Natural form

An unopened sealed aluminum can of plain unflavored club soda.

Shows the most common purchase and storage form readers encounter at point of sale.

Beverages

Club Soda

Plain sparkling water for mixing and lengthening drinks

Crisp, neutral bubbles, club soda lengthens a highball, lightens a spritz, and tops a glass of juice. Keep it sealed for the fizz and serve it cold.

Club soda is water carbonated and dosed with mineral salts (like sodium bicarbonate and potassium sulfate), which give it a faintly salty-mineral edge compared with plain sparkling water. Crisp, fizzy, and neutral, it's a workhorse mixer — but its real kitchen value lies in those bubbles. The carbonation makes wonderfully light, crisp batters and pancakes, adds lift to certain doughs, and can fluff scrambled eggs. Club soda is also a classic emergency stain-lifter for fresh spills. Functionally it's nearly interchangeable with sparkling water and seltzer in cooking, with a slightly more mineral taste.

Measured in: ml
Storage: Room Temperature

Find it in

Beverages

Types & varieties

Club soda

Carbonated with added mineral salts

Seltzer

Plain carbonated water, no minerals

Soda water

Often used interchangeably with club soda

How to use in cooking

The carbonation is the point: use cold club soda in tempura, fritter, and fish batters for an extra-crisp, light coating, and in pancake, waffle, or crêpe batters for fluffiness. A splash whisked into scrambled eggs makes them airier. It can lighten certain quick breads and doughs. Use it cold and fresh from the bottle — the more bubbles survive into the batter, the lighter the result. As a mixer it's clean and neutral.

How to choose

Club soda, soda water, seltzer, and sparkling water are largely interchangeable for cooking; club soda has added minerals for a slightly salty edge, seltzer is plain carbonated water, and sparkling mineral water has natural minerals. For batters, freshness and strength of carbonation matter more than the type.

Common uses

Make crisp tempura or fish batterFluff up pancakes, waffles, or crêpesLighten scrambled eggsAdd lift to fritter batterMix highballs and spritzersLoosen a thick batter without thinning flavor