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Cooking Tips

For the Smoothest Milkshakes, Use Your Food Processor

Your blender is fine. Your food processor is better.
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Published July 26, 2022.

Who doesn’t love a cold, creamy milkshake on a hot summer day? They're the perfect afternoon pick-me-up, or even an accompaniment to a meal (what's a burger without a milkshake?).

It’s hard to imagine improving on an already perfect dessert. But there are a few things that set good milkshakes apart from truly great ones.

The best milkshakes are smooth and rich. They glide through the straw with minimal resistance.

The best tool to get you those results? A food processor.

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No, there’s nothing wrong with your blender. It will certainly get the job done. But here’s why using a food processor leads to a superior shake.

1. It incorporates more air into the shake.

The work bowl of the food processor is wider and flatter than a blender. This means the ice cream mixture is exposed to more air. The result: lighter, fluffier, frothier milkshakes.

2. It melts more ice crystals than a blender.

The food processor blade generates more heat, which melts some of the ice cream crystals. This leads to smoother milkshakes that remain cold, but fluid. No more cement-like milkshakes that are hard to drink.

FROM CLASSIC TO CREATIVE

See Our Milkshake Recipes

Use a food processor—and one of these recipes—for the best milkshake.
See Recipes

3. It makes it easier to add mix-ins.

It’s easier to process ingredients such as cookies or candies in the work bowl while the ice cream sits at room temperature to soften a bit. For example, in the Ultimate Cookies and Irish Cream Milkshakes, we pulse the cookies first before adding in ice cream (and whiskey!) for a rich, sippable experience. 

75 Simple Recipes

Food Processor Perfection

Unleash the power of this all-in-one multitasker. Your food processor can do the work of a whole set of knives, a meat grinder, a food mill, a box grater, a mandolin, a stand mixer, a blender—and do it all faster—with just the touch of a button.

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