Want A Creamier McDonald's Smoothie? This Sweet Hack Does The Trick

McDonald's got its start selling burgers, but through the years, it's brought other treats to the menu, including its popular smoothies. The chain offers a number of smoothie-style items, from the fruit-based strawberry banana smoothie to the soda-based Frozen Coca-Cola Classic. But if you're looking for a way to turn that icy texture into an even creamier treat, try combining your smoothie with a small McDonald's ice cream cone.

Of course, step one is to make sure the McDonald's ice cream machine works, but an October 2024 ruling to fix broken machines might have made out-of-order machines a thing of the past. At that point, it's pretty simple: Just order a vanilla ice cream cone and your favorite smoothie, then open up the cup and dump the soft serve into the smoothie. Note that you might have to drink a little bit of the smoothie to make room for the ice cream. From there, mix the smoothie with your straw until it's combined, and you suddenly have a much creamier treat.

While McDonald's only offers vanilla soft serve in cones, and the vanilla cones will work with just about any smoothie thanks to their mild flavor, you can also get creative and combine other shakes and smoothies for a creamy new flavor. Try ordering a chocolate shake and a Frozen Coca-Cola, then combine them (this might be best when split with a friend to save money). The result is a creamy, chocolatey ice cream soda. Combining the strawberry shake with a strawberry banana smoothie will result in a creamy texture that resembles adding the vanilla cone, but it's packed with even more fruity flavor.

Soft serve ice cream has transformed the fast food industry, offering an easily eaten treat in a cone thanks to places like Dairy Queen and Carvel, which started selling it in the 1930s. Ray Kroc of McDonald's helped expand the soft serve industry by offering the treat in his restaurants starting in 1956, after making a deal with Charles Taylor, the founder of the original soft serve machine, to sell the ice cream in McDonald's restaurants. Today, McDonald's still offers the iconic vanilla cone, despite that soft serve machines are a nightmare for restaurants due to how often they need to be cleaned. But with a few tweaks, you can use the McDonald's vanilla cone to build a whole new dessert.