Good news! It’s that time of year again the shamrock shake is back on the menu and now you can make this Copycat McDonald’s Shamrock Shake at home with only a handful of simple ingredients to create this mint-flavored milkshake. This sweet treat is added to the McDonald’s menus in late February just in time for St. Patrick’s day.
All you need is some mint extract, a few drops of green food coloring, and vanilla ice cream to get started making this copycat shamrock shake recipe ready in no time. This is a fun dessert recipe to make it you need a simple indulgent and have everything for this easy recipe. Break out those festive sprinkles, green straws, and whipped cream, and get ready to enjoy your homemade shamrock shakes!
Recipe Ingredient Notes
To make our copycat McDonald’s Shamrock Shake, you need the following ingredients:
- Ice cream: pick your favorite brand of vanilla ice cream and let it soften slightly
- Milk: we like to use whole milk for this recipe, but use what you have on hand
- Extract: you will need to use pure peppermint extract to get the perfect shamrock shake flavor
- Food coloring: green food coloring will give you that soft green color you need for a shamrock shake
- Toppings: use whipped cream, green sprinkles, and maraschino cherries
Equipment Needed
For this recipe, you only need a few simple kitchen tools. We recommend using the following equipment:
How to Make Copycat McDonald’s Shamrock Shake
- Place ice cream, milk, peppermint extract, and green food coloring in a blender. Cover and blend until smooth and no longer any lumps of ice cream.
- Pour into glasses and top with whipped cream and sprinkles. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
Some of our favorite toppings and add-ins include the following: crushed up Oreos, crushed Andes mints, hot fudge, chopped up KitKat bars, maraschino cherries, or chocolate ice cream (for a chocolate shamrock shake).
Frequently Asked Questions
Nope! The green food coloring to make sure this looks just like the minty milkshake you can get during shamrock shake season. But you are welcome to skip the green coloring!
No, that is the best part about this McDonald’s shamrock shake copycat recipe. You will know everything that goes into this minty shake without having to use a minty syrup with high fructose corn syrup.
The peppermint extract will be enough to replace the mint syrup, then just add in a little bit of green food dye to get the full effect, especially if you are making this for St. Patrick’s Day.
You can use either the green gel food coloring or the drops you can get at your local grocery store, it shouldn’t make much of a difference just based on personal preference.
Storage Instructions
Freeze: If you have any of this mint milkshake left, the best option short of taking one for the team and finishing it 😉 is to pour the milkshake mixture into an airtight container (leaving room for it to expand) and store it in the fridge for up to 30 days. Then you can serve it as ice cream with minty flavor later.
Enjoy More Delicious Drink Recipes
Nothing complements a delicious meal quite like a thirst-quenching beverage. Check out our comprehensive list of non-alcoholic beverage recipes.
- Aloha Pineapple Smoothie
- Blue Raspberry Slush
- Frozen Lemonade
- Healthy Immunity Boost Smoothie
- Non-Alcoholic Bubbly Drink
- Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes
- Shamrock Shake
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Copycat McDonald’s Shamrock Shake Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups vanilla ice cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ teaspoon pure peppermint extract
- ¼ teaspoon green food coloring
- whipped cream, for topping
- green sprinkles, for topping
Instructions
- Place ice cream, milk, peppermint extract and green food coloring in a blender. Cover and blend until smooth.
- Pour into glasses and top with whipped cream and sprinkles. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
Looks delish. But a shamrock shake isn’t peppermint. It’s regular mint.
Are there different types of ‘mint’ to use in this? Or can peppermint extract expire? I don’t know how old mine is, maybe a year or two, but it smelled ok. One sip of this shake and I gagged – the peppermint is just SO strong. I’m disappointed that I wasted that much good ice cream on this – now I can’t get the taste out of my mouth. 🙁
I would think 2 cups mint chocolate chip ice cream and 2 cups vanilla (no peppermint extract) would work better.
Some milk producers make a green mint milk this time of year which, when blended with vanilla ice cream is very close to the McDonald’s shake too.
There is peppermint extract and mint extract. I use mint even if it calls for peppermint. I think the peppermint is nasty.
We made it with Farr’s Oreo Ice Cream and it was so yummy!
Wonderful recipe
Wonderful post
My 7 year old grandson says, “This is better than McDonald’s shamrock shake!”