What makes a perfect milkshake? Is it the decadent blend of milk and rich ice cream, or the myriad of fun flavors that can take this old-fashioned treat to another level? We scoured Five Guys’ menu to see if their milkshakes fit the bill. Our verdict: Five Guys milkshakes are worthy of your love.
First, we discovered that there are 10 “mix-ins” or flavors in the Five Guys milkshakes family: bacon, bananas, cherries, chocolate, coffee, malted milk, Oreo cookie pieces, peanut butter, salted caramel, and strawberries. After that, each of these flavors can be added to your vanilla hand-spun milkshake for free. You can add as many of these flavors as your heart desires for no additional charge. That is pretty amazing.
Are you ready to find out which flavor of Five Guys milkshakes you’ll fall in love with?
What Is Five Guys?
With 1500 locations worldwide and counting, the fast-casual restaurant, Five Guys, has become a popular destination for all foods Americana, serving up burgers and hotdogs all across America. Since opening its doors in Arlington, VA, in 1986, Five Guys has continually served up fast eats made from fresh, non-frozen ingredients.
A few other Five Guys facts are worth noting here. It claims they only use fresh ground beef for their burgers. It only uses peanut oil for frying and grilling. Also, you won’t find freezers inside any of the Five Guys restaurants, only coolers.
But what about their milkshakes? Can we say “come for the burger, stay for Five Guys milkshakes?” Let’s find out.
Five Guys Milkshakes Menu
Five Guys serves hand-spun vanilla milkshakes made with ice cream. You can add any of the following 10 mix-ins for free to give it an added twist, for free. You can also top it off with whipped cream if you wish, or enjoy it without.
BACON
Everybody loves bacon. This ingredient may raise eyebrows at first, but it actually adds a subtle saltiness to the sweetness of the vanilla, to make it a divine, if unusual, ice cream flavor.
Five Guys blends real pieces of bacon with the vanilla shake, so the result may seem choppy when you suck it through the straw. It sure is not bacon in the form of bacon grease if you were wondering. Try it for yourself to see if your love for bacon is as equally strong as a Five Guys milkshake bacon style.
Bananas
Ah, bananas. Are they the best with ice cream, or are we banana-obsessed? We love them in banana-splits, banana pudding on ice cream, and banana fosters. Believe it or not, banana-flavored Five Guys milkshakes are equally on-par with these winners in the world of desserts.
A smooth blend of fresh bananas and vanilla ice cream is the perfect treat for any time of the year. May we suggest pairing it with a Five Guys grilled cheese? Five Guys milkshakes with bananas is a must-try this season.
CHERRIES
For all of you cherry lovers out there, this is the flavor for you. This ingredient definitely takes it up a notch, and what a big notch that is.
The cherries add a punch that could be too overpowering for some of you who just aren’t too big on the whole cherry thing. Some tasters of cherry Five Guys milkshakes have likened it to Robitussin. It can’t be that bad, right? Try it and see for yourself. You could try toning the cherry flavor down by mixing in malted milk. More on that flavor later.
CHOCOLATE
Can you say classic chocolate? This is vanilla’s original best friend, and nothing can take its place. For Five Guys milkshakes, chocolate takes the place as the best flavor.
The Five Guys milkshakes with the added chocolate mix-in are not your typical, run-of-the-mill chocolate milkshake in the realm of some generic chocolate syrup. Instead, these milkshakes are blended with premium Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips. Imagine that! We can’t think of any other fast-casual restaurant that makes their milkshakes like this. You have to try it to believe it.
Coffee
Thinking this is like a La Croix with a subtle hint of coffee taste floating at some distance away? Wrong. Like the cherries flavor, coffee-flavored Five Guys milkshakes are unforgiving to the uninitiated. When Five Guys says it’s coffee, believe them; it is.
Don’t expect a sweet after-meal treat with this one. This flavor is rich in the bitterness of the traditional sense. Sorry, no sugar and cream on hand. But, if you’re a heavy coffee drink and a black-coffee lover to boot, then you’re sure to go after this one, all night long. A sip won’t hurt. Just be careful though, this flavor could be a kicker.
Malted Milk
Let us explain something first. Malted milk is a powdered mixture made from wheat flour, malted barley, and evaporated whole milk. When added to milkshakes and everything else (baked goods, for example), malted milk provides our taste buds with a distinctive flavor. Not necessarily bad, just… different.
Five Guys milkshakes with the added malted milk mix-in create an interesting flavor, to say to least. Though it may go better with some of the other ingredients, such as chocolate, strawberries, and cherries. Regardless, this is another ingredient unique to Five Guys milkshakes family. Request it to your milkshake the next time you swing by a Five Guys or pair it with one (or two) of the other ingredients to experience this distinctive flavor.
Oreo Cookie Pieces
Also known as Double Stuf, these Oreo Cookie Pieces are not here to make your everyday Oreo shakes—they are here to blow them out of the blender.
Five Guys calls them Double Stuf for a reason. The Oreo cookie pieces add to Five Guys milkshakes an extra layer of cream, making the already creamy vanilla ice cream shake taste even creamier. If the cream filling is the cake, then the cookies themselves are the cherries on top. They give these milkshakes a welcoming texture and an added crunch to bite for. Want to make your Oreo shake chocolatier? Go for it, add that chocolate. At Five Guys, the sky is the limit.
Peanut Butter
Peanut Butter is another one of those versatile ingredients that go well with almost anything, especially ice cream. Though not as old of a classic as chocolate, the peanut butter flavor still lives up to its expectation to earn itself the title of the “new classic.”
Think of this flavor as a Reese’s peanut butter cups on steroids. This peanut butter flavor really brings out everything Five Guys milkshakes has to offer. One sip and you might just become a “penut-ic.” (See what we did there?) Try it alone or mix it with Oreo cookie pieces, because why not.
Salted Caramel
Okay, if chocolate is the old classic, and the peanut butter is the new classic, then salted caramel is the new “new.” Yes, we are that positive about it.
To put it a different way, if you’re a smooth jazz fan, someone with patience who lets the process take its course, then you’ll love how Five Guys’ salted caramel slowly creeps on you before finally hitting you in that sweet spot. Give it time, and Five Guys milkshakes with salted caramel will reward you.
Strawberries
Remember those strawberry Nesquik drinks you used to chug down when you were a young lad or gal? If you don’t remember, these strawberry-flavored milkshakes are here to remind you.
The smoothly blended strawberries are a perfect companion ingredient to chocolate, the combination of the two along with the vanilla ice cream base creates the perfect Neapolitan milkshake. Or, if you rather walk on the wild side, add the bacon mix-in to it. You won’t know if it’s right up your alley unless you try it.
Prices
Priced at only $3.99, Five Guys milkshakes are extremely affordable, especially considering the fact that they are hand-spun. Let’s not forget about the quality of the additional 10 mix-ins that you can choose from, for free! This is almost too good to be true.
Conclusion
Five Guys has really made a name for itself through its delicious burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, and French fries. Now, with 10 different flavors or mix-ins to choose from, you can take your ordinary vanilla milkshake from ordinary to extraordinary.
We can sum up the Five Guys milkshakes this way.
There are the tame and reliable flavors we can always count on to delight our sweet tooth. These are chocolate, strawberries, and Oreo cookie pieces. For the thrill seekers, coffee, cherries, and bacon will not disappoint. For everybody else in between, we can find solace in knowing that banana, peanut butter, malted milk, and salted caramel will always be there for us.
Oh and don’t forget that Five Guys milkshakes are so affordable (only $3.99 including any of the mix-ins for free) that you will want to get more than one. Or, you might just want to skip over the other stuff and go right to dessert.
