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To celebrate the birthday of Grimace, McDonald’s unveiled a Grimace Meal and Grimace Shake — the chain’s first-ever purple shake — in June. Sadly, both are already gone. As it turns out, however, some enterprising cooks have figured out how to create a version that copies that original’s berry flavor. (Some say it just takes like its color, and others say it resembles the cereal milk left over from a bowl of cereal, like Fruity Pebbles. We thought the Grimace Shake tasted like blueberries and vanilla.)
It’s an easy process. The blog Everyday Shortcuts has a version that just requires the blending of a few specific ingredients — blueberries and raspberries (frozen is fine), vanilla ice cream and milk. To make it that perfect purple, you may want to add a bit of food coloring. Once you swirl it all together, it should look pretty and appetizing, just like the real thing.
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Other versions out there incorporate different ingredients, so you can always experiment and figure out which one works best for you. For example, Tasty’s recipe includes honey and raspberry jam along with strawberries, and it gets its color (and a nutritional boost) from spirulina — something that elevates the original.
Meanwhile, Modern Asian Baking uses berry-flavored ice cream and takes its color from what it calls “Grimace syrup.” The syrup is made from ube extract, which comes from the purple yam first grown in Southeast Asia. Marathons and Motivation’s recipe adds blueberries, but incorporates mixed berry jam. We’re guessing the higher sugar content in jams and jellies helps create that sugary cereal-like flavor.
Of course, you could follow Love to Know’s recipe, which takes an unusual step to make sure this dupe tastes right. When blog writer Allison Freeman tried the Grimace Shake, she decided to mix in the cereal she thought it tasted most like: Trix. Her copycat recipe includes the cereal, strawberry syrup, black raspberry ice cream and frozen blueberries.
Whichever version you decide to try, we’re fairly certain you won’t want to forego the whipped cream and maybe some festive sprinkles. And maybe it’s not too late to join the Grimace Shake TikTok trend. We can’t wait to see your staged death scene online!
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