Creamy Chai Vanilla Milkshake Recipe

There is something about the milkshake that evokes a special kind of nostalgia; it conjures up happy childhood memories. Is it a beverage or is it a dessert? Perhaps it can be both? The earliest recorded use of the word milkshake dates as far back as the Victorian era, but the milkshakes from way back then were quite different from the ones we know and love today. In 1885, a milkshake was a drink made by shaking together whisky, cream, and eggs, which means it had more in common with eggnog than a modern-day milkshake and was far less child-friendly. What we would think of today as a milkshake began to appear in the 1920s, when an employee of Walgreens added vanilla ice cream to the mixture of malt, crushed ice, milk, sugar, and flavored syrups sold in soda fountain restaurants.

In this take on the timeless treat, Tasting Table recipe developer Jennine Rye takes the warming sweet taste of chai spices and combines them with the most classic milkshake flavor of them all, vanilla, to make a wonderfully spiced drink. This milkshake recipe follows the golden ratio of ice cream to milk for the perfect balance of creaminess and drinkability — four parts creamy vanilla ice cream to one part whole milk. Super quick to mix up and serve, if you enjoy the flavor of chai then this recipe is one you'll want to keep coming back to.

To begin this creamy chai vanilla milkshake recipe, first, you will need to gather the ingredients. You will want the chai spices: cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice. You will also need vanilla ice cream, whole milk, milk powder, and vanilla extract. Finally, for the topping, you may wish to use whipped cream and a dusting of ground cinnamon.

In a small bowl, mix together the ground cinnamon, ground cardamom, ground ginger, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, and ground allspice to create a chai spice blend.

In a food processor, add the vanilla ice cream, milk, milk powder, vanilla extract, and the chai spice blend.

Turn the food processor on to blend the ingredients for 20 to 30 seconds until smooth.

Pour the chai milkshake into a milkshake glass, finish off with any chosen toppings, and serve immediately.

While we adore this creamy chai vanilla milkshake recipe, there are times when you may not have certain ingredients available to you, and there are always options available to you should this arise. For instance, if you are struggling to source any milk powder, you can simply leave it out of this recipe. However, doing so will mean you won't quite get that real creamy milkshake taste that milk powder adds. That said, a slightly less creamy milkshake without milk powder, is still better than no milkshake at all, right? You could also experiment with the combinations and quantities of spices. For example, you could throw in some extra ginger if you're looking for something a bit more fiery, or hold back on the cardamom if you're not a fan. Because this recipe is so quick and simple, it's really easy to tweak the ingredients to find out your personal perfect blend. 

If you are a person who cannot handle too much dairy, or you need to follow a dairy-free diet, it may feel like milkshakes are completely off the table for you. However, as long as you swap out the milk for another variety, such as oat, soya, or almond milk, and you can source a dairy-free vanilla ice cream, you'll be able to enjoy this delicious creamy chai vanilla milkshake too.

Chai is an ancient drink; it is thought to be up to 5,000 years old, and originates from the Indian subcontinent, where it is still enjoyed to this day both socially and to aid digestion. According to the Ayurvedic tradition of medicine, the spices have a number of health benefits, including anti-inflammatory qualities and potentially reducing high blood pressure (via How Stuff Works). Although you may well have come across this previously as "chai tea", the word "chai" is simply the Hindi word for tea, therefore when you call the drink "chai tea", you are simply referring to it as "tea tea." That said, tautologous names are more common than we may realize. For example, Mount Fuji, River Avon, and queso cheese are all names where both words mean the same thing, just in different languages!

Although the name Chai means tea, making Chai didn't originally involve the use of tea leaves at all. It actually referred to a specific mix of spices, usually cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, and sometimes black pepper, that were drunk as an elixir. It wasn't until much later, during the colonial rule of India, that chai became the drink we know it as today; a delicious mixture of tea leaves, spices, milk, and sugar.