Mountain Dew Baja Cabo Citrus Is Coming Back in 2026—We Tried the New Dye-Free Formula

According to my good friends at Pepsi, 2025’s Mountain Dew Baja Cabo Citrus was the best performing Baja Blast spinoff to date. I’m not particularly surprised—tangerine and lime taste great together. I was a fan—if a bit disappointed that the lime flavor was fairly muted. Well, I have good news for the fans of Baja Cabo Citrus: It will return in 2026!

Why this return is a big deal and what’s different about the 2026 Baja Cabo Citrus

Mountain Dew Baja Cabo Citrus will be returning (along with its zero sugar variant) in January (2026) for a whopping 52-week release! That’s right, we’re getting a FULL YEAR of Baja Cabo Citrus. This feels eerily similar to when Mountain Dew released Baja Blast for a year in 2024 and then it stuck around after it performed well. Could we see the same thing here? Only time will tell!

One other interesting point to note is that the 2026 Baja Cabo Citrus features a new formula that features no artificial dyes (which is part of a wider PepsiCo initiative) and some other adjustments to the flavor. What adjustments, you may ask? Well, dearest Dew fans, I had the opportunity to try the newly reformulated 2026 Baja Cabo Citrus in both full sugar and zero sugar and I have notes!

Cabo Citrus!

Mountain Dew Baja Cabo Citrus (2026)

Pros: My prayers have been answered!! John Q. Pepsi heard my cries and took notes! The lime flavor is MUCH more noticeable now. While the tangerine flavor doesn’t entirely take the backseat, this is a welcome adjustment to Baja Cabo Citrus. It no longer tastes like it’s just a mix of Baja Blast and LiveWire. It now has a really nice lime vibe that sets it apart. Also, there’s no artificial dyes, which is awesome. (If you’re curious, the ingredients simply list “Fruit Juice Concentrate (Color)” and “Vegetable Juice Concentrate (Color).”)

Cons: This is not the most innovative, off the walls, crazy cool, inventive flavor—it’s a bit mundane for Mountain Dew. While I think it is fantastic that Baja Cabo Citrus is back in a new exciting way, I still can’t help but wish it was a Tiger’s Blood-flavored Baja Blast spinoff instead.

(2025 ranking: 7.5/10)

Credit: Liv Averett / PepsiCo

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Cabo Citrus Zero Sugar!

Mountain Dew Baja Cabo Citrus Zero Sugar (2026)

Pros: Mountain Dew is REALLY making better zero sugar drinks than before. As with the full sugar version of Baja Cabo Citrus, the lime flavor really stands out and shines in the way in which I was hoping. If you’re a zero sugar soda drinker, you’ve got a great year-long soda release to look forward to.

Cons: If you liked 2025’s Baja Cabo Citrus Zero Sugar because it was as close as we’ll probably get to a LiveWire Zero Sugar, I am sorry to say that the lime flavor steers the flavor profile away from that. Whether that’s a pro or a con is really up to you!

(2025 ranking: 6/10)

Credit: Liv Averett / PepsiCo

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

VERDICT: While I’m still not 100% that the flavor profile of Mountain Dew Baja Cabo Citrus is the most “on-brand” flavor for Mountain Dew and I’d personally love to see more off-the-wall and crazy flavors, I can appreciate the hype and am pleased with the slight adjustments the brand made. Even if you weren’t a fan of Baja Cabo Citrus when it was released this year, I think it’s worth checking out again in 2026 and trying the new formula.