by Mary Neumann · 27 Comments
Sweet Tea fans, here is a great recipe that is sure to hit the spot on a hot summer day. According to my girls and their friends, it tastes just like McDonald’s Sweet Tea. Sweet, smooth and refreshing. To me, it tastes like summer in a glass. Hands down, this is the BEST sweet tea recipe.
Read great reviews from people who tried this recipe on Pinetrest!
Years ago I stumbled onto an awesome tip looking for a way to make iced tea smooth and less bitter – BAKING SODA! Who knew all it took was a pinch of baking soda.
Don’t be scared of baking soda, you’ll be telling everyone this tip. The baking soda also helps to keep tea clear. So long bitter, cloudy tea.
Today’s recipe share is for my daughter’s friend, Sadie – she loves my sweet tea and recently moved. I told her I would post the recipe so she could make it in her new home. As promised, here it is ♥ …
Best-Ever Sweet Tea
aka, Copycat McDonald’s Sweet Tea
Ingredients(Makes 4 quarts = 1 gallon)
- 3 Family Size Lipton iced tea bags
- pinch of baking soda (optional)
- 4 cups boiling water
- 12 cups cold water
- *1 1/2 cups sugar (you can use less)
Directions
Drop a pinch of baking soda in the bottom of a heat-proof, one gallon pitcher (plastic pitchers are best when working with hot water).
In a small sauce pan, bring 4 cups of water to boil. Remove from heat, add tea bags and allow to brew for 15 minutes, dunking tea bags up and down a few times while brewing.
Remove tea bags, pressing out excess tea with a spoon. Transfer hot tea to pitcher, add sugar, stir and allow to dissolve completely.
Add 12 cups cold water and stir. Store in fridge until chilled. Serve over ice. Enjoy!
- Plastic pitchers work best – NEVER pour boiling water in glass pitcher that is not heat-proof, it may shatter.
- If you have an older plastic pitcher and/or are concerned about chemicals with hot liquids – use a larger sauce pan and add your sugar in the pan, when the sugar is dissolved, add it to the pitcher with the 12 cups of water already added.
- *Adjust sugar amount to desired taste. My girls like a little more sugar, but I always use less.
- Try different flavored tea bags, like peach. So good.
- If you like stronger tea, add anadditionaltea bag(s).
Thanks for stopping by!
Cheers!
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Ashari
Arizona iced sweet tea taste just like McDonalds tea when cold
Reply
Susan
Use just a small pinch of baking soda-you can’t taste it. Gently squeeze the tea bags-don’t mash them dry. Finally adjust the sugar to your liking- it may not be as sweet as McDonald’s, but YOU will enjoy it! This recipe makes a great gallon of tea!
Reply
DiGascon
Carol, “A daily dose of baking soda could help patients with chronic kidney disease avoid having to undergo dialysis,” reported The Times. It said that research has found that sodium bicarbonate can dramatically slow the progress of the condition.Jul 17, 2009
Thanks for sharing this recipe Mary N 🙂Reply
Carol Chavis
My mother always added pinch of baking soda to her tea. She said it was for the kidneys. Anyone else ever heard this?
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Unknown
McDonalds uses a pound of sugar or 2 1/4 cups per gallon. If you are worried about it dissolving put the sugar in with the boiling water. It emulsifies it or melts it.
Reply
Unknown
McDonalds uses a pound of sugar or 2 1/4 cups per gallon. If you are worried about it dissolving put the sugar in with the boiling water. It emulsifies it or melts it.
Reply
Anonymous
What if you would like to just make 2 quarts instead of a gallon?
Reply
Amy
Then half the recipe…
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Anonymous
They use a 4lb bag of sugar per 4 gallon batch. I used to make it 5 nights a week when I worked for McDonald's.
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Anonymous
Hi there, thank you for sharing this – we don't get iced tea at Australian McDonalds!
I read recently that squeezing the teabags after soaking them is what can make tea bitter! Interesting.Reply
Anonymous
I always tell people I had to go to rehab to get off sweet tea! LOL, it is addictive!
DaynaReply
Samantha C
I always thought McDonald's sweet tea tasted like they use brown sugar. 🙂
Reply
Anonymous
They actually use a whole 5lb bag of sugar in a 2 gallon bucket. That's more than 2.5 lbs of sugar per gallon. I love sweet tea, but to me their sweet tea is nasty as its way to sweet.
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Ascetic Merer
The bags are actually 4lbs. Use to work there.
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Anonymous
McDonald's tea is way to sweet, I use half their sweet tea and half their unsweetened tea and its still a bit to sweet, same with Popeye's sweet tea
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Kelly
I used 10 regular tea bags for 3 quarts of tea. I generally use 3 per quart, but my husband likes tea a little stronger.
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marysweetlittlebluebird
Pam, In the tips section it states you can use less sugar and adjust amount to your taste/liking. This is a recipe I've had for years. Personally, I prefer unsweetened tea, but once in blue moon, on a really hot day after mowing the lawn, a big tall glass of this sweet tea hits the spot and is a nice treat.
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Pam Shropshire
Holy cow, that's a lot of sugar! I make mine exactly the same, except I only use 2/3 cup sugar per gallon, and it's plenty sweet.
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Anonymous
What a nice recipe! Thank you! I hope you don't mind if I post a link of your blog in mine.
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Liz Carter
How many regular size tea bags would you use? Maybe 7 or 8?
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marysweetlittlebluebird
Hi Liz! Yes, that's what I would use!
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Danni@SiloHillFarm
Yummmm….you are not helping me overcome my iced tea addiction lady!
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Heather @ The Beating Hearth
What a great tip about the baking soda. who would thought.
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Anonymous
What does it do
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Anonymous
It keeps the tea fresh & from getting cloudy.
Reply
Anonymous
Baking soda neutralizes the acidity in tea. Makes it taste smoother.
Reply
Mel@Mellywood's Mansion
Yum! Our maccas does not sell sweet tea though, ripped off!
Reply
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