Creamy, indulgent, and packed with protein — this Oreo McFlurry made in the Ninja Creami satisfies your sweet tooth without the guilt. A high protein dessert you will actually crave.
If you’re new to the blog, I should let you know that I really love McDonald’s. I definitely start my morning off right when I opt for McDonald’s breakfast - I love to pick up a great Breakfast Sausage McMuffin paired with a crispy Hash Brown. McDonald’s India was particularly special to me for lunch or dinner, my favourite burgers being the McAloo Tikki Burgeror the Crispy Paneer Burger.Funny story - I thought for the longest time that I don’t like McFlurries. I had one about a week and a half before making this recipe, and I don’t know why I went probably over a decade without a McFlurry, thinking I didn’t like them! Not going to lie, I think I confused a McFlurry with a KFC frozen dessert that you get in India. What dessert am I talking about? I’m not sure, but that is my hypothesis…
Anyway, now that I feel like a total silly person for knocking on the McFlurry for no reason, I got a spark of inspiration to make my very own! Out of all the options, Oreo is definitely my favourite, and from my research online, it looks like the general population agrees! I mean, who doesn’t love cookies and cream? All things cookies and cream are my wife’s favourite, so it was definitely a must!
If you want to pour your heart into a pint for the ice cream and Oreo lovers in your life but save on the sugar and add the extra boost of protein, then I strongly encourage you to try this High Protein Oreo McFlurry recipe out as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! Get started for free today by signing up to my newsletter, plus all of my latest recipes will be sent right to your inbox!
To follow along and see just how simple this recreation of a worldwide classic is, then be sure to watch the video recipe! I would really appreciate it if you could please subscribe YouTube channel if you’re not already, and don’t forget to press the bell button so you’re notified when all of my video recipes are live! Let’s get started!
What Is a McFlurry?
I feel that this McFlurry is known to everyone around the world but let’s actually break down what this is and how we can apply the description to what we’re going to be creating at home. To begin, the McFlurry is probably McDonald’s most iconic desserts! According to the Canadian menu, this is how McDonald’s describes the item:
Deliciousness starts with creamy vanilla soft serve swirled together with crunchy Oreo cookies. Walk in to your nearest McDonald’s and enjoy the yummy taste. Order today!
Such a simple concept is just so amazing! Essentially, what we want to do here is make a vanilla soft serve ice cream and mix in some crushed Oreos. I’m not sure what McDonald’s recipe is to make their soft serve is, but it’s one of the best I’ve had! Let me tell you that this base is unbelievably delicious, and the Oreos just really make you feel like you’re having a McFlurry right from home!
Why You’ll Love This Oreo McFlurry Copycat Recipe!
Fast & easy: This Oreo McFlurry is by far the easiest Ninja Creami recipe I have on the blog to date! The base does not require any blending or any components to be boiled or cooked prior to freezing. This will literally be a one-pint recipe, where all the ingredients for the base are added and mixed directly in the pint with just a whisk. We freeze and then process! If you want more details on how the Ninja Creami works and all the settings as well as my initial thoughts when I first tried out the machine, be sure to check out my deep dive video.
Customizable: I’m trying to get as close as possible to replicating the McDonald’s McFlurry in the Oreo flavour, but you can use the same base and try out different McFlurry variations with different toppings. Check out some ideas on how to make this McFlurry recipe your own later on in this post!
Few ingredients: The base only requires some simple staple ingredients - no niche ingredients, no hard to find ingredients, and natural ingredients. I bet you already have everything in your fridge and pantry!
Tasty: This has become my new favourite Ninja Creami recipe of mine! I know it sounds like I’m tooting my own horn here, but that vanilla base is seriously unbelievable! It really is soft like soft serve ice cream, and it is super creamy without being too sweet! The Oreos mixed throughout just make it so much better. I personally think that this recipe is better than the actual McFlurry!
Questions You May Have!
What Kind of Milk Should I Use for Protein cookies and Cream Ice Cream?▼
Preferably, you would use whole milk to make this Protein Cookies and Cream Ice Cream, as it will give you the creamiest results. Believe it or not, it’s been quite hard to find whole milk at the grocery store lately except for cartons that have an expiration date within a few days. I’m not sure who is buying all the whole milk but perhaps it’s for all the holiday cooking that’s been going on! With that being said, I’ve had to make do with 2% milk lately. As I describe in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!!, if you already have a suitable substitute, then there’s no need to go buy something else when you have something that will get the job done! As you can tell, the final McFlurry turned out super smooth and creamy, and let me tell you it’s unbelievably delicious! 2% milk clearly got some great results. Perhaps they would have been 2% better using full fat milk, but I was really happy with the outcome, so if you have 2% milk and don’t want to go buy whole milk, then you will be fine! On the flip side, if you do have whole milk already, then I encourage you to use it! However, skim milk and 1% milk probably will not be as ideal as the former two options.
What If I Don’t Have a Cookies and Cream Flavoured Protein Powder?▼
This is totally fine! While having a cookies and cream protein powder will certainly contribute to the overall flavour of the base, it’s not the end of the world if you don’t have it on hand! Substitutions for the cookies and cream protein powder include vanilla protein powder, or for a cakey experience, you can try a birthday cake protein powder! To get the Oreo flavour in the base that you would get from a cookies and cream protein powder, you can add in crushed Oreos into the ice cream base.
How Do I Get a Soft Serve Ice Cream Texture?▼
To get that lusciously smooth soft serve ice cream, there are two crucial components:
The ingredients: Ingredients are key to make soft serve ice cream. According to the nutrition information for the Vanilla Cone on McDonald’s Canada’s menu, it is made with just milk and sugar. My base will have some heavy cream and cream cheese to achieve a soft serve ice cream without all the “extra” ingredients thrown into the commercial ice cream.
Re-spinning: You’ll need to keep re-spinning until your final product is smooth and creamy, similar to soft-serve.
What DO I DO About the Powdery Texture After the First SPin?▼
This is very likely to happen after the first spin - it did for me. The key here will be re-spinning until you get a smooth texture, as mentioned before. Because I used full fat dairy products, it only took me one re-spin, for a total of two spins. If you’re using lower fat products in your base, expect to require more re-spins.
Does the Pint Really Have to Be Frozen for 24 Hours?▼
When you get your Ninja Creami, you’ll see that Ninja informs you pretty much every chance it gets to ensure that you freeze the pint for 24 hours. This causes lots of discussion and debate online with mixed opinions.
I’ll do my best to be objective here. In my opinion, for the sake of your machine, you’re probably best to follow the 24 hour freezing period recommendation. Online, I’ve read about folks freezing their pints for as little as 12 hours and I’ve seen videos where they do this. Yes, these people do end up with soft serve ice cream since they did not freeze the pint for the entire time. However, if you regularly do this, it is possible that this increases the wear and tear of your Ninja Creami machine, since the blades do require the frozen base to do the processing properly. When the pint isn’t entirely frozen, then you don’t have an even surface for the blades to work.
You can still achieve a soft serve ice cream by freezing your pint for 24 hours or more as you’ll see in this recipe. Now, if you really wanted to eat your McFlurry and it has been about 22 or 23 hours since you’ve put your pint in the freezer, then I think you will be just fine! The main thing is to ensure that the base is entirely frozen so that the machine can work optimally and not risk breaking, so ultimately I don’t think you need to be pedantic about freezing for exactly 24 hours, but aim for it depending on how fast your freezer can entirely freeze the pint!
How Can I lower the Calories in my Oreo McFlurry?▼
Full transparency here: you’ll notice that while this High Protein Oreo McFlurry recipe is high in protein, the calories in the pint itself are still quite high, coming up to 742 calories per pint (the final weight of my recipe was 296 grams). According to McDonald’s Canada, a regular size McFlurry is 570 calories for a serving 286 gram serving. I’ll be transparent and mention that the extra calories come from the added protein and heavy cream. The cream quite frankly makes this McFlurry taste absolutely incredible, and allows you to replicate soft serve ice cream with the Ninja Creami machine.
What is concerning with the McDonald’s McFlurry is the sugar content: regular sized McFlurry contains 90 grams of carbohydrates, and 68 grams of those come from sugar! In addition, the regular McFlurry only has 11 grams of protein per serving, whereas this recipe has nearly 40 grams of protein and 51 grams of carbohydrates - that’s less than the sugar in the original McFlurry! The sugar content of a pint of my High Protein McFlurry recipe is 37 grams. Since the protein is 4 times the amount of the McDonald’s McFlurry, this will help keep you full for longer and not crave more sugar and possibly food in general.
That being said, depending on your calorie and/or nutrition goals (or lack thereof), you can or cannot eat the entire pint. The decision is yours on how much to eat! If you’re new to this blog, I am not a calorie counter, and when I write my recipes, I do opt for flavour over everything else. To boost the protein and have an “as close as possible” outcome as a real McFlurry, the calories did have to go up to include protein and the fattier ingredients to get a smooth and creamy soft serve.
If you’re someone who wants to eat the entire pint but you’re worried about the calories, you can definitely substitute the full fat dairy products for lower fat dairy products, or even fat-free products. If desired, you can even use plant-based milks, such as almond milk or coconut milk. However, keep in mind that you may not have the same amount of smoothness and creaminess of the vanilla ice cream as if you were to use full fat dairy milk products. Additionally, you may need more spins to achieve the desired texture. Mine only took two spins to get it perfectly soft, but if you’re omitting the fats in the ice cream base, then you may need 3 or even 4 total spins!
Another way to lower the calories of this recipe is to use Oreo Thins instead of the classic Oreos and/or to use a zero calorie sweetener instead of maple syrup, such as Stevia or Splenda.
More Tips to Make the Best Oreo McFlurry at Home!
Using full-fat dairy products is the guaranteed way of achieving the creamiest texture in the final McFlurry. You can use lower fat dairy products or even plant-based products, but you may need more re-spins, and the taste and texture overall may differ.
If you’re using the Ninja Creami deluxe ice cream maker to make this McFlurry recipe, use the recipe card at the bottom of this post to scale the recipe by 1.5 times.
You can double the recipe to fill the entire pint if desired. However, this recipe will give you the same yield as the regular-sized McDonald’s Canada McFlurry.
The full list of ingredients and their quantities can be found in the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD, which you can find by scrolling to the bottom of this post or by pressing the “Jump to Recipe” button. You can also save the instructions for later and use the recipe card to scale the ingredients based on how many pints of High Protein McFlurry you’re looking to make! By default, this recipe will yield a single pint in the regular Ninja Creami ice cream maker.
For the Ice Cream Base
Cream cheese: Use full fat cream cheese for best results.
Milk: Again, I recommend full fat dairy milk for best results, but 2% milk will work fine too. You can use a high protein milk if you don’t want to use protein powder.
Vanilla extract: Always a must-have to enhance the flavours in our homemade ice cream!
Maple syrup: If you’re using protein powder, it’s likely that you have one that is already sweetened. Remember that freezing a mixture will result in the flavours getting muted, so it’s safer to add a bit extra sweetener to ensure we have the desired results. Plus, let’s be honest here, a McFlurry is iconically sweet!
Protein powder: If you have it, I recommend a Cookies and Cream protein powder. Otherwise, you can use a vanilla flavoured protein powder or even something like birthday cake to get the flavour profile we’re looking for. You can add in some crushed Oreos in the base as well if you would like.
Salt: Salt will unlock all the flavours and ensure that they’re truly shining even after the ice cream base has been frozen!
For the Mix-ins
Oreo cookies: I know it’s heartbreaking to do it, but you’ll need to crush your Oreos to add them in the centre of the pint so that the bits get evenly mixed through, plus more for topping!
How to Make High Protein McFlurry in the Ninja Creami
Place all the ingredients for the vanilla ice cream McFlurry base in the 1 pint container.
Whisk well until everything is well combined.
Freeze at a level spot for at least 24 hours.
Insert the frozen creami treat to the Ninja Creami machine and select the Ice Cream setting.
In the meanwhile, crush your Oreo cookies with a mortar and pestle or place them in a plastic bag and mash them with a rolling pin.
Once the machine stops, you may notice that the base is powdery. Select the Re-Spin setting to make the ice cream creamy.
Create a well in the centre and add in two thirds of the crushed Oreo cookies. Put the lid back on the container and select the +Mix-In setting.
Remove the container from the machine and garnish with the remaining crushed Oreos.
Enjoy!
Other McFlurry Variations
Making other McDonald’s McFlurry recipes is totally possible by following the base shown here for the vanilla soft serve! All you need to do is change the mix-ins. Here is how you can make the other McFlurry recipes, based on the Canadian menu:
That is no problem at all - you can certainly prepare your High Protein McFlurry in advance! To store your leftover McFlurry, simply use a spoon to level out the top of the ice cream base and re-freeze. You need to level out the top in order for the ice cream to freeze evenly and to prevent the “hump” that forms on top. When you want to eat your high protein ice cream again, simply spin the pint on the Ice Cream setting, and re-spin as needed until it reaches the desired texture.
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!
Recipe by Anadi Misra
Satisfy Your Cravings with a High Protein Oreo McFlurry
Creamy, indulgent, and packed with protein — this Oreo McFlurry made in the Ninja Creami satisfies your sweet tooth without the guilt. A high protein dessert you will actually crave.
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