This McDonald’s Grimace Birthday Milkshake Recipe Is Surprisingly Good (and Purple)

This summer there’s only one It girl—thing?—everyone’s talking about: an amorphous purple creature named Grimace. It all started on June 12, after McDonald’s released a Grimace-flavored milkshake as part of a major marketing campaign to celebrate the mascot’s birthday. The response was immediate: Tweets and Instagram posts went viral, Grimace was declared a gay icon, custom merch was created, a skin care routine dropped. And, of course, came the TikTok trend. This one involves users uploading videos of themselves tasting the Grimace milkshake before the camera cuts to the person pretending to be dead or passed out in increasingly absurd scenarios. To understand the level of influence Grimace has right now: #grimaceshake currently has more than 1 billion views on the platform.

Grimace’s days in Ronald McDonald’s shadow are over. And it’s been a long time coming. The McDonald’s mascot has actually been around since 1972, when it was first introduced as an “evil” counterpart to Ronald McDonald and his friends. Grimace eventually, I assume, hired a crisis PR manager and rebranded as a lovable sidekick whose whole thing was that nobody knew what it was. Some have defined Grimace as the embodiment of a taste bud; others say it’s a sentient milkshake.

As for McDonald’s? Apparently Grimace is whatever you want it to be. “Whether he’s a taste bud, a milkshake, or just your favorite purple blob—the best part about Grimace is that he means different things to different people,” a spokesperson for the fast-food empire has said. “Whatever he is, we’re just proud our bestie makes people happy.”

Indeed, the reaction to Grimace inspired me to do something totally out of character: attempt to replicate a viral recipe at home. (Although it could also be that I’m pregnant with twins—anything ice cream hits different these days.) When McDonald’s brought the Grimace milkshake to the Glamour offices for a taste test earlier this month, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. I asked what flavor it was and was told that, much like Grimace, it’s “ambiguous.” Vague, though I don’t think you need a taste bud as large as the purple blob to know the drink is berry flavored.

A search for dupe recipes led me to two options: a full-sugar, just-go-for-it shake (version 1) and one that is slightly better for you (version 2). Naturally, I wanted the former—again, pregnant with twins here—but my grocery store had only the ingredients for the latter.

But twist: I liked it. Really liked it. Like, would-make-it-again liked it. Whereas the OG Grimace milkshake tastes a bit like Fruity Pebbles cereal—which, delicious!—that can feel cloying after the initial sugar rush is over. Halfway through, and I was ready to nap as hard as the TikTok videos. The at-home dupe I tried, however, was basically a berry smoothie with whipped topping on top. It replicated the general taste (and color) of the Grimace milkshake, but the frozen fruit gave it more depth and made it easier to finish a full glass.

I’ve shared both dupe recipes with you, below, so you can decide which to make for yourself.

The Grimace shake, version 1

From TikTok user @cookingwithngc

TikTok content

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½ Tbsp. strawberry syrup

½ Tbsp. blueberry syrup

3 scoops vanilla ice cream

½ cup milk

Purple food dye

Whipped cream

Add ice cream, milk, blueberry and strawberry syrups, and a few drops of purple food dye to a blender. Blend, then pour into a glass and top with whipped cream.