I Tried the Strawberry Milkshake at 4 Fast-Food Chains & the Best Was Fresh & Fruity

Nothing washes down a salty fast-food burger and fries quite like a sweet, creamy milkshake. While chocolate and vanilla are the most common and popular flavors on fast-food menus, strawberry is a nice repose when you want something with a bright, fruity edge. Enjoyed plain or topped with whipped cream and a cherry, a strawberry shake always hits the spot.

Although making a strawberry shake seems pretty straightforward, that's not always the case. Each fast-food chain has its own way of blending up this cold, fruity drink. Some restaurants like to incorporate simple syrup and fresh strawberries into the mix, while others prefer to use a strawberry sauce to achieve that sweet berry flavor.

Not every major fast-food chain offers a strawberry flavor, but several do. I recently tried five different options from four popular chains to help determine which is the best. I encountered a variety of options, from a limited-edition offering topped with rainbow sprinkles at Shake Shack to McDonald's classic bright pink offering.

Here's how each shake performed, starting with my least favorite and ending with your overall best option for summertime sipping.

McDonald's

I'm a big fan of McDonald's menu. I think the Chicken McNuggets are tasty, the cheeseburgers are delicious and well-prepared, and the fountain sodas are never watered down. The strawberry milkshakes from here are, unfortunately, another story. I spent $5.59 in New York City for a small-size shake that proved to be a big disappointment.

The look: As soon as I collected my milkshake from the counter, I knew it wasn't going to be good. Similarly to the chocolate shake that I recently tried from McDonald's, it was presented to me with a paper straw in a see-through cup boasting a dome lid top filled with watery whipped cream. The texture of the shake looked loose and thin and the color was a saturated pink. It didn't look at all like its eye-catching photo on the restaurant's website.

The taste: Shockingly unpleasant. It had an artificial strawberry flavor that left a sugary, chemical aftertaste. Immediately following the first sip, I shook my head in disbelief that it didn't taste better. I love so many of the chain's other menu items, so how could this one be so bad? Frustrated with the idea of McDonald's having not-that-great milkshakes, I had my boyfriend taste it, too. "Oh," he paused after taking a sip. "This is really, really bad. It tastes what you'd imagine a cartoon strawberry to taste like—fake." Okay, that's a weird analogy, but overall, it's safe to say this is one shake I most likely will not order again.

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Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A checks off many boxes: juicy fried chicken, crispy waffle fries, sparkling clean restaurants. (Seriously, every Chick-fil-A location I've visited is in tip-top shape!) So, I had high hopes for its strawberry milkshake. I spent $5.79 on this shake, which, sadly, didn't taste as good as it looked.

The look: The first thought that came to mind when I collected my shake at the counter was, "This drink looks adorable!" It was poured into a clear cup and topped with fluffy whipped cream, a maraschino cherry, and see-through dome lid. The shake's color was slightly confusing. It was an extremely pale pink and had me wondering why it wasn't more of a saturated hue. The texture was rich and smooth, with no uneven ice bits.

The taste: A very faint strawberry flavor with an overpowering aftertaste of milk and butter. I found myself craving more of a fruity flavor but instead got only a hint of it. Having recently tried the restaurant chain's chocolate shake, too, I felt baffled as to why its shakes don't taste like what they're supposed to taste like. While drinking, I read that Chick-Fil-A doesn't use real ice cream, but instead something called IceDream, which doesn't include the butterfat found in typical ice cream. That's funny because this shake had a prominent buttery edge to it.

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Shake Shack Strawberry Shake

The popular New York-based chain makes its palate-pleasing strawberry milkshakes using real berries, hand-spun with house-made vanilla frozen custard, according to its website. This makes sense as I left Shake Shack thinking that the shake had a homemade or classic diner feel. The quality was top-notch. I dished out $6.29 for this shake, which I would definitely not hesitate to get again.

The look: Very light in color. This shake is such a pale pink that I questioned to myself whether I was given a vanilla shake by accident. It was served in a clear cup with a flat top and a green plastic straw. The texture was rich, creamy, and consistent, with no presence of ice chunks or crystals. There was an option to add whipped cream for a small fee, but I decided to skip.

The taste: It had a wonderful, strong strawberry flavor that didn't taste one bit synthetic or artificial. Shake Shack is known for making its milkshakes with high-quality ingredients, and you can taste this in action with its strawberry shake. This shake is also not too sweet or heavy. While some shakes can make you feel overly or uncomfortably full afterward, this one doesn't. I imagine it's pleasant fruity flavor would pair well with one of the chain's cheeseburgers or fried chicken sandwiches.

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Shake Shack Limited Edition Frosted Strawberry Donut Shake

If you ask me, Shake Shack's menu items seem more elevated than your run-of-the-mill fast-food chain—and its limited-time strawberry frosted donut milkshake is no exception. It's hand-spun using a blend of doughnut-flavored frozen custard, real strawberry frosting, and rainbow sprinkles. I paid $6.79 for this shake, which I can't stop thinking about.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

The look: Similar to Chick-Fil-A's strawberry shake, this Shake Shack option was very photogenic. It was poured in a transparent cup with a domed lid and came topped with fluffy whipped cream, a strawberry frosting drizzle, and a generous helping of rainbow sprinkles. The shake's texture was thick and creamy, and featured crunchy bits of rainbow sprinkles mixed in throughout.

The taste: Out of this world! My boyfriend and I kept passing the shake back and forth to each other, each time blurting out a new adjective. "Amazing!" "Delicious!" "Incredible!" "Impressive!" My boyfriend, a huge milkshake lover who has tried many in his life, declared it one of the best he's ever had. The blended-in rainbow sprinkles mixed with the doughnut frozen custard reminded me vaguely of a birthday cake, and the whipped cream was light and airy and provided the perfect finishing touch.

Although this strawberry milkshake was amazing, I did include in my notes that it loses points for two reasons. First, I thought the strawberry frosting drizzle on top was unnecessary as it made some sips overly sweet. Second, this shake is only available for a limited time. What's the point of finding an amazing milkshake if you can't order it whenever you want? Shake Shack, if you're reading, make this one permanent.

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Five Guys

A popular place to chow down burgers and fries, Five Guys is also a fine destination for milkshake lovers. The restaurant's strawberry milkshake was everything you'd want in a shake and then some. It was made using fresh strawberries, had a gloriously rich, creamy texture, and didn't taste synthetic or artificial. I can't believe I've never tried the strawberry milkshake from Five Guys before, even though I've ordered from the chain more times than I can count. I paid $5.69 for this shake that I can't wait to have again.

The look: Served in a thick paper cup with a domed lid and red straw, this shake had a thick, creamy texture absent of ice chunks. Usually, I prefer my drinks served in see-through containers so I can see what and how much I'm drinking, but I couldn't care less about that when the milkshake itself is this good. There's also an option to add whipped cream, which I declined.

The taste: In one word: Incredible. What catapulted this milkshake ahead of the rest of the pack was that each sip not only tasted like strawberries but actually had bits of blended-up fresh strawberries in it, which was such a treat for the taste buds. The flavor was fresh, fruity, not overly sweet, and made you want to drink the whole shake in one go. A quick glance at Five Guys' menu shows that the chain has tons of milkshake mix-ins, which I also look forward to trying.

Although this shake didn't have some fancy presentation (no rainbow sprinkles or frosting drizzle here), at the end of the day, I care most about taste and texture, and this one exceeded my expectations in both departments. It's a must-try, if you haven't already.