Milkshake Recipes Cheat Sheet (How to Make Almost Any Milkshake) (2024)

04/12/21 | Beverages, Desserts, Frozen, Recipes

Your cheat sheet of 30+ milkshake recipes. Make almost any milkshake with vanilla ice cream and a few simple ingredients.

I’ve posted quite a few milkshake recipes over the last couple of years, and it was about time to compile all of these recipes in one place for easy reference.

So I present to you my milkshake cheatsheet. If you’re craving a specific milkshake (or maybe don’t even know what milkshake you want) chances are you can find the recipe here.

And if not, leave a comment below, and I’ll see what I can do. 😉

How to Make The Best Milkshakes

If you’ve read my How to Make a Milkshake post, you’ll know that to make the best milkshake you need to start with the right ratio of milk to ice cream. The sweet spot for this is 1½ cups ice cream to ½-¾ cup milk.

This will give you a shake with a thick, creamy consistency but one that you can still drink it with a straw. Use more milk for a thinner shake, less milk for a thicker one.

All the recipes below start with this ratio + mix-ins. Put all those ingredients in a blender, blend until smooth and pourable, and you’re going to have a great shake on your hands.

More Milkshake Tips & Troubleshooting

No blender? No problem: While fruit milkshakes can’t really be made without a blender because you need the blender to puree the fruit, milkshakes that include ingredients that don’t need to be crushed with a blender to mix, like shakes made with syrups and powders, are pretty easy to make without a blender. Go check out my post How to Make a Milkshake Without a Blender for full instructions.
Using an older or under-powered blender: If your blender struggles to blend milkshakes without adding a ton of milk, start with slightly softened ice cream. Scoop the ice cream into the blender and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes before blending. Softened ice cream is much easier for blenders to process than ice cream straight out of the freezer.
Add a little sweetness: Using underripe fruit? Add a couple teaspoons of sugar to your shake. While it might seem like overkill to add sugar to ice cream, if you’re making a shake with out-of-season fruit that’s not at peak sweetness, a little sugar can really make all the difference between a mediocre shake and a great one.

Toppings

It’s not necessary to add toppings to shakes, but it sure is fun. And for an extra pretty shake, take any of the sauces below and swirl them around the inside of the glass before adding the blended shake.

The Milkshake Recipes

Vanilla Milkshakes

Vanilla Milkshake: 1½ cups vanilla ice cream + ½ to ¾ cup milk + Scraped seeds from ½ vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
Bourbon Vanilla Bean Shake: Vanilla milkshake ingredients + replace 2 tablespoons of the milk with 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) of bourbon

Chocolate Milkshakes

Chocolate Milkshake:1½ cups vanilla ice cream + ½ to ¾ cup milk + 3 tablespoons fudge or chocolate sauce
Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake: Chocolate milkshake ingredients + 1 slightly heaping tablespoon of peanut butter
Chocolate Oreo Shake: Chocolate milkshake ingredients + 3 Oreos (break an additional Oreo into pieces and drop crumbs over the top of the finished shake)
Chocolate Banana Shake: Chocolate milkshake ingredients + ½ to 1 whole banana
Chocolate Cheesecake Milkshake: Chocolate milkshake ingredients + 2 ounces cream cheese

Banana Milkshakes

Banana Milkshake: 1½ cups vanilla ice cream + ½ to ¾ cup milk + 1 large banana (frozen for a thicker shake) + ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Banana Milkshake: Banana milkshake ingredients + 1 heaping tablespoon of peanut butter
Chocolate Banana Milkshake: Banana milkshake ingredients + 2 tablespoons chocolate fudge sauce or syrup
Salted Caramel Banana Milkshake: Banana milkshake ingredients + 2 tablespoons salted caramel
Banana Split Milkshake: Banana milkshake ingredients + swirl glass with fudge sauce before adding milkshake + top withwhipped cream, more fudge sauce, sprinkles, and a maraschino cherry

Strawberry Milkshakes

Strawberry Milkshake: 1½ cups vanilla ice cream + ½ to ¾ cup milk + ¾ chopped strawberries + 1 tablespoon sugar
Strawberry Cheesecake Milkshake: Strawberry milkshake ingredients + 2 ounces cream cheese
Chocolate-covered Strawberry Milkshake: Strawberry milkshake ingredients + swirl 1 tablespoon of chocolate fudge sauce or syrup around the glass before pouring in the shake + add 1 tablespoon sauce over the top (do not stir or your shake will turn brown)
Strawberry Banana Milkshake: Strawberry milkshake ingredients + 1 ripe banana (fresh or frozen)
Strawberry Banana Cheesecake Milkshake: Strawberry milkshake ingredients + 1 ripe banana + 2 ounces cream cheese

Oreo Milkshakes

Oreo Milkshake: 1½ cups vanilla ice cream + ½ to ¾ cup milk + 4 Oreos (break an additional Oreo into pieces and drop crumbs over the top of the finished shake)
Bailey’s Cookies and Cream Milkshake: Oreo milkshake ingredients + replace ¼ cup of the milk with 2 ounces (¼ cup) of Irish cream liqueur
Chocolate Oreo Milkshake: Oreo milkshake ingredients + 2 tablespoons of fudge sauce
Peanut Butter Oreo Milkshake: Oreo milkshake ingredients + 1 heaping tablespoon of peanut butter

Coffee Milkshakes

Coffee Milkshake: 1½ cups vanilla ice cream + ½ to ¾ cup milk + 1 tablespoon cocoa powder + 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon instant coffee or espresso powder
Caramel Coffee Milkshake: Coffee milkshake ingredients + 1 heaping tablespoon of caramel
Boozy Coffee Milkshake: Coffee milkshake ingredients + replace 2 tablespoons to ¼ cup of the milk with Kahlua, Irish cream, or your choice of alcohol

Caramel Milkshake Recipes

Caramel Milkshake: 1½ cups vanilla ice cream + ½ to ¾ cup milk + 2 tablespoons caramel sauce
Banana Caramel Milkshake: Caramel Milkshake ingredients + ½ to 1 whole ripe banana
Vanilla Bean Caramel Milkshake: Caramel Milkshake ingredients + the seeds scraped from ½ of a vanilla bean

Dulce de Leche Milkshakes

Dulce de Leche Milkshake: 1½ cups vanilla ice cream + ½ to ¾ cup milk + 2 tablespoons dulce de leche
Banoffee Pie Shake: Dulce de Leche Milkshake ingredients + 1 whole ripe banana + 1 (full-sheet) graham cracker + top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings
Boozy Dulce de Leche Shake: Dulce de Leche Milkshake ingredients + 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) of whiskey

Peanut Butter Milkshakes

Peanut Butter Milkshake: 1½ cups vanilla ice cream + ½ to ¾ cup milk + 2 heaping tablespoons peanut butter + ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Nut Butter Milkshake: Peanut Butter Milkshake ingredients but replace peanut butter with nut butter of your choice