If you feel like a smoothie with an extra sweet twist, whip up a sweet and tangy banana shake to quench your thirst. Our guide, How to Make a Banana Milkshake, provides recipes for shakes with and without ice cream, as well as several innovative variations with ingredients like mango, peanut butter and crushed pineapple.

• If you want a rich, frothy drink with the added health benefits of potassium and fiber, make a delicious banana milkshake instead of the traditional vanilla version.The World's Healthiest Foods: Bananas Create a shake with ice cream as a cool treat or, if you prefer, blend bananas with milk and ice to make a lower fat shake with the consistency of a smoothie. Either way, the beverage is so easy to prepare, you'll be able to whip one up the instant you get a craving.

1. Blend bananas with vanilla ice cream or a combination of milk and ice to create a frothy shake.
2. Combine the ingredients in a blender, processing until the shake is smooth.
3. Sweeten the shake with sugar or vanilla extract, if desired.
4. Consider variations on the recipe by adding elements like strawberries, peanut butter or yogurt.
5. Serve the shake immediately after blending.

• Whether you create a banana shake with or without ice cream, you'll be able to blend two to three servings in less than five minutes using these simple steps.

• What You'll Need
• 1 banana
• 1 cup milk
• 5 scoops vanilla ice cream
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• blender
• Tall glasses
• What to Do

1. Place the banana, milk, ice cream and sugar in the blender.Recipezaar: Banana Vanilla Milkshake
2. Use increase or decrease the amount of ice cream to customize the thickness and taste to your liking.Recipezaar: Banana Vanilla Milkshake
3. Blend for about 45 seconds, until smooth.Recipezaar: Banana Milkshake
4. Pour into glasses and enjoy immediately.Recipezaar: Banana Milkshake with Vanilla

(Creative Commons photo by jrsnchzhrs)

• What You'll Need
• 1 banana
• 2 cups milk
• 4-5 ice cubes
• ¹/₈ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• Blender
• Tall glasses
• What to Do

1. Place the banana, milk, ice, sugar and vanilla extract in the blender.Recipezaar: Banana Milkshake
   • -You can use almond extract in place of the vanilla if you prefer.Recipezaar: Healthy Banana Milkshake
2. Cover and blend the shake for up to two minutes, until smooth.All Recipes: Icy Banana Milkshake
3. Pour the shake into glasses to serve.Recipezaar: Easy Banana Milkshake

• If you like the plain shake recipe, but thirst for something more, you'll go bananas for these variations with additional ingredients and flavors.

1. Add chocolate drink mix to recreate the flavor of a chocolate-covered banana.All Recipes: Banana Flip
2. Blending in a dollop of Nutella gives the shake a hint of chocolate-hazelnut flavor.Recipezaar: Nutella Banana Milkshake
3. Combine fresh mango with the banana for a tropical flavor.All Recipes: Yummy Mango Banana Milkshake
4. Cooked oatmeal and strawberries turn an ordinary banana shake into a meal.AOL Food: Gone Bananas for Breakfast Shake
5. Combine strawberries and bananas for a classic smoothie flavor.Recipezaar: Monkey Milkshake
6. You can also use raspberries if you prefer the taste to strawberries.Recipezaar: Raspberry-Banana Milkshake
7. Give the shake a tropical twist with crushed pineapple and coconut.Recipezaar: Banana Cream Milkshake
8. Peanut butter and honey provide a nice complement to the bananas.Recipezaar: Peanut Butter Banana Milkshake
9. Plain yogurt and lemon juice give the shake extra tang.All Recipes: Banana Shake
10. Blend coffee and banana liqueur along with pineapple juice and chocolate syrup to create an alcoholic banana shake.All Recipes: Dirty Banana

A scoop of Nutella adds a hint of chocolate-hazelnut flavor (Creative Commons photo by moogs)