Best Shakes in Utah

BEST SHAKES IN UTAH
17 July 2022 

Please check out "Best Ice Cream in Utah" and OTHER FOOD REVIEWS at TasterTestersClub.BlogSpot.com

2 parts in this file: at restaurants, and to make at home:

To order at restaurants/fast food places:

Best tropical fruits combo:

1. Tucano's - the Amazon "smoothie"

UPDATED Best chocolate shakes Utah County cafes

IN ORDER, all tasted side by side

11-17 July 22

B

IHOP

BYU Creamery

Baskin Robbins

Wendy's frostie

Rockwell Ice Cream – dark chocolate / Rockwell Road

Rockwell Ice Cream – milk chocolate

B-/B

Denny's (when made right)

Handels Ice Cream

B-

Farr Ice Cream

Culver (their regular shake, made from chocolate “mix” plus milk)

Smashburger

Culver Chocolate (made from their frozen custard, adding milk and blending at home)

Culver Dark Decadent Chocolate (made from their frozen custard, adding milk and blending at home)

B- -

Cold Stone

C+/B-

Leatherbys

C++

In N Out

C+

Brusters

Superchix (made on premises from their frozen custard)

C/C+

Chic Fillet

C
Denny's when made too thin (see above, when made properly)

C-/C

Cubbys

Chubby's

C-

Mooya (from 2018 test, rated just above Chom then but not tested in 2022 with all these others on this list)

Chom

2018 test, bottom 5 of C-:

Habit

Five Guys

Carl's Jr.

McDonalds

Burger King

Chocolate hard ICE CREAMS that make up above shakes. (Note, some shakes above use “ice cream mix,” and are not made from hard ice creams.)

In order:

B+

Baskin Robbins

B

Rockwell - milk chocolate

B-

BYU Creamery

Rockwell – dark chocolate

Handels

Culvers Chocolate

Culvers Dark Decadent Chocolate

Superchix

C/C+

Brusters

C

Cold Stone

C-/C

Leatherby's

Farr

(NOW OUT OF BUSINESS, BUT TESTED June 2018:

Baked Bear ice cream, from American Fork B/B+

Last Course ice cream, from downtown SLC and Draper B)

Best Strawberry Shakes:

1. Taco Amigo, Orem, PG (their own fresh strawberries in June)

2. Smashburger (uses Haagen Dazs vanilla plus great syrup for strawberry)

3. Del Taco, national chain

Best Fresh banana/Strawberry:

1. Freddy's Steakburger and Frozen Custard, Midvale (national chain)

Best Banana:

1. Zaxby's banana pudding shake

Best Peach:

1. Taco Amigo, Orem and PG - get this only when they have fresh peaches in August and early Sept. 

OUT OF BUSINESS:

Joe's Gourmet Burgers, about 2014, 500 North Freedom Blvd, Provo. (They use real strawberries, then freeze them to get the texture they like.) A - -

Coney’s, 2016 (good for a fast-food place because they're also an ice-cream place, manufacturing their own frozen custard): Orem, American Fork

 Marble Slab, at The District near 114th south and Bangerter, West Jordan; national chain no longer in Utah: they had the BEST BLACK RASPBERRY SHAKES.

Mooya's - Provo.

NOT OUT OF BUSINESS, BUT: No longer carries it!: Pomegranite "Smoothie" - at Mimi's Cafe. (another shake with ice cream, so it's not a smoothie.  

Best shakes you can make yourself - 

we tested all these side by side - the only accurate way to do it:

Chocolate shakes - to make yourself

These are based on the following ice creams you can buy (we tested them side by side, over and over). Note: The best ice creams don't always make the best shakes. One brand rating, for example, perhaps #30 in our ice creams tests might rate as high as  #15 in our shakes test. Reason: a magical thing happens when you make shakes. Mixing in air and milk and whipping them together alters the flavors!

rev: 12 Nov 2018

2018 TEST:
A+

1. Haagen Dazs

2. Trader Joes
3. Baskin Robbins regular chocolate

4. Schwann's

5. Straus Dutch Chocolate (available at Real Foods health food chain)
6. McConnell's Dutchman Chocolate (followed by Chocolate Brittle), at Harmons
7. Baskin Robbins Chocolate Mousse
8. Baskin Robbins World Class Chocolate
9. Last Course (Draper, downtown SLC)

A-
10. Graetors, at Smiths/Krogers
11. Baskin Robbins Chocolate Oreo
12. Baked Bear

B++
13. Haagen Dazs Midnight Cookies (dark chocolate)

14. Wasatch Creamery 3 Way Chocolate (Heber)

15. Rockwell Milk Chocolate (Provo)

16. Ben & Jerry's Shake It (light chocolate)

17. Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk

2017 Test only

B+

18. Humboldt

19. Turkey Hill All Natural

20. Howdy, SLC

21. 3 Twins Bittersweet Chocolate

22. Julie's Organic

23. Jeni's Darkest Chocolate

24. Haagen Dazs Belgian Chocolate

RESUMING 2018 TEST:

B/B+

25. Baskin Robbins Fudge

B

26. Dreyer's (Edy's, east of the Mississippi River)

27. Haagen Dazs Rocky Road (not all chocolate)

2018 TEST ONLY for B- to D+:

B- 

28. 3 Twins Chocolate Malt

29. Ben & Jerry's Half Baked (not all chocolate)

30. Ben & Jerry's cheesecake core (not all chocolate) - not tested with all on this list, but goes about here

31. Medici (pizza parlor in Orem)

32. Mora regular chocolate (in Orem)

33. 3 Twins Brownie Batter Chunk (at Whole Foods Markets, SLC)

33A.  about here: Maxine's Organic - not tested with most on this list

B

34. Baskin Robbins brownie fudge

35. Simply Organic brand (not tested with these others, but fits about here)

36. Tillamook (reg.) chocolate

C++

37. Ben & Jerry's Karma Sutra (chocolate and caramel)

38. Ben & Jerry's S'mores

39. Ben & Jerry's Phish Food

C+

40. Cows

41. Ben & Jerry's Brownie Batter Core

42. Ben & Jerry's Tonight Dough

43. Ben & Jerry's Karma Sutra - chocolate portion only

44. Ben & Jery's Everything but the . . . 

C

45. Baskin Robbins Chocolate Almond

46. Haagen Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter

C-

47. Baskin Robbins Oreo

48. Haagen Dazs Belgian Chocolate

D+

49. Rockwell Creamery Dark Chocolate

50. Mora's Dark Chocolate

51. Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie

52. Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Therapy

53. Baskin Robbins Peanut Butter Chocolate

54. Roll with it (Provo, American Fork)

END OF 2018 TEST.

2017 TEST, RESUMED, RE-STARTING AT B- for 2017, picking up at #28. Note that some of these brand items appear with a different grade in the 2018 test above:

B-

28. Simply Balanced (only at Target)

29. Archer Vanilla and Chocolate (only at Target)

30. Sprouts ice cream (not gelato) Rocky Road is their only chocolate ice cream in 2016

31. Meadow Gold

32. Western Family

33. Sams - only at Walmart

34. 365 - only at Whole Foods Market

35. Double Rainbow (note this is the #3 best brand of chocolate ice cream when served not as a shake!) - at Real Foods stores

36. 365 Organic 

37. Steve's Brooklyn Blackout

38. Cold Stone regular

39. Hemisfare

NO LONGER SOLD IN UTAH, but rated here: Tropical Dreams nutello (from former SLC shop)

40. Culver

41. Sprouts Chocolate Gelato

42. BYU regular

43. Haagen Dazs dark chocolate gelato

44. Baskin Robbins Mississippi Mudd

45. Freddie's concrete (at their Midvale and Draper burger stores, national chain)

46. Cia Bella (when sold in chocolate, it's at Whole Foods Market, or special order from them or Good Earth)

47. Ben and Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie

B - - 

48. Blue Bunny
49. Private Selections

50. Whole Foods Gelato

51. Farr frozen custard
52. NOT TRUE CHOCOLATE: Farr chocolate hazlenut

53. Aldens (health food stores and some markets)

54. Java Cows (only at their Park City shop)

55. Ben & Jerry's Tonight Dough

56. Figo

57. Coolhaus

C

58. Umpqua (at Winco)

59. BYU chocolate fudge mousse

60. Yetti

NO LONGER MADE: Schwann's Chocolate Gelato

61. Ben & Jerry's chocolate Therapy

62. Boulder "chocolate pudding" (actually places somewhere between here and Tillamook chocolate fudge brownie below)

63. Rockwell Creamery (at Provo shop) Rockwell Road (their dark chocolate) 

64. 3 Twins Brownie Batter Chunk

65. Ben & Jerry's Brownie Batter Core

66. Tillamook Chocolate Fudge Brownie

67. Archer Brownie Fudge chocolate (at Target)

C-/C

NO LONGER MADE: Dreyers frozen custard

NO LONGER IN UTAH: Marble Slab Swiss (this chain is not in Utah any more)

NO LONGER IN UTAH: Marble Slab Dark (this chain is not in Utah any more)

68. Tillamook Udderly chocolate (has chips) (NOT REGULAR CHOCOLATE)

69. Talenti Double Dark chocolate

70. Cold Stone Truffle (NOT REGULAR CHOCOLATE)

C-

71. Breyers

72. BYU Earnestly Chocolate (available occasionally at their creamery stores)

73. Leatherby's (at their shops in Salt Lake valley)

74. Nielsen's Frozen Custard (at their Utah shops)

75. Archer Farms' Belgian Dark Chocolate (at Target) - about here - not tested with all on this list

76. Sub Zero dark

77. Sub Zero milk

NO LONGER IN UTAH: Marble Slab fudge 

78. Agave
79. Rita's frozen custard is a C- and was graded at just above Snowqualimie, but was not tested with all the above on this list as C-'s. 
80. Snowqualmie Mukilteo Mudd (at Winco)
NO LONGER IN UTAH: Tropical Dreams Fudge (their regular chocolate ice cream)
81. Chocolate Ghana, sold at Harmons - good if you love very dark chocolate
82. Chocolat - Coasta Rican chocolate, sold at Harmons - good if you love very dark chocolate
83. Cold Stone Red Velvet - tests about here - did not test with all on this list.

C - - 

84. Talenti Belgian Milk

C - - - 

85. Cold Stone chocolate cake batter (NOT REGULAR CHOCOLATE)

86. BLVD (at Whole Foods Markets)

87. Roll it up (Provo and American Fork) (did not test at the same time as the one below)

D+

88. Talenti Fudge Brownie

Rocky Road, Burnt Almond Fudge, and fudge chunk shakes

IN ORDER:

McConnell's - choc almond brittle B++ 

Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk B+

Haagen Dazs - Rocky Road B/B+

Farr - Burnt Almond Fudge B/B+

Baskin Robbins - chocollate almond B/B+

BaskinRobbins - Rocky Road B

Dreyer - Rocky Road B

Rockwell Creamery, Provo - Rockwell Road B

Tillamook - Rocky Road B-/B

BYU - Burnt Almond Fudge B-/B

Leatherby's - Burnt Almond Fudge B-

Baked Bear - Rocky Road C+

Leatherby's - Rocky Road C

Breyer's - Rocky Road C-

Meadow Gold - Rocky Road C-

Russell's - Burnt Almond Fudge D+

Best Mint Shakes

TEST 1 

11 Aug 2018
A
1. Rockwell Creamery
2. Wasatch Creamery
B++
Baked Bear Desserts
Mora
B+
Ben and Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookies

TEST 2

A-/B+

1. Beachy Cream (of Santa Monica): now gone from Utah but perhaps can to special order from Good Earth

2. OUT OF BUSINESS: Tropical Dreams B+

3. Ben & Jerry's Mint oreo

4. Dreyers Custard (about here - not tested with all of these at the same time)

5. Trader Joes

6. Haagen Dazs 

7. Graetors

B-/B

8. Snowqualmi 

Peach Shakes

A

1. Tillamook Peach Cobler ice cream

2. Sub Zero

B- 
3. Same's Choice Peach Cobbler

D-
4.
Chic Fillet

Best Lemon ice cream shakes

A

1. Snoqualmie Lemon Perfection (was at Winco in 2015 - maybe you can special order from them now)

2. Three Twins lemon cookie

B+ 

Figo

B/B+

Sprouts Lemon Merangue

C

Sub Zero Lemon

C-/C

Sub Zero Lime

C- 

Sprouts ice cream Linon Cello Gelato

D+

BLVD

Mango shakes

1. Haagen Dazs mango ice cream

2. Tropical Dreams gelato, SLC

3. Sub Zero - not tested as shakes with above two - only as ice cream was this one compare to above two.

Caramel ice cream shakes

1. Ben & Jerry's Tonight Dough

2. Ben & Jerry's Triple Caramel Chunk (but not good as ice cream alone)

3. Ben & Jerry's Karmel Sutra

4. Haagen Daze Caramel Cone

5. Cia Bella brown sugar caramel (best ice caramel ice cream)

6. Haagen Dazs Dulche Leche

7. Julie's caramel

Maple Nut ice cream shakes

B/B+

1. Tillamook

B

2. Umpqua - at Winco
3. Schwans home delivery

C

4. Western Family

C-

5. Meadow Gold
6. NO LONGER MAKING THIS FLAVOR: Java Cow, Park City. Note this was the BEST maple nut ice cream and shakes in Utah, but after 2014 they changed. By 2016 they no longer made this flavor.

Vanilla Shakes

All below are Super Premium Ice creams except 3 Premiums where noted. All these shakes we tested side by side except where noted. In years past we tested many other vanilla ice creams for shakes that are not on this list, as all were B- or below, such as Dreyers, Breyers, Leatherbys, grocery store brands, and others, which we did not bother to test here because they are not Super Premium ice creams. (The 3 below that are Premium ice creams we tested because we happened to have them in stock.)

TEST 1 A

1. Choctal Madagascar vanilla - special order through Good Earth stores. No longer in stock there.

2. Trader Joes French Vanilla (prob. made by Double Rainbow, who from our taste tests probably makes their chocolate ice cream) - at Trader Joes store, sold as ice cream

3. McConnell's RR Lochhead Vanilla Bean - sold at Harmons and Whole Foods Markets

4. Sam's Choice - at Walmart

5. Jeni's - at Whole Foods Market 

6. Nielsen's Frozen Custard - at their shops

7. Schwann's french vanilla - sold only Nov- Dec each year in a holiday tin via their trucks. Much better than their reg. vanilla ice cream. Not tested as a shake with these others.

NOT TESTED WITH ALL ON THIS LIST, BUT BELONGS AS AN "A:"

8. Agave Dreams  - no longer sold in Utah but perhaps can be special ordered at Whole Foods Market or Good Earth

B+

Snowqualmie - at Winco - special order, not in stock after 2015.

Tillamook Old Fashioned Vanilla. Do NOT get their other vanillas - not nearly as good as this one! (Premium)

Freddie's Steakburgers and Concretes, Midvale (national chain)

Beachy Cream - special order at Good Earth. No longer in stock there. This brand is MUCH better as just straight ice cream, not as a shake.

Tropical Dreams, SLC shop

Ben & Jerry's

B 

Graetor's

365 organic - Whole Foods Market

Haagen Dazs Vanilla Bean (much better than their reg. vanilla!)

Sprouts Honey Vanilla

Culver's frozen custard

Alden organic (premium)

Meadow Gold (premium)

C

Haagen Dazs reg. vanilla

Yeti - at Whole Foods Market

Boulder - at Whole Foods Market

Strauss - at Sprouts

C-

Farr Frozen Custard

Figo - at Whole Foods Market

D

Private Selection Double Vanilla (at Smith's/Kroger)

Julie's - at Harmon's

TEST 2

A-

Choctol

Jeni's

Beachy Cream

Agave

Samy's

Trader Joes

McConnels french vanilla

Nielsen frozen custard

Schwanns

B+

Snowqualmie

Freddies frozen custard, their burger shops

Tillamook

Ben and Jerry's

3 Twins

B

Tropical Dreams

Graetors

HaagenDazs

Culvers

Nut Shakes

12 Sep 2017

Schwans maple nut A

Baskin Robbins butter pecan B+

Haagen Dazs butter pean (too many nuts) B

Leatherby's black walnut B-/B

Howdie's parlor, SLC C-

Pistachio Shakes

18 Aug 2018

B

Haagen Dazs

C-/C

Ben & Jerry's

D-

Mora

Best 4 Strawberry Shakes

Among dozens tested, these were the top 4:

A

Java Cow, Park City

A

Rockwell Creamery, Provo

A-

Haagen Dazs

Mora, Provo

(For Strawberry, another local creamery, Wasatch Creamery, is down the list at B. All national brands sold here are B and below.)

Brown Butter Ice Cream Shakes

B/B+

Ben & Jerry's Pecan Sticky Bun

B-/B

Gelato Fiasco, Swet Resurgam Gelago

C

Ben & Jerry's Oat of this World

C-/B

Wasatch Creamery

no longer sold ice creams for shakes:

Coney's custard C-

Clemmy's C-