Can You Drink Expired Coke? (With Recipe Tips)
This post may contain affiliate links which means that, if you choose to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
So, you found a few cans of coke lying around in your fridge. You check the expiration date on them, like any decent person would and find that they’ve expired. So, you wonder, can you drink expired coke?
It is safe to drink expired coke. Generally, the coke remains safe to drink even after many years of its expiration date. Because the chemical components the expired coke contains don’t lead anyone to suffer from health hazards. However, the taste will decline the older the coke is.
But there are tons of other ways you can use expired coke. Keep on reading till the end to find out more about how safe it is to consume expired coke and what you can do with them.
Why Is It Safe to Drink Expired Coke?
It is safe to drink expired coke because the coke already contains preservatives, food-grade phosphoric acid, and citric acid. Even after the expiration date, these elements in the coke prevent the growth of any chemical that is harmful to the human body. Therefore, it is safe to drink it.
However, drinking expired coke might not be a pleasant experience always. Because, even though the coke is safe, the taste sometimes becomes awful.
Generally, the pleasant taste of coke remains intact up until six months after the expiration date. However, the pleasant taste of diet coke remains intact up until three months after the expiration date.
So, don’t expect the coke to taste fizzy and refreshing after it gets more than 3 – 6 months past its expiration date depending on the type of the coke. But do you throw it away after that? No, sir. There are plenty of mocktails and foods you can make with expired coke. Now, we will be looking at a few of them.
Dishes You Can Make with Expired Coke
You can not only drink expired coke without any worry but you can also make some dishes using the coke. If you are still in doubt regarding consuming it as it is, then you should try making some savory and sweet dishes listed below using your expired coke.
Cola cake
If you do not want to waste your expired cake then without any worry use the coke to make a traditionally baked cake. While making the batter of the cake, add some ounces of your coke to the flour, butter, and eggs.
The expired coke is already sweetened and if you add it to your cake batter, you can avoid the trouble of grinding a huge amount of sugar to make it icing sugar. Adding one cup of coke to your cake batter will give your cake a softer and moist texture.
Coke Popsicles
Popsicles are a cool summer treat to beat the scorching heat. And if you are planning to make some popsicles then consider using your expired coke.
The coke used in popsicles doesn’t require the fizz or carbonation coke contains. So, why don’t you use your expired coke? Because its carbonation is almost gone and you can directly add it to the Popsicle mixture of vanilla, maple syrup, and milk.
If you want to use fresh strongly carbonated coke then you need to wait for at least 1 hour for its carbonation to sit flat. Because coke popsicles will not turn out to be good if you add coke that contains strong carbonation. So, with expired coke that already is less carbonated, you can save your time while making coke popsicles.
Steak Marinated with Coke
If you have had a really long day then try to cook some steak that is marinated with coke and spices of your preference. Meat takes time to cook and be tender. But if you marinate your meat with coke then your meat will take less time to be cooked and tender.
The coke infuses the meat with sugar and this breaks down the meat. Therefore, the steak is much tender and takes less time to get cooked. So instead of throwing away your expired coke, you can use it to make tender steak and save your time.
Make Mocktails with Your Expired Coke
You can make mocktail mojitos with the expired coke. The expired coke will not alter the taste of those non-alcoholic drinks, rather it will add a different touch to your mocktail flavors. You can add the expired coke to your mocktails if you want a flat flavor of the coke in your drink.
However, if you would not like to add the flat flavor of your expired coke then put the coke through a carbonator for soda stream. And then your expired coke will not taste flat rather it will give your mocktails an enriched fizzy flavor. Here are some of the drinks recipes that you can make with expired coke and these are completely safe to drink
Blueberry Punch
This drink would only take you 5 minutes to make. You need to scramble some blueberries with lemonade and after that add 3oz of your expired coke. If you have an expired blueberry-flavored coke then it’s even better to add that.
If your taste bud is not made for blueberry flavors then try adding your expired coke to your blueberry mocktail so that you will not get completely overwhelmed by that blueberry flavor only.
Lime Cola
This mocktail is a fitting summer drink to have with your kids and friends. You just need to mix 8 to 9 ounces of your expired coke with 2 ounces of fresh lime juice and you are good to go enjoy this drink.
If your kids and friends do not like strong carbonated flavor in mocktail then you really should consider making this mocktail with expired coke. Because the expired coke doesn’t hold much of its fizz to offer and therefore adding the coke will not make your mocktails taste strongly carbonated. And your kids and guests can consume those.
Virgin Mojito
Mojitos are mainly alcoholic but you can substitute coke for liquor to make a virgin mojito. How would you make virgin mojitos with expired coke is up to your preferences and imagination? You can add any flavored expired coke to give a twist to this refreshing summer drink.
To make this virgin mojito, muddle some mint leaves with honey syrup, and then add any flavored expired coke that has been sitting around in your freezer. If you want you can exclude using sugar or syrup in this mojito because the coke will add sweetness to this mocktail.
Expired coke only loses its strong fizzy flavor but it doesn’t lose its sweetness. Therefore, if you do not have honey syrup then some ounces of expired coke can be at your rescue to make the virgin mojito sweet in taste.
Cherry Cola
Even though the name of the mocktail incorporates cherry, the mocktail is not cherry flavored. This mocktail made with any coke and grenadine (non-alcoholic fruit syrup) is appealing.
To make cherry cola, you can add 2 ounces of Grenadine fruit syrup in a glass and then pour 6 ounces of coke into the glass. You do not need to worry about the coke being expired, because expired coke will not take away the real essence of this mocktail. The expired coke’s mild carbonation will enhance the grenadine flavor in the mocktail.
If your expired coke is sweetened with cane sugar then it is even better to add the coke to this mocktail. Because the cane sweetness and mild carbonation of expired coke are mixed with grenadine syrup, the mocktail tastes a bit like Shirley Temple which is the most preferred mocktail almost at any restaurant.
Virgin Mary
If you are a teetotaller then you can make non-alcoholic Bloody Mary famously known as Virgin Mary with expired coke. Bloody mary contains vodka in it but you can still get the essence of bloody mary if you substitute coke for vodka while making Virgin Mary.
To make your Virgin Mary, you need to muddle some lemon and tomato juices with celery salt. And instead of adding vodka, you can go on adding your expired coke. The coke mixed with lime and tomato juice will contain the essence of a bloody mary mocktail.
So, if you do not want to miss out on bloody mary’s taste then try making this Virgin Mary using your expired coke.
Conclusion
Consuming expired coke is not harmful to health but it is surely not even pleasant to drink it as it is. So, if you wonder, how can you drink expired coke without experiencing the awful taste, then I would suggest you make mocktails and savory dishes using your expired coke.