From Frozen Custard To Drive-Thru Shakes, These Treats Make Dessert Easy
Fast food ice cream can make a regular day feel a little better. You’ll find it on road trips, hot afternoons, and after meals when fries make you want something sweet. This list includes frozen custard, soft serve, shakes, frozen yogurt, and Frosty-style desserts because they all fill the same role. The ranking looks at the current menu, texture, mix-ins, and how good those first few bites feel, not which choice is healthiest. Menu details reflect current U.S. offerings, though flavors and availability can vary by restaurant, so here are 20 fast food frozen treats ranked from best to worst.
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1. Culver’s Concrete Mixer
Culver’s takes the top spot because its frozen custard is made daily, and the base doesn’t get lost once the mix-ins are added. A Concrete Mixer starts with vanilla or chocolate custard and includes two mix-ins, so a cookie-and-caramel order feels like a treat without going overboard.
2. Dairy Queen OREO Blizzard
An OREO Blizzard is easy to like. Cookie pieces mixed into vanilla soft serve have worked for years, and the mini gives you a full dessert without becoming an overly large serving, while the bigger sizes make it a much more filling order.
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3. Shake Shack Frozen Custard
Shake Shack makes its frozen custard in-house each day, and it feels thicker than standard soft serve. Vanilla or chocolate are good choices because you can taste the custard itself without a limited-time topping taking over.
4. Freddy’s Create Your Own Concrete
Freddy’s lets you pick your frozen custard and toppings without covering up the base. Vanilla, chocolate, and half-and-half choices give you room to make it your own, while the concrete keeps the thick texture people expect.
5. Five Guys Handspun Milkshake
Five Guys starts with a hand-spun vanilla shake, then lets you add free mix-ins like OREO cookies, strawberries, peanut butter, and bacon. That’s a lot of freedom, and some combinations may sound unusual, though it’s great when you’ve got a very specific craving.
6. Cook Out Milkshake
Cook Out’s menu has more than 40 milkshake flavors, so you’re not stuck with the usual few choices. You can keep it simple or pick something less familiar, and having that many options at one drive-thru is a big part of the appeal.
7. Portillo’s Chocolate Cake Shake
Portillo’s blends a real slice of chocolate cake into its Chocolate Cake Shake, which makes it stand apart from a basic chocolate shake. It’s rich and thick enough to share, or to enjoy as a treat.
8. Braum’s Mix
Braum’s Mixes start with vanilla or chocolate frozen yogurt, then add candy, cookies, nuts, strawberries, or cherries. That frozen-yogurt base gives them a different taste from the custard treats above, with a light tang under all the sweetness.
9. SONIC OREO Blast
At locations where it’s offered, the SONIC OREO Blast mixes vanilla soft serve with OREO cookie pieces and adds more on top. It gives you more than a plain cone, though it doesn’t feel as filling as a heavier cake shake.
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10. Wendy’s Classic Frosty
Wendy’s Classic Frosty isn’t a regular milkshake or regular scooped ice cream, and that’s part of why it stands out. It’s thicker than a milkshake, softer than scooped ice cream, and easy to eat with a spoon, while Chocolate and Vanilla bases support the current Swirls and Fusions.
11. Steak ’n Shake Milkshake
Steak ’n Shake serves a classic milkshake made with real ice cream, whipped cream, and a cherry. It’s a natural choice after a burger, and the specialty options give the menu more variety than plain diner basics alone.
12. A&W Root Beer Cream Freeze
A&W’s Root Beer Cream Freeze blends root beer with vanilla soft serve, so it has parts of both a float and a shake. The frosty mug gives it an old-fashioned look, and the root beer flavor stays front and center for people who already enjoy it.
13. Chick-fil-A Cookies & Cream Milkshake
Chick-fil-A’s Cookies & Cream Milkshake is hand-spun with Icedream and comes with whipped cream and a cherry. It’s creamy and familiar, though it doesn’t have the heavier texture or bigger mix-ins that push other treats higher on this list.
14. In-N-Out Chocolate Shake
In-N-Out keeps things simple with chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry shakes made with real ice cream. Chocolate comes out ahead because it’s a straightforward classic when you want a proper shake without extra toppings or mix-ins.
15. McDonald’s OREO McFlurry
McDonald’s OREO McFlurry mixes vanilla soft serve with crunchy OREO pieces, and that combination still does the job. Its texture is lighter than frozen custard or a thick hand-spun shake, which is why it ranks lower, even though the flavor is dependable.
16. Arby’s Jamocha Shake
Arby’s Jamocha Shake combines chocolate and coffee, giving it a darker flavor than vanilla or strawberry. The coffee flavor helps it work as dessert on its own, though the texture doesn’t have the same fuller feel as the treats near the top.
17. Carl’s Jr. Hand-Scooped Cookies & Cream Shake
Carl’s Jr. makes its shakes with hand-scooped ice cream, real milk, and whipped topping, and Cookies & Cream is the best pick of the group. It’s a good classic, though the wide calorie range means you’ll want to check the size before you order.
18. Hardee’s Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shake
Hardee’s hand-scooped shakes use real milk and come in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. They give you the classic drive-thru shake you expect, which is nice enough, though there isn’t much surprise when other spots offer custard, cake, and cookie-heavy desserts.
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19. Jack in the Box OREO Shake
Jack in the Box’s OREO Shake comes with cookie pieces and whipped topping, so it covers the familiar cookies-and-cream basics. It ranks near the bottom because it’s relatively high in calories without offering the same texture or customization as several other choices.
20. Del Taco Chocolate Shake
Del Taco’s Chocolate Shake works as a sweet extra after a taco order, and Vanilla and Strawberry versions are also available. They don’t bring much personality to a list this crowded, which leaves them behind more memorable frozen treats.
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