Why does my milkshake separate – reasons and solutions

One of the more frustrating issue when making your home milkshakes is separation of the mixture into distinct layers that don’t blend. I have encounter this problem when I first started out doing my own home milkshakes and it was frustrating to say the least. I read up on a lot of information, which mostly didn’t work. Some will advice it is the ingredients while others will tell you to add extra stuff like jam and egg yolk to keep the mixture together. Here are some common reasons and how you can solve them:

#1: Ice cream is too hard

The main reason why milkshake separate is that the ice cream is not soft enough. As a result, when you actually blend the hard ice cream, it doesn’t really get blended well although the appearance might mislead you to thinking it is. Hence, once I let my ice cream soften up before the blend, the milkshake no longer separates.

#2: Too much milk

Another reason why your milkshake may be separating is the addition of too much milk. A small amount of milk will help with making the consistency of the milkshake thin enough to be consumed through a straw. However, if you add too much milk to the milkshake blend, it raises the risk of the milk making the consistency too thin, which can cause separation. If your milkshake separates, add less milk the next time you try one—you will need to play around with how much milk you add in order to get it right.

#3: You blended your milkshake for too long

You will need to blend all of your ingredients together, regardless of whether you are using a regular blender or a milkshake maker to make your milkshake. The ingredients in your drink won't be properly combined if you don't blend it for a sufficient amount of time. On the other hand, blending your milkshake for an excessive amount of time may cause the ingredients to separate and break down, which is the last thing you want when making a milkshake. As a rule of thumb, you should blend your milkshake—regardless of whether you are using a blender or milkshake maker—in short increments to avoid accidentally blending for too long. You will likely need to experiment a few times to get the timing down right.

#4: Adding ice to your milkshake ingredients

Most milkshake recipes don’t call for ice—and there is a good reason for that! Milkshakes are not intended to be thin or runny, and while ice may make your milkshake colder at the outset, it will also make your milkshake runnier and can make your milkshake ingredients separate because the additional water content makes it hard for them to become properly mixed together. If you are using cold ice cream, you shouldn’t need to add any ice because the coldness of the ice cream will make your end result milkshake cold. If you do find that your milkshakes aren’t as cold as you want, try this trick: stick the cup you will be drinking your milkshake from in the freezer for a short amount of time to make it cold, and the coldness from the glass will transfer to your milkshake. If you do use this method, make sure the material the cup is made from isn’t susceptible to damage under cold temperatures!

#5: Too many mix-in ingredients

It can be fun to add in mix-in ingredients to your milkshake, such as chocolate chips, sprinkles, syrups, pieces of crushed candy, cookies and more. These can add a unique texture and flavor to your milkshake that is hard to beat! However, you need to make sure you aren’t adding too many mix-in ingredients, as too many little bits and pieces will make it harder for your milkshake ingredients to become properly mixed together, which leads to the separation of your milkshake ingredients. As a rule of thumb, you should stick to 1 to 2 mix-ins per milkshake.