We Sampled and Ranked Popular Five Guys Milkshake Mix-In Combos from the Internet

When Five Guys opened in 1986, all you could get were burgers and fries featuring freshly shaped patties and hand-cut fries cooked in peanut oil. Today, the menu is still centered around burgers and fries, but there are other options, including hot dogs, sandwiches, and milkshakes, which were a major addition launched in 2014.

Not ones to keep things small, whether it’s unlimited burger toppings or the signature extra scoop of fries, Five Guys doesn’t just offer a few basic shakes and call it a day. Every milkshake starts with a vanilla base and is then hand spun with as many mix-ins as you like for one set price. These details, coupled with the relatively short ingredient list in the base, are what makes Five Guys’ milkshakes so delicious. But what makes it outright fun is deciding what combination to try.

There are currently 10 mix-ins in US locations, excluding seasonal options, ranging from basic chocolate to savory bacon. This also includes vanilla, which is the base, but it’s also listed as a mix-in. As a seasoned recipe developer with over 15 years of experience, playing with flavors and textures to create delicious and sometimes surprising combinations is literally what I do, so I applaud the premise behind Five Guys’ milkshakes, and I’ve decided to put it to the test. Rather than sticking to my preferences, I scoured the internet for favorite blends and headed to my local shop to taste and rank 10 of the most popular combinations.

Since Five Guys milkshakes start with a vanilla base, the appeal of this simple combo is that it channels a carton of Neapolitan ice cream, which holds blocks of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry nestled next to each other. But, do you get the same taste experience when the three flavors are blended together versus eating a big scoop of three separate flavors? Not exactly.

Even though this was my least favorite milkshake combination, it was still a solid concoction. There were no true failures in this ranking, so it comes down to minor details. This thick and creamy shake looks like a rich chocolate drink, and you don’t see the bits of strawberry. However, with the first sip, you taste them and then feel the slippery little chunks and the crunchy seeds on your palate. The drink isn’t that sweet and you can taste subtle chocolate and strawberry notes, with vanilla as the sweet backdrop. But the cumulative effect was that everything tasted muted. The chocolate was more milky than cocoa-forward and the berries were fruity but not specifically reminiscent of strawberry. Nothing was overwhelming or artificial, but the flavors all lacked oomph. There were so many other milkshakes with dazzling combinations that this version simply felt lackluster in comparison.

In my research, this trio of mix-ins is sometimes called the Snickers shake, which makes sense since peanuts, caramel, and chocolate are the three key elements of the candy bar. How could this milkshake be bad? Rest assured, it’s not. However, it mostly tastes like peanut butter. Chocolate and salted caramel add color and sweetness but not the bold identity one might hope for.

This shake was totally smooth since none of these additions have texture. It allows you to enjoy the luscious, thick base, but it also makes you realize that part of the appeal of a Snickers is the contrasting textures of crunchy, chewy, and creamy, which is missing in this milkshake form. Once again, the chocolate taste is subtle, which allows the peanut butter to barge ahead rather than strike a balance with the other mix-ins. I do give this drink credit for not skewing too sweet and cloying. It was easy to drink, and I could certainly imagine dipping salty hot fries into it, but if I’m splurging on the extra additions (ahem, calories), I want to enjoy the taste of everything in the cup, and I just didn’t. These factors caused this blend to fall to the bottom of the ranking.

This combination leans into salty-sweet vibes with a double savory hit of peanut butter and bacon, plus the salted caramel. When I asked my friends if they had ever had bacon in a milkshake, there was a lot of head tilting, wide eyes, and either curiosity or disgust. I had my own healthy skepticism about how bacon would perform in a milkshake, but then I realized it’s not that different from candied bacon, which is delicious. Five Guys, or at least my Five Guys, cooks the bacon until it’s well-done so, even crumbled and blended into the ice cream, it retains a good crunch. As well as a toasty, savory, and slightly nutty flavor.

Peanut butter was the dominating flavor in the shake and I can’t say that I specifically taste the salted caramel. The bacon pops through once you get a chunk and it is strong enough to carry through the next few sips. Since it’s the only chunky mix-in of the three, it wasn’t too hard to drink this thick shake through the wide straw. The drink was perfectly good, but not overly exciting. A bolder toasted sugar flavor would have added a welcome kick to the savory notes, but it wasn’t there. This one was in the bottom half simply because there were better and more interesting flavor combinations, though it’s a good option for someone who prefers not too many flavors mingling all at once.

Peanut butter was the most common mix-in across all the combinations during my research with many claiming it’s also the best addition. So, it makes sense that this double peanut butter combination that included Reese’s Cups was highly praised. It certainly delivered a hefty dose of peanut butter but left me wondering if too much of a good thing can actually be bad.

The blended peanut butter cups retain a lot of texture, and there was a generous amount of them studded through the speckled, tan shake, but it wasn’t too laborious to get up the straw. As expected, it tastes mostly of peanut butter with some hints of sweet chocolate when you get some of the candy pieces. The peanut butter cups actually gave this shake a more pronounced chocolate taste than the shakes that have the chocolate mix-in, but it wasn’t enough to make this taste like a chocolate peanut butter candy. Still, the bits of candy break up the monotony of the singular peanut flavor, making it a solid drink for anyone whose preferred snack is a jar of peanut butter and a spoon. It doesn’t rank higher because, compared to some of the other drinks, it felt a little boring and one-note.

Oreo cookies are so much more than just a crunchy, sweet snack. The black cocoa, which is a specific type of cocoa, in the cookie and the creamy filling create a signature combination with contrasting textures and completing flavors that sets it apart from other cookies. This shake that combined strawberries and Oreo really highlighted the flavor layers of the cookie. The ivory milkshake is dotted with pink and black and looks fairly unassuming, but the flavor is delightfully fruity and cocoa-y at the same time.

The ground Oreo pieces have a pleasant sandy texture that mixes with the strawberry, and neither feels overly abundant. Unlike the chocolate strawberry shake, you don’t have two competing flavors that cancel each other. The vanilla base enhances the taste of the creamy cookie filling to give you more Oreo without more chocolate. The berries taste mild and fruity but not over the top, especially compared to some of the other mix-ins, possibly due to the fact that Five Guys uses real strawberries and not an artificially flavored syrup. The fresh flavor works harmoniously with the cookies for a very satisfying milkshake. It was difficult to rank this option because it was very tasty, but at this point in the ranking, it was a matter of which combinations were outstanding versus just fine. I have no gripes with Strawberry Oreo, but some others were just better. However, if you are looking for chocolate and strawberry, this is the way to go.

This flavor combination was credited to a popular YouTube creator, known for his large volume eating videos, who touted it as his favorite. I remembered that a chocolate and peanut butter Oreo took the top spot in our ranked Oreo cookie flavors, so I already had an inkling this milkshake was going to have a winning blend but wasn’t sure if the bacon was going to be an asset or a deterrent.

To say this thick, chunky shake is indulgent is a bit of an understatement, but it was also delicious. The bacon is crispy, salty, and smoky and the cookies have a fine, nubbly bite that doesn’t soften or disintegrate in the shake. There are a lot of big flavors in this combination, but you can taste each of the three mix-ins, depending on the sip. The cookies add a kiss of sweetness against the peanut butter and bacon that provide a solid, salty, umami-like vibe. Though the combination is impressive and tasty, it’s a bit of a gut buster, and I don’t know how far I would be able to get through a whole cup of it, let alone have it as part of a meal with burgers and fries. This shake landed in the middle not because of taste but because it was a little over the top. Before trying this one, I suggest finding a buddy to share it with, and make sure to prepare your tummy for a rich meal.

Peanut butter and banana was my favorite sandwich growing up. I always found that the sweetness of banana is a more natural partner to salty, sticky peanut butter than tart raspberry jam or syrupy grape jelly, and the idea proved to be true in this milkshake as well. The banana really is the hero of this combination, which took me by surprise. Bolder than the strawberry mix-in, banana enhances the creamy texture of the milkshake while standing up to the salty peanut butter.

The shake has a pale ivory color and a very smooth texture because the banana blends in more seamlessly than the strawberries. Five Guys also uses fresh bananas rather than a flavoring, and it makes a huge difference so that the shake tastes like real fruit and not a chewy candy. It’s sweet, but not too sweet, thanks to the peanut butter. It’s a very well-balanced blend of the two ingredients, with vanilla providing the neutral backdrop that lets them shine. This is a simple, sweet-salty combination that hit the spot and pushed it into the top half of the ranking.

I was hesitant when I saw this combination lauded in various internet threads because strawberry and banana just seem like they would be more at home in a breakfast smoothie than a decadent milkshake. But this pale pink drink is sweet, fruity, and perfectly creamy. I was happy to be proven wrong.

The milkshake was tinted a pale, delicate pink from the berries and had a thick, frosty texture. As previously mentioned, Five Guys uses fresh fruit for its mix-ins, but it’s not just plain diced fruit. The strawberries are combined with simple syrup, sugar, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. The ingredients for the banana mix-in include bananas, simple syrup, and salt. Though I certainly did not pick out notes of pepper or salt in my shake, seasoning the fruit enhances the natural taste, softens the texture so it blends easily, and offers balance against the sugar. Although this shake was one of the sweeter ones in the ranking, it still wasn’t over the top. The harmonious banana and strawberry taste made me look longing at a neighboring table’s bag of fries because I could easily image how well this drink would pair with freshly fried potatoes and a juicy burger. The paired down but flawless blend of flavors landed this shake in the third spot of the ranking.

I saw this recommendation called either the harmony shake or the everything shake and it’s exactly what you think. It’s all the mix-ins in one drink. Will it make your Five Guys’ cashier raise their eyebrows? Maybe! It happened to me, but you have to be ready for a reaction after asking for 10 mix-ins in one cup.

The shake looks unassuming, mostly like a pale chocolate shake with lots of bits. The first sip proved just how chunky it was and required some firm suction and a few stirs to get things moving. Every sip offers something a little different. It ping-ponged between cookie, strawberry, and peanut butter cup. Somehow, it wasn’t too sweet, though it’s decadent. The peanut butter, a frequently overwhelming mix-in, was tamed and the bacon didn’t infuse throughout, so the meaty crunch only popped through occasionally.

I honestly thought this was going to be a jumbled example of overkill, but instead it was a fun and interesting flavor adventure. Now, that’s not to say it’s not incredibly rich. I don’t think I could, or should, drink a whole cup of this. But all Five Guys milkshakes are hefty, so that’s sort of a given to know before ordering any combination. It just missed the top spot, but I still highly recommend giving this one a try.

The milkshake combination that tapped into Elvis Presley’s favorite foods is also the sweet and savory drink that won my heart and took the top spot in this ranking. While the previous peanut butter and banana shake was delicious, the addition of bacon pushed this one over the edge and really added that extra special touch without somehow feeling glutinous. I kept coming back for a few more sips, even with nine other milkshakes in front of me.

In general, banana proved to be an excellent mix-in because it has a strong enough taste to hold its own against stronger ingredients like peanut butter. It also adds the creamy sweetness and lightens the heaviness of the dairy. The bacon doesn’t flavor the entire cup, just like other bacon iterations, but the meaty, crunchy bits were like little surprises that kept my palate interested and alive. The pieces of bacon ranged from small crumbs to more noticeable crispy bits, and both sizes were welcome and easy to get through the straw. Was it breakfast? Was it lunch? Honestly, it didn’t matter. This was one of the few shakes I could imagine making it all the way to the bottom, with or without a burger and fries on the side.

I have to give big props to the gracious staff at my local Five Guys because they were smiling and helpful, though surprised, when I ordered 10 milkshakes. I arrived at Five Guys just before the lunch rush so my large order wouldn’t be inconvenient and set up at a booth. The milkshakes were spun three to four at a time, so I had the chance to sip each one before it had the chance to melt. I opted for the whipped cream topping, so I could see what the shakes look like and not dilute the taste of the mix-ins. When tasting, I took several sips of each through the provided straws and also stirred up the drinks with chunky bits so I could visually see the quantity and size of the mix-ins and ensure they didn’t all settle at the bottom of the cup.

I organized this ranking by judging the overall taste of the milkshakes and how well the various combinations worked together. Did the flavors complement or cancel each other? I was anticipating factoring in consistency or textural issues, but there were minor differences in the thickness of the shakes, whether you added two or 10 different things. Ultimately, this ranking proves that you can have a lot of fun at Five Guys creating the milkshake of your dream, but really, try the bacon!