Saint Patrick’s Day is often celebrated with friends and family and around dining room tables with corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes with everyone dressed in green to avoid being pinched. And every year as St. Patrick’s Day approaches, McDonald’s begins the sale of their infamous seasonal drink, the Shamrock Shake, a whipped cream topped, bright green, mint flavored milkshake. As of 2022 the fast food chain had sold roughly 60 million Shamrock Shakes since their introduction in 1970.
The homemade version of the Shamrock Shake mimics the minty taste, smooth texture, and verdant appearance of the original. When we made the festive recreation of the St. Patrick’s day classic in class and compared it to the McDonald’s version, we concluded that you can taste more of the vanilla flavor from the ice cream, and liked how you can adjust the amount of mint flavor to your own preference. This recipe is also very easy to make with only a few steps and ingredients and involves minimal clean up. It is quick to make as unlike many other sweet recipes, there is no need to bake or chill anything to achieve the final product.
Homemade Shamrock Shake
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup vanilla ice cream
- ½ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 10 drops green food dye
- Whipped cream
Materials
- Measuring cups
- Blender
- Glasses
Instructions
- Scoop 1 cup of vanilla ice cream, ½ milk, 1 teaspoon peppermint extract, and 10 drops of green food dye into blender
- Pulse blender until ingredients are homogeneous
- Pour milkshake into glasses and top with whipped cream
McDonald’s also offers up an Oreo McFlurry variation of the Shamrock Shake to their customers. If you would prefer to make a homemade version of the Oreo Shamrock Shake McFlurry you can add 6 oreos to your blender and cut the amount of milk in half by using only ¼ cup and proceed with the remainder of the steps. You may want to add more green food dye as the blended oreos will likely dull the color of the shake.
All in all, this is a great recipe to make to get into the spirit of St. Patrick’s day and share with friends.
