5 Ordering Tips To Get The Best Dairy Queen Blizzard

Upside down or right side up, Dairy Queen's iconic Blizzard has become a staple of American summers since its debut in 1985. With a base of thick, soft serve (under FDA regulations, Dairy Queen's soft serve cannot be classified as ice cream) and a generous list of sweets to mix in, the Blizzard endures as Dairy Queen's most popular menu item, constituting roughly a quarter of the company's annual sales (per Austin Business Journal). The choose-your-own-adventure nature of Blizzard ordering, as well as the constantly rotating seasonal flavor options, means most folks already have a notion of their favorite Blizzard. But for those curious about just how good a Dairy Queen dessert can get, we've put together a few tips for leveling up your next Blizzard.

The Blizzard, which changed Dairy Queen as we knew it, is said to be inspired by St. Louis frozen custard shop Ted Drewes for its thickness and Huckleberry's for the add-ins. And the Dairy Queen move of flipping your Blizzard upside down was also inspired by Ted Drewes, where in 1959, Ted Drewes Jr. reportedly served an exceptionally thick treat upside down to satisfy a boy who kept asking for something richer. Decades later, Missouri Dairy Queen franchisee Sam Temprato took the ultra-thick milkshake idea, added bits of candy and a Dairy Queen marketing twist, and sold millions of Blizzards in the treat's launch year.

Initially launched in 2013, Dairy Queen's S'mores Blizzard quickly became a fan favorite of the restaurant's summer menu. This Blizzard, which includes graham cracker pieces and marshmallow, as well as marshmallow-filled chocolate chunks, is even the favorite flavor of company CEO Troy Bader. But what makes this recipe extra special is the base, which blends vanilla soft serve with graham cracker pieces to create a richer, smoother base for the toppings. When the graham base is in season, many Blizzard lovers recommend using it in non-S'mores custom concoctions.

On one Reddit thread calling on Dairy Queen employees to shout out their favorite Blizzard personalization, graham base was resoundingly popular. One commenter proclaimed, "Graham base, cocoa fudge, and basically anything else. Those two things together is one of the best combos." Other recommended pairings included Reese's peanut butter cups (to make a treat reminiscent of a Reese's pie), Oreo pieces, or peanut butter. The graham base isn't a guarantee, however. Since its primary use is for a seasonal Blizzard and it isn't restocked once the S'mores flavor is cycled out, customers might be hard-pressed to find this add-in outside of the summer months.

While fruit and chocolate can be a delicious combination (hello, chocolate-covered strawberries!), Dairy Queen's menu is somewhat conservative when it comes to pairing these two types of delicacies. Aside from its most famous fruit-chocolate marriage, the Choco-Dipped Strawberry Blizzard, originally launched for Valentine's Day in 2005, it's largely up to patrons to craft bitter and juicy Blizzard medleys, particularly outside of the love-day season.

The internet is full of fruity, chocolaty, Dairy Queen secret menu items (we made a list of our favorite secret menu treats), but a particularly delicious one is based on a discontinued Blizzard recipe originally inspired by one of America's most iconic sundaes: the banana split. Some longtime Dairy Queen employees may be able to craft this combination if it's asked for by name. If your Blizzard artisan isn't familiar with the Banana Split Blizzard, simply ask for a vanilla base with strawberries, pineapple, bananas, and chocolate topping. The smooth, creamy chocolate complements the acidity in the fruit, and the whole union is reminiscent of the decadent ice cream parlors of yesteryear.

A chocolate swirl is a great way to give your Blizzard a luxurious lift, but it also poses a problem: Hot fudge, the ingredient that comes to mind when ordering a syrupy addition for a dessert, can melt the Blizzard's soft-serve base, compromising its iconic thickness. The solution, according to self-proclaimed Dairy Queen employees, comes from a lesser-known ingredient: cold fudge.

Despite its name, cold fudge is actually a room-temperature ingredient, perhaps best known for providing the gooey, chocolatey layer in Dairy Queen ice cream cakes. It is designed specifically to accompany soft serve without melting it, and since its debut in cakes, customers and employees have found ways to integrate cold fudge into other menu items.

Adding cold fudge effectively to a Blizzard requires careful ordering, largely due to the intense blending involved in mixing other ingredients evenly into a Blizzard. For an evenly mixed treat with a fudge core, order your Blizzard "Royal," and a core of fudge will be injected into the center of your soft serve after the other add-ins are thoroughly blended. For cold fudge that is swirled throughout the Blizzard, not just in the center, ask for a "half blended" Blizzard. The ice cream artisan behind the counter will do a shorter blend, resulting in a less thoroughly mixed Blizzard but one with a visible eddy of fudge in each bite.

When it comes to upgrading the chocolate texture of your Blizzard, cold fudge isn't the only option. Perhaps one of Dairy Queen's greatest gifts to customizable dessert is its cone dip, a coconut-oil-based liquid dip that hardens when it makes contact with cold soft serve. Dairy Queen's cone dip, which traditionally comes in chocolate, vanilla, cherry, and butterscotch flavors, is classically used to create a smooth, crackable outer shell when poured over an ice cream cone. But it can also be revelatory when incorporated into a Blizzard.

While it's possible to add cone dip to a Blizzard as a mix-in, the hardening of the dip followed by blending turns the chocolate shell into slivers in the ice cream. Instead, ask for a cup of cone dip on the side next time you order a Blizzard. This way, you can dip each spoonful of Blizzard into the cone dip for a delicious hard-shell crunch in every bite. This trick had Dairy Queen fans so excited the company even added it to their menu, offering a limited-time Mint Crunchin' Cookie Blizzard with a "sidecar" of mint cone coating dip. But even when this item leaves the menu, cone dip-lovers can still order sidecars of cone sauce with their favorite Blizzard year-round.

Want to try a new flavor without sacrificing your tried-and-true order? You can have your Blizzard and eat it too by ordering a Blizzard flight, a creative hack rolled out by Dairy Queen in the spring of 2019. For a limited time, customers could order a set of three mini Blizzards, giving them the opportunity to sample more of the summer flavors the chain was rolling out that year. But just because the Blizzard flight is no longer a designated menu item doesn't mean you can't still reap the benefits of this brilliant idea. 

One large Blizzard (21 ounces) is about the same size as three mini Blizzards (each just under six ounces), and there's nothing stopping Dairy Queen lovers from ordering three separate minis in lieu of their typical order. The variety comes at a cost, however. When Dairy Queen offered its official flight in 2019, three minis cost roughly $7 to $10, depending on location. But separately, each mini is about $3.99, while a large is $6.39 (prices vary by location). So ordering three minis is nearly double the price of a large, making a personalized Blizzard flight less about value and more about settling into those red patio tables with a few flavors to share.