Home

 › 

Food

 › 

24 Milkshakes With More Calories Than an Entire Meal

24 Milkshakes With More Calories Than an Entire Meal

Milkshakes have been around since at least the late 19th century — there was mention of an “an Atlanta drink” called “milk shake,” in the Atlanta Constitution in 1886. That prototype milkshake included just milk, crushed ice, “a mixture of unknown ingredients,” and “a bit of any desired sirup,” as the newspaper explained.” Eventually, people started using ice cream and cookies, creating a real caloric bomb, albeit an irresistibly delicious one.

Dieticians estimate Americans should break down their meal consumption throughout the day as follows: 300 to 400 calories for breakfast and 500 to 700 calories each for lunch and dinner, plus about 200 for snacks.

Most people are more likely to overeat rather than undereat, so 24/7 Tempo reviewed the menus of more than a dozen chain restaurants to compile a list of milkshakes that exceeded 700 calories. Calorie counts were taken either from the nutritional information provided by the chain on its website or from Nutrition Charts, a food nutrition data site.

Most places that make good shakes offer them in great variety, going beyond just the classic chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. Bits of cookie, candy, even cake get mixed into shakes, which significantly add to the total caloric amount.

Shakes became popular in the 1950s. They can still be found in just about every burger joint or diner in America — and this is the best diner in every state.

Many of the milkshakes at popular fast-food operations actually fall below the 700 number — but largely due to their size. If people order the mini or small version, they will most likely consume a drink with 400 to 700 calories. But who orders a mini shake?

Some shakes have calorie counts that not only exceed the standard for a single meal but come very close to the recommended intake for an entire day of about 2,000 calories. This is how long you need to exercise to burn off the calories from your favorite foods.

Source: Courtesy of Arby's

1. Jamocha Handcrafted Shake (large)
> Chain: Arby’s
> Calories: 1,060

There are 350 calories in a snack-size Jamocha Handcrafted Shake, and 830 in a medium.

Source: Courtesy of Arby's

2. Vanilla Handcrafted Shake (large)
> Chain: Arby’s
> Calories: 900

This is the “low-cal” entry among Arby’s shakes, with a snack serving coming in at 280 calories and a medium at 690.

Source: Courtesy of Warner Bros.

3. OREO Cookies n’ Cream Milkshake (large)
> Chain: Baskin-Robbins
> Calories: 1,440

A person 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.

 

Source: minemero / Getty Images

5. Chocolate Oreo Cookie 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.

Source: Courtesy of Cheesecake Factory

6. 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.

Source: Courtesy of The Cheesecake Factory

7. 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.

Source: LPETTET / iStock Unreleased via Getty Images

8. Vanilla Milkshake
> Chain: Cheesecake Factory
> Calories: 1,210

The Cheesecake Factory’s strawberry milkshake shares the same calorie count as this one.

Source: Courtesy of Cold Stone Creamery

9. 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.

Source: Courtesy of Cold Stone Creamery

10. Cake Batter ‘n Shake (large)
> Chain: Cold Stone Creamery
> Calories: 1,300

With whipped topping added, this shake reaches 1,440 calories.

Source: Courtesy of Cold Stone Creamery

11. 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.

Source: Courtesy of Dairy Queen

12. 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.

Source: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

13. 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.

Source: Courtesy of Dairy Queen

14. 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.

Source: Courtesy of Jack in the Box

15. 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 1,170. (An equivalent quantity of real whipped cream would come in slightly higher, at 124 calories.)

Source: Courtesy of Jack in the Box

16. 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.

Source: Courtesy of Jack in the Box

17. 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.

Source: Courtesy of Shake Shack

18. 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.

Source: jeepersmedia / Flickr

19. 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.

Source: Courtesy of Sonic Drive-In

20. Oreo and Reese’s Peanut Butter Master 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.

Source: Courtesy of Sonic Drive-In

21. Reese’s Peanut Butter Classic 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.

Source: Courtesy of Sonic Drive-In

22. Cheesecake Master Shake (large)
> Chain: Sonic Drive-In
> Calories: 1,230

Of Sonic’s nearly 50 shakes in various sizes, more than two dozen exceed 700 calories, and 15 of those come in at 1,000 or more.

Source: elizabeth_albert / Flickr

23. Nutella
> Chain: Steak ‘n Shake
> Calories: 820

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.

Source: Courtesy of Steak 'n Shake

24. 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.

To top