“Marinating” Diet Coke in the Refrigerator Is Not a Problem
The latest TikTok “hack” that has me questioning its reality is the “pickled” Diet Coke trend. (Get ready for a lot of quotation marks in this post.) As a food writer, I’m genuinely interested in what a pickled Diet Coke might be like, so I took a little walk down the rabbit hole to see what all the fuss was about—and then frantically forged ahead. While I can appreciate a very cold and fizzy drink, I’m sorry to report that the Diet Coke was not pickled.
Describe the process: Canned Diet Coke will keep in the refrigerator for three days to two weeks. Diet Coke is then consumed. What would you call this activity? Perhaps the word “storage” comes to mind. Perhaps you would call it “drinking Diet Coke.” “Chilling” is also a worthy description (for this whole trend in many ways).
The video mentions the process of “pickling” Diet Coke, with TikToker hauskris saying that the canned drink should be kept in the refrigerator for at least a few days, but implying that the longer the better. The rest of the “recipe” is how she likes to pour the soda, what glassware she uses, and adding lime flavorings. It’s all really a matter of preference and how flat or sparkling you like your drink. My main concern is the marinating process. She describes the Diet Coke she drinks as “very cold” because it was “pickled” in the refrigerator. Let’s talk about this.
What exactly is pickling?
I’ve been trying to come up with another term for this trend—cured, fermented, pickled—but like “pickle,” they all actually mean something real.
Marinating is a culinary term for soaking meat, fruits or vegetables in liquid. This liquid is called marinade. A marinade usually consists of acid, fat, salt and possibly sugar. The purpose of the acid is to add flavor and soften tough fibers. Salt helps the flavors penetrate the meat. The butter adds richness, moisture and helps brown during cooking, while the sugar adds flavor and also helps brown. The list of ingredients hints at the purpose and benefit of marinating foods—to add flavor and soften them.
Is this what happens when Diet Coke is hacked? No. You cannot marinate without marinade. Also, is it even possible to marinate the liquid? This is when the walls of reality begin to bend if you think too much. Liquid-liquid marinating is simply mixing liquids together. You can’t pickle Diet Coke, but you can pickle it with Diet Coke. Either way, a can of Diet Coke has no way of mixing with, absorbing, or losing any flavor from anywhere. The purpose of the can and any packaging is to prevent this.
But “marinating” is just about getting the soda “very cold,” right?
Maybe “pickling” is just a cute way to describe something that’s kept for a while. Typically, foods are marinated for hours to allow the marinade’s effects to take root. This trend is mainly focused on getting crispy cold drinks, so the reason is that the longer the can sits in the refrigerator, the colder it gets. While there is some truth to this, that’s not how temperature works. Otherwise, why have a freezer at all?
Soda and anything else you put in the refrigerator will only get as cold as the refrigerator’s temperature is set. Depending on the starting temperature of Diet Coke, it will only take a few hours (not days and certainly not weeks) for the drink to reach the same temperature as the refrigerator. Once this happens, nothing will make the soda colder other than lowering the ambient temperature.
How can you actually make Diet Coke colder?
As they say, when you play with fire. Craving a crisp, cold Diet Coke? What do you do when you put it in a refrigerator heated to 40°F ? According to NBC South Florida , which specifically mentions that diet sodas freeze at a slightly higher temperature than regular sodas (regular soda freezes at 30°F), diet cola freezes at 32°F. Looks like you have the 8 degrees you’ve been missing all this time.
You can put cans of cola in the freezer, but you run the risk of the cans exploding and spilling soda residue everywhere. This can be a worthwhile risk, just be sure to set a timer so you don’t forget about it.
For the truly dedicated, here’s another option: You can lower the refrigerator temperature to anywhere between 32-39°F. However, this is only the temperature of the main section, and if you store food in the refrigerator, some food may freeze in the far corners. Instead, if you’re dedicated enough, you should really buy a second refrigerator dedicated just to Diet Coke. Set the temperature to 33°F and load with Diet Coke. Now you will have the coolest drink on TikTok.