Fast Food Chains That Serve The Highest And Lowest Quality Milkshakes

In the pantheon of classic American comfort food, we'd say that the humble milkshake is up there with cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and good ol' apple pie. There's a reason why so many fast food restaurants include them on their menu. Part drink and part dessert, a good milkshake never fails to hit the spot — and the best milkshakes will always leave you craving more, sugar rush be damned.

But not all fast food milkshakes are made equal. Enthusiastic though we may be about a good shake, we'll admit that we've also had our fair share of disappointments in our time. The frosty truth is that some milkshakes taste more like chemicals and water than they do actual dairy (probably because, well, they are mostly chemicals and water). If that's your taste, then more power to you. However, if it's a high-quality, flavorful milkshake you're after — and you don't have a milkshake mixer on hand to make your own at home — we're here to help make that happen.

We've dug into the nutritional information and reviews of milkshakes from multiple popular chains to separate the good milkshakes from the not-so-good. Here's our breakdown of the highest and lowest quality fast food milkshakes, so the next time those sugar cravings hit, you know exactly where (and where not) to go.

Even before we started digging into fast food milkshakes, our sentiments were already pretty positive towards Five Guys. The burger chain distinguishes itself from its competitors by giving customers the option to order customized shakes with mix-ins as wide and varied as bananas, Oreo cookies, Reese's cups, and even bacon.

Obviously, going overboard with said mix-ins could drag down the quality somewhat (adding a boatload of bacon and Reese's could drag down the quality of water, never mind a milkshake), but the shake itself is hand-spun and primarily made with four straightforward ingredients: milkfat, nonfat milk, sugar, and whey. While they're accompanied by a handful of stabilizers and additives, these only make up less than 1% of the shake.

Judging by the dedicated fanbase around Five Guys milkshakes, this is a winning combo. There's no shortage of conversations online debating the perfect blend of mix-ins to perfect a Five Guys shake, with some going out of their way to try as many as possible. For the record, vanilla with peanut butter and banana seems to be the most popular combo. Many also consider them far superior to the burgers, which says a lot considering how beloved they are in the fast food community. "What won me over eventually was their milkshakes," raved one Tripadvisor user. "They are luscious!"

When "shake" is quite literally in your name, it feels like a requirement to deliver some top-tier milkshakes. There's a long list of options at Steak 'n Shake, ranging from classics such as chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry to more unique flavors such as birthday cake, Kit Kat, and even pumpkin spice Oreo come fall. The base for classic Steak 'n Shake milkshakes is made with premium ice cream (which is more than some chains can say, but more than that later) and 1% reduced fat milk.

If there's something that can drag the quality down, it's the syrups, with some — such as cotton candy and cherry — listing high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient. While that would ordinarily send something plummeting into the "lowest quality" section of our list, it's a tall order to find any fast food chain without any trace of high fructose corn syrup. What matters most to us here is the fact that at least it uses real milk and real ice cream. Customers don't have many complaints about Steak 'n Shake's milkshakes, either, with many ranking the thick shakes as far superior to the actual "steak" (by which we mean the comparatively disappointing burgers).

If there's one thing that separates Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers apart from its competitors, it's the freshly churned custard. This is made in-house every day using richer ingredients than those typically used in ice cream. For example, Freddy's uses eggs and a minimum of 10% butter fat, churned slowly to leave less room for air and give it its trademark dense texture.

This same custard is mixed with milk to give you a Freddy's milkshake. Again, it's the toppings — which can range from gummy worms to brownies and Butterfingers — that potentially brings down the quality, but the shake itself is surprisingly wholesome. It also draws near-unanimous praise from fast food fans, many of whom rate the shakes higher than the burgers. Customers tend to highlight the strong, authentic flavors (by which we mean, if it says it's chocolate-flavored, that means it actually tastes like chocolate and not chemicals) and the sheer creaminess of the shakes as some of the reasons why they deserve to be recognized as up there with the fast food greats.

Despite what the name would have you think, Shake Shack actually started out as a hot dog stand in New York's Madison Square Park. Today, it's more about burgers and shakes than it is wieners, with the latter relying on a surprisingly simple frozen custard base composed of cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, and sugar. That's it. As Shake Shack's executive chef and vice president of culinary innovation, John Karangis, previously told Tasting Table, "It's fresh ingredients, made fresh, to-order."

None of the standard hand-spun shakes (such as vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry) use high fructose corn syrup, which is pretty refreshing in the fast food space. However, worth noting is the fact that Shake Shack says that the liquid sugar — controversial for its link to a higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, and more — may pop up in some of its seasonal shakes. We're not totally brushing off the negativity around high fructose corn syrup, but like we said before, if you're talking about fast food, it's somewhat unavoidable.

If we were to rank these shakes purely by taste, Shake Shack would be tough to beat. As one Reddit user so eloquently put it, "The milkshakes are bomb." Creamy, filling, and sweet without tipping into sickly territory, they're more of a dessert than a beverage — but if you have a sweet tooth, that's exactly what makes them so delicious.

It's always great to see fast food chains preparing anything fresh in-store, which is exactly what Culver's does with its shakes (and is one of the reasons why we think it's superior to some of its competitors, such as In-N-Out). No matter what flavor you order at the you order the burger chain, the shakes always use a custard base containing milk, cream, and pasteurized egg yolks that's slow-churned throughout the day in-store. The list of other ingredients added into the mix is relatively brief, and while there's a handful of preservatives, such as locust bean gum (a plant-based thickener), plus some artificial vanilla, it's still one of the more concise fast food shake recipes out there.

Culver's custard gets a lot of praise no matter how it's served, because, as one Reddit user put it, "That stuff puts ice cream to shame with its creaminess." Its shakes are often regarded as being some of the best in the business, due largely to the fact that they're packed with flavor, but not in the artificial, processed way like a lot of fast food chains. While some people find them too thick, this is a problem easily solved by requesting that your server make your shake with extra milk.

If you've ever rolled up to the McDonald's drive-thru and ordered a milkshake, only to be met with the disappointing news that the machine (which also dispenses the ice cream) is unfortunately out of service, you're not alone. While normally the reality is that it's not broken but being cleaned — a process that takes up to four hours – at this point it's widely accepted that you can never be truly certain if a McDonald's is capable of whipping up your order.

What makes this fact even more frustrating is that even if you do manage to get one, McDonald's milkshakes just don't meet expectations. While there is, in fact, reduced fat ice cream in a McDonald's shake — the first ingredient of which is milk, followed by cream and corn syrup — they aren't exactly revered for their quality. It's a common consensus that shakes from the Golden Arches don't have the best flavor. "As a shake lover, I think they're trash," said one Reddit user, adding, "They taste like chemicals." Customers have also complained that, much like the machines themselves, the quality of the shakes is extremely unpredictable. "Too watery one time, too icy another, too much syrup another time," another Reddit user wrote.

If your benchmark for quality is short, concise ingredient lists packed with things you can actually find in a grocery store, Chick-fil-A probably shouldn't be your first stop for a milkshake. Despite the fact it advertises its shakes as being "hand-spun the old-fashioned way," (via Chick-fil-A), we have our doubts over whether our grandparents' generation was whipping up a shake using a pre-made "milkshake base" made of tetrasodium pyrophosphate, calcium sulfate, and caramel color.

Some people are keen on Chick-fil-A milkshakes. In fact, some people are extremely keen on them — especially the cookies and cream, seasonal peppermint, and vanilla, with Insider declaring Chick-fil-A's take on the latter to be the best out of any fast food chain. However, some flavors have drawn criticism for tasting artificial, including the strawberry, caramel crumble, peach, and banana pudding. While we definitely wouldn't rank them as the worst quality shakes around (especially if we're only judging by taste — we'll be the first to admit that we don't let a holiday season pass without ordering a peppermint shake), combined with the jump-scare of an ingredients list, Chick-fil-A falls slightly short of being considered high quality.

Dairy Queen has plenty of experience in the milkshake biz, having served up its first shakes in 1949. Over 70 years later, the chain's menu boasts vanilla, chocolate, hot fudge, caramel, or strawberry shakes. These contain a base of artificially flavored vanilla reduced-fat ice cream, combined with high fructose corn syrup and a handful of ingredients with intimidatingly scientific-sounding names, such as xanthan gum (which is basically just fermented sugar) and polysorbate 60 (an emulsifier made from sugar alcohol).

According to some Dairy Queen employees, this isn't how the milkshakes have always been made. Instead, they allege that the chain switched up its recipe at some point — and not in a good way. While we couldn't verify that for ourselves, we do know that people have complained about the texture of the shakes, with some finding them too watery and others too thick. As per one disappointed customer on X, formerly known as Twitter, their shake was so thick that it tasted "almost like it contains too much fat."

If you're looking to wash down your sliders at White Castle, the chain gives you the choice of three classic milkshake flavors: vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. What exactly goes into these shakes differs depending on where you are. For whatever reason, the ingredients in a vanilla shake ordered in Chicago are different to those found in a vanilla shake bought in Cincinnati.

Some things you can count on are the use of milk in the milkshake base, and either corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup (or, in some cases, both). Artificial colors also make multiple appearances, with red 40 (controversial due to the fact that it contains small amounts of benzene, which has been linked to cancer in high quantities) and blue 1 (which isn't quite as controversial, but not exactly a crowdpleaser in nutritional circles) in every variation of strawberry. One thing you won't find in any of these ingredient lists is actual ice cream. While it's definitely still possible to make a decent-tasting shake sans ice cream, the internet is strewn with complaints about the thickness of White Castle's offerings, with one Tripadvisor reviewer noting that the "'milkshakes' were more of a thick ice cream — completely undrinkable."

Let's start this off by saying that yes, we know that technically, Wendy's classifies the Frosty as not quite a milkshake and not quite an ice cream, but instead its own unique (and trademarked) entity. However, as an icy, milk-based beverage, we'd say it's close enough to go head-to-head with the other milkshakes on this list — even if it does fall into the "low quality" category.

While Wendy's started with just chocolate, it's since branched out into vanilla, strawberry, and even seasonal flavors such as pumpkin spice and orange dreamsicle. Ingredients vary depending on the flavor, but you'll find that most Frosty recipes use some combination of milk, sugar, corn syrup, and cream, plus a handful of additives such as carrageenan, sodium citrate, and dextrose.

The Frosty has a very distinct flavor and texture compared to other shakes on this list, but we wouldn't say that necessarily translates to quality. Opinions are pretty split among customers, with many feeling like the Frosty has gone downhill. "Long ago the Frosty was thick and rich," said one Reddit user. "It is now just an air filled milk shake." It's the artificial taste — something that's never been associated with high-quality food — that gets to people most. The strawberry, for example, has been compared to everything from garbage juice to Pepto Bismol, while the worst triple berry reviews equate it to cough syrup (or, as one Reddit user so poetically put it, "[tasting] like a public bathroom smells").

What earns Arby's a spot among the ranks of low-quality fast food milkshakes is the sheer length of the ingredients list. That's rarely a sign of a wholesome menu item — especially when the bulk of that list is made up of a milkshake base using scientific-sounding ingredients such as dipotassium phosphate, sodium citrate, and sodium carbonate. You can also find a few controversial artificial colors in some varieties, such as red 40 in the chocolate shake, and both red 40 and blue 1 in the strawberry.

If you do decide to order a shake with your burger, chicken, or slow-roasted beef, plenty of customers have found the taste as disappointing as the ingredients. While its most famous shake — the Jamocha, a mix of chocolate and coffee — is pretty popular with the regular Arby's clientele, the other shakes aren't quite as beloved. The chocolate, for example, is often criticized for being too rich, with one Reddit user claiming that "the chocolate drizzle by itself is pretty bad" as it tastes "like a fake thick dark chocolate syrup." Some customers have also complained that the orange cream, a variety typically introduced in the summer, doesn't boast enough flavor.

It doesn't matter whether you order a vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry shake at Whataburger, they all contain the same base: "Artificially Flavored Vanilla Shake Mix." That phrase in itself gives you a pretty good idea of where this is going. While the ingredients list for this mix starts with the expected whole milk and sugar, it's followed up by an array of artificial flavors and additives. It also contains two controversial colors — yellow 5 and yellow 6 — which actually require a warning in the European Union due to a 2007 study that linked both to hyperactivity in young children.

If you opt for the strawberry shake, you'll be adding more colors into the mix in the form of red 40 and blue 1. Customers have called out the chain for still using artificial dyes in its shakes, with some claiming that several shake flavors taste artificial in general. "Texture is good but it's like the memory of chocolate flavor," said one Reddit user of the chocolate shake, while the limited edition banana pudding shake launched in 2023 was compared to Laffy Taffy and bubblegum. On the whole, customers seem to find them too thick to easily drink, which is kind of a prerequisite for a good shake. As one Reddit user warned, "The pressure built up from sucking so hard to get them out through that thin ass straw is gonna have your brain matter coming out through your nose and ears." We're good, thanks.