastes like a screwdriver with the edges sanded off, and we pour the vodka a little light because all that sugar hides it.
Lemon takes it somewhere better. A Sunny Delight gets built in a mason jar, which already wins us over. In go three shots of lemon vodka and one of triple sec. A lightly squeezed lemon sits on the rim, Sunny D fills the jar, and a shot of club soda finishes it. That’s four shots of liquor, so we carry the jar out to the back steps with two straws.
Looking for one in a can? SunnyD launched its own Vodka Seltzer in 2023, at 4.5% ABV. It’s the only official Sunny D alcohol drink we know of. Everything else here, you make yourself.
Pour it over ice and stop thinking
These are the ones we make with one hand while talking to someone.
| Drink | What goes in | How it drinks |
|---|---|---|
| Twizzy in Paradise | 2 oz Parrot Bay coconut rum, 8 oz Sunny D | sunscreen and summer camp, in the best way |
| Dreamsicle Delight | 1/2 oz Captain Morgan, 6 oz Sunny D | barely a drink, with a little vanilla spice |
| Fuzzy Delight | 1 oz peach schnapps, 1 oz white rum, 5 oz California Style Sunny D | a Fuzzy Navel with more backbone |
| Juicy Fruit #2 | 2 oz banana schnapps, 4 oz California Style Sunny D | the gum, and we’re not kidding |
We’d start with the rum. Coconut and candied orange seem to have been waiting for each other, and the Twizzy lasts through a whole conversation. A slice of real orange on the rim helps more than you’d expect, because it puts actual peel under your nose.
Anyone with a bottle of Malibu can also try Mauipazaui, which is an ounce each of Malibu and California Style Sunny D. Whoever wrote it insisted on both brands, and we respect the conviction.
Got some other stray bottle? Type it into Cocktail Builder along with the Sunny D. Somebody has tried it.
The creamsicle in the room
Orange and cream was the ice cream truck’s finest hour, and it’s the best thing that happens to Sunny D. The Jamaican Creamsicle shakes four ounces of Sunny D with an ounce of half-and-half, an ounce of Jamaican dark rum and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. It comes out pale and frothy, and the molasses in the rum keeps it from tasting like a melted popsicle. Drink it right away. Citrus and dairy don’t stay friends for long.
Coffee is the unexpected partner. For the Chocolatey Orange Sunset, three ounces of Sunny D go in the glass and an ounce of Kahlúa follows, settling at the bottom. The recipe’s only other direction is to sit back and admire it. We did. Then we stirred, and it tasted like those foil-wrapped chocolate oranges from a Christmas stocking, which on a dark November afternoon was exactly right.
For a crowd, and for the back of the bus
Pitchers go wrong when somebody makes them strong. A Southern Screw has sensible proportions: two ounces of vodka, two of Southern Comfort and six of Sunny D, stirred over ice. The stone-fruit sweetness slides right into the orange. Multiply by however many cousins are coming, and keep it in the fridge until they arrive.
Lemon-lime soda helps too. The Fruity Vodka Beverage, a name no marketing department was involved in, is equal parts lemon vodka, 7-Up and Sunny D over ice. And for the guests who remember orange soda fondly, the Medinah doubles down with four ounces each of Sunkist and Sunny D plus two of coconut rum. More in that sticky direction lives in our drinks with orange soda and drinks with Hawaiian Punch.
We always finish with the School Bus: half an ounce of pear schnapps and half an ounce of Sunny D in a shot glass, and yes, it comes out more or less the right color. A tray of them in front of people who haven’t ridden one in thirty years gets a better laugh than most jokes we’ve told. If that crowd also misses the silver pouch, we made an adult Capri Sun too.
One for the nicer glasses
One recipe could pass at a proper dinner. The Floridanian shakes an ounce and a half of vodka with half an ounce of sloe gin, an ounce of grapefruit juice and an ounce of California Style Sunny D. Grapefruit brings the bitterness the bottle lacks, and sloe gin turns everything a dusky coral. Nobody at our table guessed what was in it. We waited until the second round to show them the jug.
Last modified on November 1, 2026