How to Make a Milkshake: 3 Simple Steps and 10 Minutes for the perfect thick and creamy milkshake! Try vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint Oreo, and more!
Ice cream has been and will forever be one of my favorite desserts. Whatever the season, it’s highly likely you’ll find me sitting with a bowl of ice cream.
Trevor is also an ice cream lover, but while I go for a blizzard or sundae, Trevor is allll about those milkshakes. But not just any milkshake, they need to be ultra thick and creamy! So, today, we’re talkin’ how to make the PERFECT, the BEST homemade milkshakes!
Ingredients
One of the best parts about homemade milkshakes is you get to customize it just for you! Mix and match flavors, stir in any of your favorite candies, load it up with whipped cream…anything goes!
- Ice Cream – use your favorite brand and flavor! Go for full-fat for the creamiest texture. Today, we’re using use vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, and mint Oreo.
- Milk – whatever you have on hand, but the higher the fat content, the creamier the shake will be. I use 2% “plain”, strawberry, and chocolate milk today.
- Syrup or Sauce – this is our flavor booster! Try caramel, strawberry jam, hot fudge, peanut butter, and more!
- Optional: Mix-Ins – any mix-ins will work! Try your favorite candies, cookies, nuts, you name it!
- Toppings – anything goes! Use whipped cream, crushed nuts, sprinkles, cherries, etc!
How to make
Just 10 minutes to the perfect milkshake! Heck yes!
- Place ice cream, milk, and syrup of choice into a high-powered blender and blend until smooth.
- If using mix-ins, pulse in until just combined.
- Pour into glasses then top with garnishes. Serve and enjoy!
Variations
Here are the four variations I made today…and they’re SO GOOD! If these aren’t your jam, feel free to play around with other flavors. You really can’t go wrong!
- Vanilla – vanilla ice cream, milk, and caramel topping.
- Strawberry – strawberry ice cream, strawberry milk, and strawberry jam.
- Chocolate – chocolate ice cream, chocolate milk, and hot fudge sauce.
- Mint Oreo – mint oreo ice cream, milk, hot fudge sauce, and Oreos.
How to thicken
Just add more ice cream! The more ice cream there is in relation to the milk content, the thicker the milkshake will be. If you need to add more ice cream to thicken, feel free to add in more sauce, syrups, or mix-ins to flavor, if necessary.
Can you make a milkshake without a blender?
A high powered blender is going to be your best bet for making a milkshake – you just can’t beat the consistency the blender achieves.
However, if you don’t have a blender available to you, you can try making it in a food processor or a stand mixer:
- Food processor: place ice cream, milk, and syrup of choice into food processor and process until smooth. Pulse in mix-ins, if using.
- Stand mixer: beat ice cream on medium speed until ice cream is creamy. Add milk, sauces, and optional mix-ins and beat on low speed until thoroughly combined.
Tips
- Use good ice cream. This might go without saying, but ice cream is the base for the milkshake so make sure you’re using the good stuff!
- Use full-fat ice cream. Light ice creams will also work but full-fat ice cream will make your milkshake extra creamy.
- Use fall-fat milk. Or half-and-half or heavy cream! The higher the fat content, the creamier the shake.
- Use slightly softened ice cream. This allows you to use less milk, which creates a thicker milkshake.
- Less is more. Start with very little milk and add more as needed. Too much milk and your shake will be runny.
- Use flavored milk. Example: using strawberry milk in the strawberry milkshake keeps the strawberry flavor strong, instead of diluting the flavor with “plain” milk.
- Pulse in your mix-ins. You want the milkshake to be creamy with larger chunks of mix-ins. If you blend in the mix-ins instead of pulse them in, they may become too small and make the milkshake gritty instead of creamy.
- Chill your glasses. Stick your cups in the freezer for a few minutes before serving up your milkshakes. This prevents the milkshake from starting to melt as soon as it hits the cup.
- Serve right away. It’s thicker and creamier that way!
Other flavor ideas
Although I LOVE all of the variations in this recipe, there are SO MANY ways to make a milkshake. Here are some other flavor combination ideas!
- Mocha. Coffee ice cream, coffee (instead of milk), hot fudge sauce, and chocolate covered espresso beans.
- S’mores. Vanilla or chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce, graham cracker crumbs, and mini marshmallows.
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Vanilla ice cream, vanilla extract, and cookie dough.
- Peanut Butter Cup. Vanilla or chocolate ice cream, peanut butter, and mini peanut butter cups.
Like I said, pretty much anything goes! You can’t go wrong with an ice cream-based recipe, right? 😉
How to store
I highly recommend serving your milkshake right away for that perfectly creamy and delicious texture.
– Jennifer
How to Make a Milkshake
Equipment for this recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pint ice cream softened for 5-10 minutes
- 2 tablespoons milk + more as needed*
- 2 tablespoons syrup, sauce, or flavor booster (hot fudge, caramel, chocolate sauce, peanut butter, etc.)
- ½ cup mix-ins (cookies, candy, etc.) optional
- Whipped cream, sprinkles, crushed nuts, cherries, etc. optional as garnish
Recipe Video
Instructions
- Place ice cream, milk, and syrup into a high powered blender.
- Blend until smooth, adding more milk, as needed.
- If using mix-ins, pulse in until *just* combined.
- Pour into glasses and top with optional garnishes!
- Take 5 seconds to either rate this recipe below and/or PIN it. We greatly appreciate it!
Notes
- Vanilla: 1 pint vanilla ice cream, 1/4 cup 2% milk, 2 tablespoons caramel topping
- Strawberry: 1 pint strawberry ice cream, 1/4 cup strawberry milk, 2 tablespoons strawberry jam
- Chocolate: 1 pint chocolate ice cream, 1/4 cup chocolate milk, 2 tablespoons hot fudge
- Mint Oreo: 1 pint mint Oreo ice cream, 1/4 cup 2% milk, 2 tablespoons hot fudge, 1/2 cup oreos
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Nutrition Information
*Note: Nutrition information is estimated and varies based on products used.
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