The 25 Best Milkshakes in America and Where to Try Them

There are more elaborate offerings on the milkshake menu at this old-style diner — for instance the Whatchamacallit (made with chocolate, caramel, Rice Krispies and peanuts) — but reviewers tend to single out the s’mores shake, blended with graham crackers and hot fudge, with a cluster of toasted marshmallows on top.

Don’t let the name of this shake scare you off: It’s short for “awful big, awful good.” More than a dozen flavors are available, but it’s the classic chocolate that gets the nod.

Alcohol-spiked milkshakes seem like the best of two worlds: the frothy ice cream-based drink we’ve loved since we were kids combined with a grown-up punch. The White Russian shake at this classic Louisiana eatery, combining homemade ice cream with vodka and Kahlúa, defines the genre.

The Purple Cow is on almost everybody’s list of best milkshake places in America, and its most famous offering is the Purple Vanilla shake — a creamy concoction of Yarnell’s Arkansas-made vanilla ice cream, colored and flavored with grape juice.

Yes, Cousteau’s is named for famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. (Owner Stephen DiMares’s father and grandfather once overhauled the Frenchman’s boat.) The menu items, however, have a different nautical provenance: They’re named after people, places, and lines from Wes Anderson’s 2004 “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” starring Bill Murray. Aficionados will recall the iconic scene in which Jeff Goldblum smacks a whining dog with the words: “Be still, Cody!” It’s unclear exactly how that moment translates to a chocolate shake enhanced with espresso, mocha sauce, and espresso whipped cream, but the result is delicious.

Actual duck fat figures in many of the dishes here, but not, fortunately, in the shakes. The sea-salted caramel version is considered a must — and you can always order some duckfat fries to dip into its salty-sweet perfection.

Portillo’s has come a long way since 1963, when it started as a hot dog stand called the Dog House in the Chicago suburb of Villa Park. Along the way, the chain became famous for its milkshakes and also for its chocolate cake — so of course they had to blend the two together into an incredibly decadent treat.

Sometimes simplicity is best, and the old-fashioned chocolate malt at Wichita’s first soda fountain, opened in 1932, is as good as shakes get. Food TV host Alton Brown liked it well enough to tweet out an image of the malt and the machinery that made it.

This popular dessert shop will turn any of its homemade ice creams into shakes or malts, and the possibilities are many. One creation that’s unique, however, is this seasonal combination of saffron ice cream and bits of fig preserves.

An old-style ice cream parlor in a picturesque 19th-century town, the Corner Shop offers a number of milkshake options. A perennial favorite is the rich, thick, chocolatey Mud Slide.

Served in a large glass with a canister of leftover shake on the side, Annie’s malts are thick, creamy, and cold. Some people like some banana added to their hot fudge malt, while others are content with just a sprinkling of nutmeg on top.

Oreo cookies are a popular addition to shakes and malts around the country, enhancing them with crumbly chocolate and that dense, sweet cream filling. The old-fashioned “All Shook Up” version here, served in a tall tin cup, is definitive.

Coffee-lovers will go crazy for this excellent shake, based on homemade ice cream and served in a tall glass mug. In case the interior of this diner looks familiar, by the way, it’s because it was the site of the controversial final scene in “The Sopranos.”

This ivory-hued, caramel-y malt is addictive. No wonder it gets mentioned often as a favorite at this 1913-vintage St. Louis institution.

This intensely chocolatey shake at this 80-year-old ice cream parlor and café is made with Petersen’s own ice cream and syrup, mixed in an old-fashioned Hamilton Beach milkshake machine, and served in a soda fountain glass, accompanied by a metal cup of the overflow.

This Santa Fe favorite is famous for its thick, creamy Adobe Mud Shakes, made with organic Taos Cow ice cream. Such exotic flavors as lavender and piñon caramel are available, but Mexican chocolate remains the go-to choice for many customers.

Named as one of the best milkshakes in America, the Charcoal Pit’s triple thick strawberry shake takes a traditional favorite and intensifies it into pure strawberry bliss.

Regular shakes and malts are available at this Gateway City mainstay, but the signature offerings are the concretes — versions so thick they won’t fall out of the cup if it’s turned upside down. The extravagant Dutchman Delight version combines chocolate, butterscotch, and pecans.

Reviewers love the key lime milkshake at this fruit stand and farm on the edge of the Everglades, but the fragrantly tropical passion fruit shake — one of the many varieties the place makes from its own farm-grown fruit — is unusual and particularly tasty. Like all the shakes, it’s served in a 100% biodegradable corn-based plastic cup.

In Lexington, says Spoon University, “no night out is complete without a classic Tolly milkshake.” Nutella is a popular shake flavoring all over the country, and Tolly Ho makes a particularly memorable version of the specialty.

Lots of places will mix peanut butter into a shake, and many also offer M&Ms as an add-in, but this longtime Iowa City comfort-food purveyor cuts to the chase by making those M&Ms the peanut kind — adding real peanut flavor to the shake’s chocolate richness.

Tart-sweet huckleberries, related to both cranberries and blueberries, are found mostly in the Pacific Northwest (as far east as Montana), and huckleberry ice cream is the signature creation at Big Dipper. It also happens to make a memorable shake.

Sometimes it’s hard to improve on a classic — but LunchBox Lab elevates this basic milkshake, based on Snoqualmie ice cream, by making it with fresh strawberries when they’re in season.

All the shakes at Kaminsky’s begin with three scoops of vanilla bean ice cream from the noted Atlanta ice cream producer Greenwood. It’s made from aged East Coast Madagascar bourbon vanilla beans, and while Kaminsky’s will blend various candy bar or cookie pieces, among other ingredients, into the basic shake, the ice cream is so good that it deserves to be enjoyed in a shake all by itself.

An old-school pharmacy and soda fountain dating from 1946 that became pharmacy-free in 2009, Brent’s shows up on numerous best-milkshake lists, and it has been said that a traditional chocolate malt — topped with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry — is the best way to experience the place.