I Tried 4 Fast Food Milkshakes and This Is the One I Can't Wait to Get Again

milkshakes lined up for taste test — Photo:
Sara Haas

Nothing hits the spot on a hot summer evening or alongside a burger and French fries like a shake. Real enthusiasts know that a great milkshake is more than just ice cream with a straw. A good version has a stellar ice cream base with milk to thin it out to the perfect texture, without diluting the flavor too much. If there are add-ins, like my personal favorite, chocolate, it has to be balanced with the vanilla of the base and milky flavor goodness. It’s actually a delicate balance to get a frozen treat juuust right.

Fast food restaurants have all their offerings down to a science to optimize low food costs, quick service, consistency, and more. Food scientists spend years developing some products, so fast food shakes should be the optimal version, hitting all those flavor and texture points. Since I’m a fan of chocolate and, let’s face it, vanilla shakes can be a bit boring, I rounded up chocolate shakes from some of the most popular fast-food chains and recruited a few fellow milkshake lovers to see which ones are worth a spot next to your burger and fries.

The Best Fast Food Milkshakes, Ranked

4. Burger King Chocolate Shake: 2/10

I’m not mad; I’m just disappointed in this Burger King shake. In both flavor and texture, it was a letdown. If I closed my eyes and took a sip, I probably wouldn’t guess this was chocolate flavored, it tasted so bland and overly sweet. It also had a weird tangy aftertaste and almost had that refrigerator taste where garlic or onions stored with dairy seep in their flavor. Texture-wise, it had the consistency of freezer-burnt, crystallized ice cream—very icy and watery. After the initial few sips to judge, the group unanimously agreed to pour this down the sink.

3. Dairy Queen Chocolate Shake: 6/10

Dairy Queen gave us the sweetest milkshake of the bunch by far. It felt extra chocolatey because of the sheer volume of syrup added, but the chocolate flavor was disappointingly flat and mostly just sweet. There was an odd confectioners’ sugar flavor to it, similar to low-quality chocolate that is actually just chocolate-flavored candy. One person noted that it tasted exactly like a Tootsie Roll, which was the best description I could give it. Unlike other fast-food ice cream offerings, it was especially dense and didn’t have any type of foamy or aerated texture, which wasn’t necessarily bad, but it did make it feel more like a cup of ice cream than a milkshake. I think this shake would have easily been twice as good with half the amount of chocolate syrup, a claim I never thought I’d make as an avid chocolate lover.

2. Wendy’s Chocolate Frosty: 8/10

Wendy’s Frosty is iconic. It has a flavor all its own, making it stand out from other chocolate shakes. One person described it as akin to the flavor of a Kit Kat, and another said it tasted like a frozen hot chocolate. We loved the unique malty vanilla notes in this treat. The texture was very aerated and foamy, which made it feel like almost nothing in each sip. This was a super pleasing mouthfeel that definitely made me want more. The slight marshmallowy flavor of the Frosty is excellent, but after a few sips, it does taste a bit artificial, which you’re reminded of again as it melts into a very fluffy, albeit delicious, cup of goo.

1. Shake Shack Chocolate Shake: 9.5/10

Shake Shack is known for its high-quality frozen custard, so it was no surprise that this shake nabbed the top spot. With the first sip, it was clear there was a lot going on in the flavor department. It tasted like it was made with real ingredients, and you could really taste a lot of dimension in the chocolate and ice cream base. The flavor was that of actual ice cream and quality chocolate blended together, not a mix, which was also evident in its silky texture. The chocolate flavor was out of this world; lots of depth, not too sweet, with just a hint of bitterness. The chocolate tasted almost like dark chocolate with a distinct richness. The only downside of this shake was that it melted almost instantly.