It’s milkshake season, fam! The temperatures are climbing nationwide and summer is upon us, meaning now is the optimal time to wash down a juicy burger and a piping hot order of fries with a nice cold, creamy, brain-freeze-inducing milkshake. Or forget about the food entirely — a good milkshake is enough to make you full and keep you satisfied, no burger required.
In a fast food landscape full of options like the oreo milkshake and all sorts of other inventive mix-ins offered at fast food restaurants nationwide, nothing hits the spot in these early summer months quite like a strawberry milkshake. Often looked over in favor of chocolate or vanilla, the strawberry milkshake offers something that those sweet and rich flavors fail to deliver on: a refreshing component. A good strawberry milkshake, with its combination of creamy and fruity flavors, offers an experience that simply exudes summer vibes.
today, we’re separating the good from the bad in this ranking of the best fast food strawberry milkshakes. Let’s sip!
12. Burger King — Strawberry Shake
Thickness: 2/5
Tasting Notes:
Welcome back to another episode of our favorite show, Shitting All Over Burger King. We’ve made it no secret that Burger King is one of our least favorite, if not our least favorite restaurant in the great pantheon of fast food brands. BK’s slogan is “have it your way” — having it our way is typically “not having Burger King at all.”
The biggest issue with the Strawberry Shake is the consistency, it’s way too watery. A good milkshake is always a struggle to get through the straw, that’s not a problem here, this stuff comes bursting through and it hits your palate with too much sweetness, way too quickly. The shake also melts instantly on your tongue, giving this a sort of off-putting strawberry Nesquik vibe.
The Bottom Line:
Never order a milkshake from Burger King, in any flavor.
Find your nearest Burger King here.
11. McDonald’s — Strawberry Shake
Thickness: 3/5
Tasting Notes:
A few weeks back I reviewed every single Frappuccino on the Starbucks menu and bemoaned the relatively recent recipe change of the Strawberries and Cream frappe. Well, I’m happy to say to fans who miss that original recipe, the McDonald’s Strawberry Shake is a dead ringer. This has that same cream-forward flavor with the slightest hint of strawberries on the backend. It’s rich and luxurious in flavor but suffers from a slightly watery consistency that doesn’t allow you to really savor it.
It’s the one thing holding it back.
The Bottom Line:
More vanilla than strawberry, if you like your milkshakes easy to drink and with the slightest hint of fruit flavor, you can’t go wrong with this pick.
Find your nearest McDonald’s here.
10. Jack in the Box — Strawberry Shake
Thickness: 5/5
Tasting Notes:
Jack in the Box’s milkshakes have so much going for them, they’re supremely thick and luxurious, the flavors are all on point, and they have a variety of fun options and a rotating list of seasonal flavors, but unfortunately, they cut a few corners and it keeps them from being truly great.
The strawberry here is that heavy on the vanilla strawberry and cream variety that recalls what you’d find at malted milk shops and ’50s-themed greasy spoons, but after about ten minutes this milkshake starts to lose its consistency and turns into a watery mess. This means you can only drink about half of it before it’s better of being thrown away than finished unless you like the taste and mouthfeel of rapidly separating strawberry milk.
On top of that Jack in the Box adds this truly awful whipped cream that is as far as I can tell, purely decorative, it tastes like sweet air and is topped with Jack in the Box’s weirdly, discomfitingly chewy maraschino cherries.
The Bottom Line:
So close to being good. Split it with someone and treat it as a fry dip until your meal is finished. By then, whatever is left won’t be worth drinking anymore.
Find your nearest Jack in the Box here.
9. Carl’s Jr — Hand-scooped Strawberry Shake
Thickness: 4/5
Tasting Notes:
Carl’s Jr’s milkshakes utilize real ice cream rather than working off a soft-serve base which adds a real depth of flavor to the experience. This shake hits you with perfectly balanced notes of creamy vanilla and sweet strawberries with a nice rich consistency that is easy to drink, but not too easy.
It hits the Goldilock’s Zone, it’s just right.
The Bottom Line:
It’s the baseline for what a strawberry shake should be, but that doesn’t make for a memorable shake. It’s good, but nothing special.
Find your nearest Carl’s Jr. here.
8. In-N-Out — Strawberry Shake
Thickness: 5/5
Tasting Notes:
In-N-Out is facing an interesting problem in California. The state, as the chain’s birthplace, is home to the most In-N-Outs in the country but California has a state-wide ban on plastic straws, meaning just about every CA-based business is now exclusively using paper straws of varying quality. Some paper straws are nearly indistinguishable from plastic straws, so in most cases, you don’t really notice the change (unless you’re one of those weird anti-paper straw people, which I for the record, am not, I hate all straws equally) — In-N-Out just happens to have some of the worst.
So if you like drinking your milkshakes, don’t come to In-N-Out because you’re going to most definitely have to use a spoon to enjoy this one. You could always use fries but, In-N-Out’s fries are pretty much universally hated (except by me) and don’t have the right consistency to hold their shape once dipped into this very thick and creamy milkshake.
This is all a real shame because In-N-Out’s milkshakes are so damn good.
They’re thick and luxurious, and the strawberry, in particular, is addictingly delicate, with a flavor so light and subtle that you’ll find yourself taking sip after sip just to taste more of it. But because the shake is so thick, it, and please try to contain yourself, requires a lot of sucking. You really have to work this thing, which means a lot of time with the straw in your mouth absorbing your spit until it swells up and stops functioning as a straw. You know, the thing it IS.
But, I’m not going to hold that against In-N-Out. This is still a great shake, it’s just inconvenient to drink.
The Bottom Line:
A great milkshake that in most cases you’ll have to eat with a spoon.
Find your nearest In-N-Out here.
7. Del Taco — Premium Strawberry Shake
Thickness: 4/5
Tasting Notes:
Del Taco’s Premium Strawberry Shake is the most underrated shake in the game. Its presence is completely absent from most online rankings of milkshakes but not here at Uproxx, we love this thing! The flavor is light, tart, and refreshing thanks to the inclusion of real strawberries that come bursting through the straw between sips, adding a bright juicy flavor that is lacking in most other fast food milkshakes.
We love the inclusion of real strawberries, but it tastes like Del Taco steeped these berries in a sweetened syrup, which makes them just a bit sweeter than they need to be. But being “a bit too sweet” isn’t really that big of a problem for a milkshake to have.
The Bottom Line:
Refreshing, tart, sweet and creamy. A delicious middle ground between a strawberry smoothie and milkshake.
Find your nearest Del Taco here.
6. Shake Shack — Strawberry Shake
Thickness: 5/5
Tasting Notes:
Shake Shack’s milkshakes are delicious — they had better be, they’re the Shake Shack after all — but the thing with the core trio of flavors is that they’re all pretty boring compared to the seasonal flavors that drop every few months (Burgerville, in Oregon, has this same issue). In the spring you have strawberry rhubarb, during Valentine’s day season we get a chocolate-covered strawberry spin on the flavor, and the fast-casual chain even did a strawberry-based shake during last year’s Pride Month, and a cookies and cream strawberry shake but the basic strawberry is just that, basic.
Those better flavors all use the strawberry milkshake as their base, but they offer texture and more interesting flavors that end up making the base flavor taste like something is missing. Right now, in spring 2022, Shake Shack is currently offering a chocolate churro, sprinkle, and Oreo Cookie funnel cake milkshake as part of the summer season. None of those have strawberries, but they all sound about 100 times more exciting.
The Bottom Line:
If you order a Strawberry Shake from Shake Shack you’ll get one of the best tasting and thickest milkshakes in the fast food galaxy, but chances are a better-limited edition flavor that uses strawberry as a base is also available — in which case you should order that instead.
Find your nearest Shake Shack here.
5. Sonic — Strawberry Cheesecake Master Shake
Thickness: 5/5
Tasting Notes:
Sonic has a classic strawberry shake and because this is an article about the best fast food strawberry shakes, we felt inclined to put it on this list but also, fuck that because the Strawberry Cheesecake Master Shake is delicious, it exists, and it would be a disservice to all of you to pretend it doesn’t exist just to fit the parameters of this article. After all, it’s still technically a strawberry shake — it just has other stuff in it too.
That other stuff includes cheesecake, graham cracker crumbs, and vanilla ice cream which are all blended together with fresh strawberries and topped with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry. Who would take strawberry over this textured masterpiece?
The Bottom Line:
Sweet, a bit tangy in all the best ways, tart, and textured with sweet graham cracker crumbs that travel through the straw with every sip. Order this over the classic strawberry shake every time.
Find your nearest Sonic here.
4. Dairy Queen — Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Blizzard
Thickness: 5/5
Tasting Notes:
It’s no secret that DQ, home of the Blizzard, has a lot of milkshake options, including a classic strawberry milkshake, but what is kind of an open secret is that the chain’s seasonal drinks, like the Valentine’s Day-themed Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Blizzard, are available year-round since DQ pretty much has all the mix-ins on hand.
Simply order a strawberry blizzard with added chocolate chunks and you have access to the Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Blizzard! This Blizzard is so thick it doesn’t even come with a spoon (it’s arguable whether Blizzards are even milkshakes) with a strawberries and vanilla sweet cream flavor backed by the occasional burst of rich milk chocolate. It comes across as a bit more decadent and rich than the other shakes on this list.
The Bottom Line:
You’re welcome for the hack. This is the best strawberry-flavored milkshake at Dairy Queen. Feel free to create your own with DQ’s variety of toppings or just trust us — it’ll never top this simple flavor combination classic.
Find your nearest Dairy Queen here.
3. Wendy’s — Strawberry Frosty
Thickness: 5/5
Tasting Notes:
Now we’re talking. For the first time in Wendy’s 53-year history, the burger chain has finally given us a strawberry-flavored Frosty, and this thing fucking DELIVERS. Yes, we needed all caps for that. For the duration of the summer, the Strawberry Frosty will be taking the place of the vanilla (Wendy’s Frosty system is so intricate apparently that they can only have two flavors at a time, weird, but true) meaning the days you have to enjoy this thick and creamy treat are numbered.
Move fast, friends. What you’ll find is a thick and luxurious shake with that familiar malted characteristic the Frosty is known for with a bright and refreshing flavor that ends with a tart zip. Wendy’s makes this shake by pureeing real strawberries into a vanilla ice cream base, making this one of the most natural strawberry milkshakes (if you can call a Frosty that, we just did) in all of fast food.
The Bottom Line:
Wendy’s greatest Frosty being a limited-time item is the brand’s cruelest move since that time they removed the spicy chicken nugget from the menu for a year.
Find your nearest Wendy’s here.
2. Chick-fil-A — Strawberry Shake
Thickness: 5/5
Tasting Notes:
All of Chick-fil-A’s shakes are very delicious, we even named the Oreo milkshake the Best Milkshake in the Fast Food Galaxy, and the Strawberry Shake is no different. Supremely thick (probably fast food’s thickest shake) and freezing cold, Chick-fil-A’s shakes are hand-spun using the chain’s delicious soft serve Icedream, resulting in a luxurious consistency that holds its shape from the first sip until the last, no matter how hot out it is.
That simple feature makes this milkshake one of the most consistent we’ve ever had. I’m not sure what kind of magic Chick-Fil-A uses to achieve this, but we wish more drive-thrus did it.
The strawberry version of the shake features small chunks of real strawberry, but the fruit definitely takes a backseat to the vanilla here, the strawberry notes are so faint they are almost ghostly. It comes across more like vanilla ice cream with small chunks of strawberries in it than a true strawberry-based dessert.
The Bottom Line:
Chick-fil-A’s Strawberry Shake is great, but it’s the summer, aka the season of the Chick-fil-A’s Peach Shake which you should order over this for as long as it’s available.
Find your nearest Chick-fil-A here.
1. Five guys — Strawberry Shake
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Thickness: 5/5
Tasting Notes:
Five Guys is the best place to buy a milkshake, period. No other fast food establishment gives you this many mix-in choices, and even though the shake is an absurd $6.69, it’s worth every penny. Unless of course, you get a strawberry shake. That’s the thing… Five Guys Strawberry Shake is delicious, it uses real strawberries steeped in simple syrup (again, fast food brands, aren’t strawberries sweet enough, do we need the syrup?!) handspun with thick and creamy vanilla, resulting in a milkshake that is thick as mud, sweet as cotton candy, and above all else, refreshing and fruity.
The way the natural flavors of vanilla and strawberry mingle together perfectly in this sweet and creamy shake is the sort of balance every other brand should strive for, but at $6.69 (Vincent Vega would never!) and with the choice of unlimited toppings, why would you ever stop at just strawberry?
You can easily add chocolate into this thing for a Neopolitan vibe, or better yet, chocolate and fresh banana with a cherry on top for a banana split shake. Maybe you want to find out what an Oreo cookie strawberry shake tastes like, or hell, go wild, get bacon for a sweet and salty sensation. The sky is the limit here, but it wouldn’t be ranked first if the shake without all the frills didn’t taste great, and this very much does. You can’t go wrong here.
The Bottom Line:
The best strawberry shake in all of fast food, but don’t stop at classic strawberry. Add an unlimited amount of any of Five Guys 13 toppings to make this something really special.
Our suggestion? Strawberry + Banana with whipped cream and a side of peanuts.
Find your nearest Five Guys here.
