Skip the drive-thru and make homemade Shamrock Milkshakes instead! This Skinny Shamrock Shake recipe is thick, creamy and minty with a fraction of the calories of the original.
This recipe was originally published in March 2014. The photos were updated in March 2023 and recipe notes improved in February 2025.
Did you know you can use bananas to make one ingredient ice cream? We decided to use that concept to make copycat Shamrock Shakes, a seasonal favorite.
- No green food coloring!
- The perfect mint chip flavor.
- Naturally sweetened with bananas.
- Rich in calcium.
- Virtually fat free!
If you want a more classic shamrock shake, feel free to blend vanilla ice cream with mint and milk until creamy. Today’s version is just a healthy indulgence!
Ingredient Notes
For the mint milkshake base, you’ll need:
- Frozen bananas – Sweetens the shake and mimics the consistency of ice cream.
- Fat free milk – Or use 2% or whole milk if you’re not concerned about the calorie content.
- Peppermint extract – You need less than a teaspoon. It’s strong!
Most copycat shamrock milkshake recipes use artificial food dye for the light green color. I wanted to keep this recipe all-natural without compromising the familiar color of the original.
You won’t believe what I used.
Spinach leaves!
Before you panic and click away. . . I only added in about 3 leaves to achieve the light green color. It doesn’t give the shakes a spinach taste at all.
The mint outshines everything!
I topped the blended shakes with some fat free whipped cream and a handful of mini chocolate morsels, too.
Tips and Tricks
Skinny Shamrock Shakes take just minutes to blend together. Toss the ingredients in your blender and blend away!
- The amount of blending time you need depends on the strength of your equipment. Mine took about 5 minutes to reach the smooth, blended consistency I like.
- Make it dairy free by using your favorite nondairy milk. Plain or vanilla almond, soy and oat milk would all be delicious alternatives.
- For an even mintier treat, swap the spinach leaves for fresh mint leaves! Add as many as you like to achieve the perfect color.
- I used a blender to make these milkshakes. A food processor would work too.
- Like most milkshake recipes, you may need to scrape down the sides of the blender or processor bowl a few times to get everything combined.
More Frozen Desserts
- Looking for decadence? Splurge on my copycat Portillos chocolate cake shake. Use homemade vanilla ice cream to achieve the perfect flavor.
- My Caramel Coffee Milkshakes make the perfect afternoon pick me up!
- This Banana Split Smoothie is another classic dessert in a healthy smoothie treat!
- If you’re loooking for an indulgent dessert, my Snickers Pie is a delicious and easy treat.
- If you love homemade desserts, try making my Chocolate Ice Cream recipe.
- Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with this easy Fried Ice Cream recipe.
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Skinny Shamrock Shake
Ingredients
- 3 frozen bananas peeled
- ½ cup fat free milk
- ¾ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 3 small spinach leaves for coloring
- 2 Tablespoons fat free whipped cream
- 1 Tablespoon mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large blender, combine frozen bananas with milk and extract.
- Blend for about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides, until smooth. Add in spinach leaves and blend until desired color.
- Pour into two glasses and top with whipped cream and chocolate chips.
Notes
- You can also use a food processor to blend the bananas too!
- Substitute fresh mint leaves for the spinach for an even mintier treat!
- The amount of blending time you need depends on the strength of your equipment. Mine took about 5 minutes to reach the smooth, blended consistency I like.
- Make it dairy free by using your favorite nondairy milk. Plain or vanilla almond, soy and oat milk would all be delicious alternatives.
- For an even mintier treat, swap the spinach leaves for fresh mint leaves! Add as many as you like to achieve the perfect color.
- I used a blender to make these milkshakes. A food processor would work too.
- Like most milkshake recipes, you may need to scrape down the sides of the blender or processor bowl a few times to get everything combined.
Because I indulge in way to many of these I figured it was time to try a skinny version! Yum!
This is so good and easy to make! Totally irresistible!
This was super easy to make and turned out great! Love the addition of the spinach leaves…such a great idea!
A skinny shamrock shake sounds incredible but I won’t use peppermint extract, I’ll use spearmint. I haven’t had a shamrock shake that tasted like a candy cane yet. 😉 They’ve all had a mint ice cream flavour, which is spearmint.
Where is the sugar content? I am with WW and it calculates sugar also. Thanks!
this has great texture, but I would recommend less peppermint extract. It tastes kind of like toothpaste but would be really good with about 1/4 of the peppermint.