Anytime is the right time for a milkshake. From the first sip to the sad last slurp, a milkshake is a treat — even when it gives you brainfreeze. One of the few drinks that requires both a straw and a spoon, a milkshake stirs the senses and builds anticipation. We watch and wait as a blender stirs its frosted metal sleeve, with ingredients like chocolate syrup, cookies and cream and salted caramel for added decadence.
Though it would be tough to find a bad shake, ingredients make all the difference — even at the chains. Here's how they ranked in a recent taste test.
10. Burger King vanilla
(Credit: Johnny Milano)
Perhaps the most vague ingredient list, “vanilla sauce” is blended into “soft-serve” for a shake finished with “sweet whipped topping.” In reality there are more than 40 ingredients that make up a shake — but no vanilla and no milk. It’s $3.39 and 580 calories for a 12-ounce shake.
9. Five Guys malted vanilla
(Credit: Five Guys)
For a spot with the greatest fries and a respectable fast-food burger, the milkshake here tastes like an afterthought — even if you go for the semi-exotic cherry, peanut butter or coffee shake. As for the ingredients, it’s listed as “Five Guys shake base,” to create a 12-ounce, 670 calorie shake for close to $4.
8. Wayback Burgers junior coffee
(Credit: Johnny Milano)
With “Stay Puft Slime” in limited release in addition to chocolate, strawberry and orange cream, Wayback isn’t short on flavors. It’s also the chain that just last year offered add-ins like Slim Jims and Peruvian cricket powder, for added protein, of course. Stick to basics with a junior coffee milkshake for around $4 that’s 590 calories and tastes a bit like coffee-flavored shaved ice.
A super-banana flavored shake claims real bananas as well as “sweet banana flavor” for 640 calories. The shake varieties and super intense flavors make Sonic Drive-In a standout. A 12-ounce shake is less than $3.
6. Wendy's chocolate Frosty
(Credit: Wendy's)
The first Wendy’s opened in 1969 with the chocolate Frosty as the lone shake flavor. It took until 2006 for the company to shake things up by introducing vanilla. No matter the flavor, this is the lone shake that, for a few moments, you can eat with a spoon, since it falls among the most solid of the shakes. A medium classic chocolate Frosty is 460 calories for 16 ounces and costs less than $3.
5. Chick-fil-A cookies and cream
(Credit: Johnny Milano)
OK, so the cookies and cream bump this one into the top five. And it’s the most decadent of the four flavors on Chick-fil-A’s shake menu. Clearly not real ice cream but trademarked, “icedream,” the shake is weirdly addictive: perhaps as worthy of fandom as the chicken sandwich, despite that the ingredient list is very, very long. It’s 660 calories for a small one that’s under $4. Like the Sonic milkshake, it displays whipped cream and an actual maraschino cherry.
4. BurgerFi black and white
(Credit: Barry Sloan)
There’s a romance to the black and white, whether we’re talking about the cookie, the ****tail or in this case, the custard shake. It’s also very distinct-looking, chocolate syrup drizzled into vanilla custard like an art project. The result is a 12-ounce drink that’s 880 calories and costs just under $5. And it’s entirely drinkable — too soft for a spoon.
3. Smashburger salted caramel
(Credit: Smashburger)
Häagen-Dazs ice cream propels this shake to the top, combined with irresistible salted caramel that tops Oreo, Butterfinger and the standard flavors. At 890 calories, the 12-ouncer costs just under $5.
With 11 ounces of vanilla ice cream, the pistachio milkshake at Bobby’s Burger Palace is dense, with the color of actual pistachios — a faint green hue. In addition to pistachio paste that’s added as it’s made, there’s a half cup of milk in the mix of what turns out to be a 12-ounce shake that’s just over $5. Though the company isn’t transparent with calorie counts, a guesstimate is upward of 700 calories.
1. Shake Shack chocolate
(Credit: Yana Paskova)
The shake better be good at a place named for them. And it is: with straight up chocolate custard spun at a high speed for a thick but drinkable shake. It’s also among the most expensive, at around $5.50 for a standard-sized shake that’s 740 calories. Want to bump it up? Check out the calendar for featured shakes, which occasionally features an entire Mast Brothers chocolate bar.
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Wendy's has a junior size frosty. It's maybe 2 ounces. Only a dollar.
And it's still the best with fries.
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Most of those places use soft serve ice cream for their shakes. That is not how a shake, better known as the Frappe, should be made. You take a few scoops of ice cream and put in a blender with a little milk and blend.
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My favorite shakes come from the mom and pop type drive-ins. The ice cream is hand scooped into a metal container, milk is added and then it is blended on one of the old timer machines that has a spindle thingy that goes down into the container. After your glass is filled, the server leaves the metal container on your tray since it contains the rest of your milkshake. 😋
My favorite shakes come from the mom and pop type drive-ins. The ice cream is hand scooped into a metal container, milk is added and then it is blended on one of the old timer machines that has a spindle thingy that goes down into the container. After your glass is filled, the server leaves the metal container on your tray since it contains the rest of your milkshake. 😋
I had to make milkshakes like that when I worked at dog n suds. It sucked. But the milkshakes were fabulous.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
I made them like that when we Co branded with A&W.
Not big shake fan myself.
But I did come up with a shake, by accident, that was good.
3 scoops of good vanilla ice cream
1 tablespoon of cherry juice
About 15 cinnamon candies crushed to duse
And some milk to help it mix.
Try it sometime.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
I'm not a big fan either. It has been over 10 years since I've had a milkshake. My Ex had a real fondness for chocolate shakes so Sunday evenings we'd go to Baskin Robbins. I sometimes got a shake or sometimes just ice cream or their coffee drinks made with ice cream.
A Wendy's frosty is NOT a milkshake. One of the best milkshakes here is White Spot. I don't think you guys have them down south. It's a chain restaurant, but uses real ice cream and a super frosted sundae glass. One of the tall ones. And the milkshake doesn't all fit, so you get the blending cup on the side. I've never been brave enough for one, but I've watched!
Their shakes, at least when I worked there, we're made with a "shake cream".
It's sweeter than regular vanilla ice cream.
And, if you put a scoop in a bowl and sit it on a counter, 6 hours later it's still a scoop.
It wouldn't melt at room temperature.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
DD gets them and they melt. She gets mad if they bring it with her meal because she wants a head start on it. Lol. Still surprised they weren't included. They are more of a shake than a Frosty.
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I like Sonic's shakes. I had a sip one time of DH's. Other than that, I rarely get one. Although the Shamrock Shakes are pretty to look at. Don't get me wrong, I love shakes. They are just too filling.
