During our recent road trip, I finally got to try so famous dole whip at Disneyland. It tasted OK, nothing “wow”, however was very satisfying in 115 degrees F heat. I was determined to come home and come up with my own version that tastes better.
What Is Dole Whip
Dole whip is a pineapple flavoured soft serve ice cream sold at Disney parks and Dole plantation in Hawaii. Everyone seems to think and it makes only sense it is made with pineapples. Assume nothing. It is not! Imagine my shock when I googled its ingredients while still eating one on a bench in front of Tiki room, and found 0% pineapple on the list. All it takes is to Google these days…
Disneyland Dole Pineapple Whip Secret
There is no secret. I honestly don’t understand all the praise dole whip gets from online articles: “magical”, “amazing”, “secret”. It is pure concoction of sugar and chemicals. That’s it. Dole whip ingredients are:
Sugar, Dextrose, Stabilizers (Cellulose Gum, Xanthan Gum, Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum, Karaya Gum, Pectin), Coconut Oil, Contains 2% Or Less Of Each Of The Following: Maltodextrin, Citric Acid, Natural & Artificial Flavor (contains Pineapple Juice Powder), Modified Food Starch, Malic Acid, Beta Carotene (Color), Mono & Diglycerides, Silicon Dioxide (Anticaking).
I took this list straight from Dole soft serve webpage where Dole company markets its dry powder mix to vendors (I won’t even link to it not to give the company any SEO benefit but just Google “dole whip hawaii ingredients”). Oh, you didn’t know your favourite “magical” dole whip comes in a powder form in bags and then mixed in a giant bucket with water?! Now you do. It’s frankly disgusting that a company that grows pineapples produces its most popular product with none of it, or maybe just a tiny bit in a dried form mixed with a chemical.
So, “the secret” to melt in your mouth dole whip – stabilizers, a bunch of chemicals for which you get charged US$5.
What Are Homemade Dole Whip Recipe Ingredients
The name of this soft serve “whipped pineapple” makes only logical to assume its ingredients – pineapple. Yet all the recipes I looked at online include coconut milk, honey or even vanilla ice cream. I’m sorry but that’s not a copycat dole whip. Coconut milk + pineapple = pina colada? Sure, sounds right. But how do you even make a copycat at home of pure sugar + chemicals? You can’t.
We tried homemade dole whip recipe 3 ways and stuck with the most simple one – just pineapple. Yep, you whip semi-frozen pineapple chunks and enjoy the most delicious melt in your mouth real pineapple whip. Coconut oil or even half a banana overpowered the pineapple so much and our entire family of 4 agreed unanimously – just pineapples!
Enjoy!
How to Make Dole Whip Recipe
- Thaw frozen pineapple on a counter for 15 minutes in summer (if your house doesn’t have AC) or 20 minutes in colder months. You are looking for defrosted semi-soft outer layer but still frozen inside fruit.
- In a food processor, add pineapple and process on High.
- Pausing and scraping the walls with spatula and adding 2 tbsp of cold water at a time to help pineapple pieces move around.
- As long as fruit is blending do not rush to add more water.
- Eventually frozen pineapple pieces will turn into a pineapple whip because we whipped them.:)
- Serve immediately or freeze leftovers for a few hours but not longer.
Dole Whip Recipe

- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 4 cups frozen pineapple chunks
- Cold water
Instructions
- Thaw frozen pineapple on a counter for 15 minutes in summer (if your house doesn’t have AC) or 20 minutes in colder months. You are looking for defrosted semi-soft outer layer but still frozen inside fruit.
- In a food processor, add pineapple and process on High, pausing and scraping the walls with spatula and adding 2 tbsp of cold water at a time to help pineapple pieces move around. As long as fruit is blending do not rush to add more water.
- Serve immediately or freeze leftovers for a few hours but not longer.
Notes
Blender will not work for this recipe because its blades are not long enough to process thick liquid. You can buy very affordable food processor, it is essential when cooking healthy.
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating in the comments.
Brilliant! Just perfect. My pineapple wasn’t as sweet as usual so I added a few drops of stevia but it was so easy and healthy. I’m going to experiment w/combining with some strawberry puree, probably a 3 pineapple to 1 strawberry ratio to see how that works.
Of course. Do what suits your personal taste. 🙂
This is SO delcious! I’m going to make it all the time.
Btw I added a small splash of coconut cream to my second batch and yep, pina colada. AHHMAZZZINNGGG.
Thank you!
★★★★★
You are welcome, Georgina! It’s too cold to think about it for me right now, so I will enjoy it through you.:)
Your dole whip is so-so good and simple. I would never think to make it this way!
★★★★★
Love your investigative streak! Thank you and once again you’ve proven that homemade with real food ingredients is best.
Hate BS so had to expose this non-sense.