Frosty (frozen dairy dessert)
Frozen dessert sold by Wendy's
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Frosty is a frozen dairy dessert of the American fast-food restaurant chain Wendy's. The Frosty was among the first five items introduced on the Wendy's menu.[1]
Wendy's founder Dave Thomas created the original "light chocolate" Frosty according to a recipe from Fred Kappus by combining chocolate and vanilla flavors, as he thought that a pure chocolate flavor would overwhelm the taste of the restaurant's hamburgers.[2] Thomas based the Frosty on the milkshakes he drank in Detroit as a youth, and created the Frosty to be thick enough to require a spoon to eat.[2] The consistency has been described as between that of a milkshake and soft-serve ice cream.[1]
Specialty flavors
Over the years, Wendy's has occasionally introduced new Frosty flavor variations.[1]
In August 2006, a vanilla Frosty flavor was introduced after repeated customer requests.[3]
For both summer 2022 and summer 2023, the vanilla Frosty was temporarily replaced with a strawberry Frosty.[4]
In November 2022, Wendy's released the new peppermint Frosty for the holidays; this was the third new Frosty flavor released and temporarily replaced the vanilla Frosty.[5]
In September 2023, a pumpkin spice Frosty was introduced.[5]
For winter 2024, the vanilla Frosty was reintroduced after having been continuously supplanted by other flavors for a two-year period. Wendy's generally swaps out the vanilla Frosty flavor whenever a specialty Frosty flavor is launched, while always keeping the original signature chocolate Frosty flavor available.[6]
For spring 2024, an orange dreamsicle Frosty was introduced.[5][7]
For summer 2024, a triple berry Frosty was introduced.[8]
In fall 2024, a "pineapple under the sea" Frosty was released in honor of the 25th anniversary of SpongeBob SquarePants.[9] This was followed by a "salted caramel" frosty in November.[10]
On April 15, 2025, Wendy's introduced Frosty Swirls, where customers could choose to add caramel, strawberry, or brownie batter to their vanilla or chocolate Frosty. Less than a month later, on May 12, 2025, Wendy's introduced Frosty Fusions. Fusion flavors included Pop-Tarts Strawberry, Oreo Brownie, and Caramel Crunch. Each of these could top a chocolate or vanilla Frosty, at that point giving customers a total of 14 different Frosty options.[11]
On August 4th, 2025, Wendy's released the "Raven's Blood Frosty". This frosty came out for the Collaboration of the hit show, Wednesday. It was a frosty with either a chocolate or vanilla base with a black cherry syrup swirl.
See also
- The Icee Company – American beverage company
- McFlurry – Frozen dessert produced and sold by McDonald's
- Shaved ice – Ice-based dessert
- Slurpee – Frozen beverage sold by 7-Eleven
- Slushy – Flavored frozen drink
