Milkshakes and malts (which are just shakes with malted milk powder added) have been around since the early 20th century, and started getting really popular in the 1950s. These blended combinations of (usually) milk, ice cream, various syrups or other flavorings, and add-ins like chopped up candies or crumbled cookies, are some of the most delicious things on fast food menus — part drink, part dessert.
They are also some of the most fearsomely caloric. Sometimes a single shake can match or exceed the total calorie count of an entire lunch or dinner, especially at a fast food restaurant. These are 45 fast food single items with the more than 1,000 calories.
Of course, the number of calories each of us consumes when we sit down to eat varies widely. It is generally accepted, however, that to maintain current weight, an average adult male needs about 2,500 calories a day, and an average adult female about 2,000.
It has been estimated that the average American — one who is neither dieting nor splurging — typically consumes 300 to 400 calories for breakfast and 500 to 700 calories each for lunch and dinner, plus about 200 for snacks. The balance would be made up with beverages. (A couple of glasses of red wine would add 250 calories, a fancy Starbucks Grande Frappuccino 500 to 600.)
Because Americans in general are more likely to overeat than undereat, 24/7 Tempo took the top number for lunch or dinner, 700 calories, and looked for chain restaurant milkshakes that exceeded that total. There were plenty.
Click here to see 27 milkshakes with more calories than an entire meal
Of course, chains aren’t the only places serving milkshakes, and many of the best ones — likely equally caloric — are found at independent diners, ice cream shops, and other outlets.
Surprisingly the milkshakes at some of the best-known fast-food operations actually fell below the 700 number, if not by much. McDonald’s shakes range from 490 to 530 calories. California-based cult favorite In-N-Out Burger serves just three flavors of shake — chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla — in a single size. Vanilla is 580 calories, the other two 590.
The shakes at Five Guys (vanilla only) come to 590 calories — though various extras (bacon, bananas, cherries, chocolate, coffee, malted milk, Oreo cookie pieces, peanut butter, salted caramel, or strawberries) add between 5 and 90 calories each. Chick-fil-A’s shakes don’t exceed 610 calories.
On the other hand, we found some shakes — at Baskin-Robbins and Sonic Drive-In, among other places — whose calorie counts not only exceed the standard for a single meal but approached the recommended intake for an entire day. This is how long you need to exercise to burn off the calories from your favorite foods.
Methodology
Calorie counts were taken from the nutritional information offered on the official websites of all the chains covered, with the exception of Baskin-Robbins, which doesn’t offer such data on its site. Calorie counts for that chain were drawn from the website of Nutrition Charts.
1. Jamocha Handcrafted Shake (large)
> Chain: Arby’s
> Calories: 950
There are 310 calories in a snack-size Jamocha Handcrafted Shake, and 750 in a medium.
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2. Vanilla Handcrafted Shake (large)
> Chain: Arby’s
> Calories: 820
This is the “low-cal” entry among Arby’s shakes, with a snack serving coming in at 250 calories and a medium at 630.
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3. OREO Cookies n’ Cream Milkshake (large)
> Chain: Baskin-Robbins
> Calories: 1,440
A woman who wanted to meet a daily calorie goal of 2,000 could enjoy this extravagant shake and still eat one medium-size bagel all day, without butter or cream cheese. Period.
4. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Milkshake (large)
> Chain: Baskin-Robbins
> Calories: 1,520
Even a small serving of this shake exceeds 700 calories, at 760.
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5. Vanilla Shake Made With M&M’s Chocolate Candies
> Chain: Burger King
> Calories: 780
Swapping chocolate for vanilla saves you 60 calories, though at this level, who’s counting?
6. Chocolate Oreo Shake
> Chain: Burger King
> Calories: 740
A shake the Burger King menu describes as simply an Oreo Shake (without added chocolate?) is also over the limit, at 720 calories.
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7. Oreo Milkshake
> Chain: Cheesecake Factory
> Calories: 1,630
This dinner house chain, famous for its extravagant portions, offers just four “creamy milkshake” varieties — chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and Oreo — in one size only.
8. Chocolate Milkshake
> Chain: Cheesecake Factory
> Calories: 1,260
This calorie count for a chocolate shake without cookie or candy add-ins is higher than usual.
9. Vanilla Milkshake
> Chain: Cheesecake Factory
> Calories: 1,210
The Cheesecake Factory’s strawberry milkshake shares the same calorie count as this one.
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10. Reese’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream (large)
> Chain: Cold Stone Creamery
> Calories: 1,610
Cold Stone lists calorie counts for their milkshakes (which come in two sizes, regular and large) both with and without their “whipped topping” (made with hydrogenated palm, palm kernel, coconut, and/or cottonseed oil, corn syrup, and sugar, among other things). This number is without. With the topping, it would climb up to 1740.
11. Cake Batter ‘n Shake (large)
> Chain: Cold Stone Creamery
> Calories: 1,300
With whipped topping added, this shake reaches 1,440 calories.
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12. Milk and OREO Cookies (large)
> Chain: Cold Stone Creamery
> Calories: 1,280
Cold Stone lists just six varieties of shake. With two sizes and the whipped topping option, that adds up to 24 in all. Of that number, only one shake — the smaller, untopped Savory Strawberry, is under 700 calories.
13. Peanut Butter Shake (large)
> Chain: Dairy Queen
> Calories: 1,250
Dairy Queen’s shakes come in small, medium, and large — no snack or mini sizes.
14. Hot Fudge Shake (large)
> Chain: Dairy Queen
> Calories: 990
The chain takes a signature drink, adding whipped topping. A small shake has less than twice the calories, at just 430.
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15. Caramel Shake (large)
> Chain: Dairy Queen
> Calories: 980
Some 13 Dairy Queen shakes in all — including the three on this list — exceed 700 calories. The chain’s trademark Blizzards, which are soft-serve ice cream with various cookies, candies, or brownies blended in, also frequently contain more than the limit.
16. Oreo Shake with Whipped Topping (large)
> Chain: Jack in the Box
> Calories: 1,170
This chain’s “whipped topping” — made with fully hydrogenated palm kernel oil, sugar, and a bunch of things that end in “-ate” — is responsible for 110 calories of the 1170. (An equivalent quantity of real whipped cream would come in slightly higher, at 124 calories.)
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17. Chocolate Shake with Whipped Topping (large)
> Chain: Jack in the Box
> Calories: 1,150
Get a smaller version of this shake — 16 ounces instead of 24 — and it’s a mere 800 calories.
18. Strawberry Shake with Whipped Topping
> Chain: Jack in the Box
> Calories: 1,120
Of the four varieties of shake on the Jack in the Box menu, each available in two sizes, the only one whose calorie count doesn’t exceed 700 is the smaller Vanilla Shake with Whipped Topping — and that’s 700 calories exactly.
19. Loaded Chocolate Cookies & Cream Shake
> Chain: Shake Shack
> Calories: 1,160
You know a chain with this name has got to be serious about shakes. Shake Shack lists 13 varieties (one size) on their nutritional chart, but only six on their menu. This is the biggest calorie bomb in both places.
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20. Salted Caramel Shake
> Chain: Shake Shack
> Calories: 840
It’s not on the menu, but in the chain’s nutritional data, what would otherwise be the second-most-caloric shake isn’t this one, but something called the TKO’ Clock Chocolate Cookies and Cream Shake. If this is a reference to TKO Chocolate Cookies, as it appears to be, Shake Shack might have plans to move onto higher ground: That’s also the name of THC-laced edibles.
21. Black and White Shake
> Chain: Shake Shack
> Calories: 770
The only other shake on the Shake Shack menu besides this one that exceeds 700 calories is the plain chocolate version, at 750.
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22. Oreo Peanut Butter Shake (large)
> Chain: Sonic Drive-In
> Calories: 1,720
This is one of a special category Sonic calls Master Shakes — which it describes as classic shakes “made even more indulgent with premium flavors and ingredients.” Like all the chain’s shakes, it’s available in mini, small, medium, and large sizes.
23. Peanut Butter Shake (large)
> Chain: Sonic Drive-In
> Calories: 1,490
The absence of Oreos demotes this shake to the simple “classic” category, with a loss of 230 calories compared with its more masterful sibling.
24. Cheesecake Shake (large)
> Chain: Sonic Drive-In
> Calories: 1,230
Of Sonic’s 48 shakes in various sizes, 27 (including the three here) exceed 700 calories, and 15 of those come in at 1000 or more.
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25. Oreo Cookies Double Stuf (regular)
> Chain: Steak ‘n Shake
> Calories: 1,010
Another chain whose very name calls out milkshakes, this operation lists some 40 varieties, each available in regular or small/kids sizes.
26. Oreo Red Velvet Milkshake (regular)
> Chain: Steak ‘n Shake
> Calories: 960
Many of the offerings here involve mix-in ingredients like Oreos, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, M&Ms, and Heath, Snickers, and Kit Kat bars.
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27. Reese’s Chocolate PB (regular)
> Chain: Steak ‘n Shake
> Calories: 980
Some 21 Steak ‘n Shake milkshakes (the three here included) exceed the 700 calorie mark.
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