Make a Banana Milkshake Without a Blender

While a blender does make a thick, smooth milkshake, you can still make a milkshake without a blender by improvising with a few basic tools. Perfect for times when the weather's so hot the electricity grid has blown and you're left with clearing everything out of the fridge fast, or just perfect for those times when you can't be bothered with the blender and all its noise. Here's a recipe to make one serving.

Ingredients

  • 1 ripe banana; you can also make different types using crushed berries, vanilla extract or chocolate syrup (etc). Bananas are ripe when they are starting to go just past the yellow stage and their skins start to develop some caramel colors. If the banana is too under-ripe and hard, it doesn't mash well or taste good. Over-ripe is also a problem as it can taste too strong. It is better to use over-ripe ones for banana bread instead.
  • 1 cup ice cream
  • 1 cup milk (dairy or non-dairy choices are fine). Full fat milk tends to make better bubbles and foam, which are desirable in milkshakes.
  • Optional sweetener such as a little extra ice cream, caster sugar (superfine sugar) or dextrose, or honey to taste. If the banana is ripe it shouldn't be needed, but if your banana is "cold room" ripened (as opposed to ripened on the tree), then it might lack in natural sugars

Steps

  1. Peel the banana. Mash it with a wooden spoon or a whisk until very smooth in a bowl.
    • Many children love mashing banana. If you have children, ask them to help with this step!
  2. Add ice cream and continue to beat until smooth and the mix is well blended. Aim to have no banana lumps as a rotary whisk (see the "things you need" section for an image of a rotary whisk) may remove most lumps, but lumps of banana can make it harder to use a straw when drinking.
    • Aside from vanilla icecream, Chocolate is a great flavour, as well as other fruit ice creams or gelato that would work with banana.
  3. Add milk and using a hand whisk, whisk until creamy and frothy (about 2 minutes). This will make a fairly thick milkshake, so you can add more milk and desired sweetener to balance it out to a preferred consistency. Older fashioned milkshakes appear to favour a high milk and sugar ratio to icecream and fruit to make an easy to drink consistency and was shaken with the aim to get a big head of foam when poured in the glass (a bit like an iced cappuccino in concept). More modern recipes seem to favour the "thick-shake" cream like consistency, so its easy to make this to suit both styles.
  4. Alternatively, use a cocktail shaker if you have one, by transferring the Make Banana Avocado Ice Cream and milk into that and shaking away. You can also use container with a tight seal (such as a large jar or other storage container).
    • Cocktail shakers or a large jar make the best milkshakes, after all, while the "milk-bar" age was when power blenders were mainstream, they had to use something before electricity was available and most bars would be incomplete without a cocktail shaker. Further to that, shaking or churning milk in a jar is an age old way to Make Butter in a Jar.
  5. Taste to ensure it's sweet enough, add a little Make Date Sweetener if needed, or a little more milk if the ice cream was too sweet. Shake again briefly to mix. It's easiest to add extra ice cream, honey or other syrups which mixes in smoothly, as sugar can stay powdery or gritty in a thick, cold liquid which already contains some sugar.
  6. Serve at once. You may pour the milkshake through a sieve if you want a super smooth milkshake but that does add to the washing up, something less desirable on a hot day!

Tips

  • This article assumes that there is no blender, blending wand, food processor or any electronic mixing device involved, otherwise using one of those will be easier.
  • It would also be easier to use a banana flavoured syrup or powder, but that would be cheating and it wouldn't taste anywhere near as good.
  • Vegans or dairy-free people can use soy milk.
  • Milkshakes for health: In the 19th and early 20th centuries, milkshakes were often reserved for "Invalid cookery" (invalid, often pronounced as "inva-lid", was used in older times to mean the ill, injured or disabled members of the household who often had difficulty eating solid foods). These also sometimes had a raw egg in them for extra nutrient and protein content. These were known as "egg-flips" (not to be confused with egg-nog, which is a very different drink served at Christmas) and egg-flips are still a popular drink today in many British Commonwealth countries, often with fruit such as banana or mango blended in. The raw egg gave it a custard like flavour and a nicer head of foam and creamy consistency. Simply add one egg to the recipe when you add the milk and beat in well until thoroughly blended (take care to select eggs that won't risk salmonella poisoning).

Warnings

  • Make sure your cocktail shaker is well sealed to avoid spills.

Things You'll Need

  • A large bowl with a pouring lip, wooden spoon or potato masher and whisk
  • Or: A small bowl, fork or potato masher, cocktail shaker or jar
  • Measuring utensils and a serving glass

Related Articles

  • Make Ice Cream Shakes Without a Blender
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