Dairy Queen’s Candy Cane Chill Blizzard shows up every December, creates a minor cult following, then disappears until next year. If you’re not within driving distance of a DQ, you’re out of luck. If you are, you’re paying $6+ for a medium.

Here’s the fix: make it at home. Same vanilla ice cream base, same crushed candy canes, same chocolate chunks. Takes 10 minutes including the time to crush the candy canes.

This isn’t a “healthy protein version.” This is the real deal – an indulgent dessert that tastes like Christmas in a cup. No apologies, no substitutions, just thick, creamy, minty, chocolate-studded ice cream goodness.

The best part about making it yourself: you control how much candy cane goes in. DQ is conservative with the mix-ins. At home, you can go wild.

What Makes a Blizzard a Blizzard

A Blizzard is thick. Not milkshake thick – thicker. Thick enough that they flip the cup upside down at the drive-thru to prove it won’t fall out.

The key is using softened ice cream instead of rock-hard ice cream, and not adding too much milk. You want just enough liquid to make the ice cream blendable, but not so much that it turns into a milkshake.

The mix-ins get folded in after blending, not blended with the base. This keeps them chunky. You want big pieces of candy cane that crunch when you bite them, and visible chocolate chunks throughout.

If you blend everything together, you’ll get a pink milkshake with tiny flecks of candy. That’s not a Blizzard. A Blizzard has texture.

What You’ll Need

Makes 2 medium Blizzards (about 12 oz each) or 1 large if you’re not sharing.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
• 2 tablespoons milk (whole or 2% for richness)
• 2 standard candy canes, crushed (about ¼ cup crushed pieces)
• ¼ cup chocolate chunks or chips, roughly chopped
• Optional: whipped cream, extra crushed candy cane, cherry for topping

Use quality vanilla ice cream. Not low-fat. Not frozen yogurt. Real, full-fat vanilla ice cream. Dairy Queen uses a lighter soft-serve base, but regular premium ice cream like Breyers or Häagen-Dazs works great for this copycat.

For chocolate, semi-sweet or dark chocolate chunks work best. Milk chocolate gets too sweet when combined with the candy canes. You want some bitter chocolate to balance all that peppermint sweetness.

The candy canes provide the peppermint flavor and those signature pink streaks throughout. I use Spangler candy canes – they’re the classic ones that crush perfectly and have the right peppermint intensity. You can also use peppermint hard candies instead if that’s what you have – about 8-10 round peppermints equals 2 candy canes.

How to Crush Candy Canes Without Making a Mess

Put your candy canes in a zip-top freezer bag. Squeeze out the air and seal it.

Use a rolling pin, heavy pan, or meat mallet to bash them. You want a mix of sizes – some fine dust, some small chunks, some bigger pieces about the size of a pea.

The bag method contains the mess. No peppermint shrapnel flying around your kitchen. No sticky candy fragments ground into your cutting board.

Crush them right before you need them. Pre-crushed candy canes can get sticky if they sit around, especially in humid weather.

Making the Base

Let your ice cream sit on the counter for 5-10 minutes. You want it soft enough to stir easily, but not melted. Think soft-serve consistency.

Put the softened ice cream in a large bowl. Add 1-2 tablespoons of milk – start with 1 tablespoon and add more if needed.

Use a sturdy spoon or spatula to stir and smush the ice cream and milk together. You’re aiming for a thick, creamy consistency that’s uniform throughout but still very thick. It should be hard to stir but not impossible.

Work quickly. If the ice cream starts getting too soft, stick the bowl in the freezer for 5 minutes to firm it back up.

Some people use a blender for this step. You can, but pulse very carefully – 2-3 quick pulses maximum. Over-blending turns it into a milkshake. You want it thick and spoonable, not pourable.

Adding the Mix-Ins

Once your base is the right consistency, add the crushed candy canes and chocolate chunks.

Fold them in gently with your spoon. Don’t stir aggressively or you’ll break up the chocolate chunks too much. You want visible pieces throughout.

Make sure the mix-ins are evenly distributed. Every spoonful should have candy cane and chocolate, not just pockets of them in certain spots.

The candy canes will start creating pink streaks in the ice cream. This is what you want – that marbled pink and white look is part of the Candy Cane Chill aesthetic.

Serving It

Scoop the mixture into two glasses or bowls. Because it’s so thick, you might need to spoon it in rather than scoop it.

Level the top. If you’re going full DQ presentation, add a generous swirl of whipped cream on top.

Sprinkle a bit of extra crushed candy cane over the whipped cream for garnish. Add a maraschino cherry if you want the full retro ice cream parlor vibe.

Serve with a spoon. It’s too thick for just a straw. You need a spoon to get through it, which is exactly how a Blizzard should be.

Eat it immediately. Don’t let it sit. The longer it sits, the more the candy canes dissolve and the texture changes.

The Thickness Problem

If your Blizzard came out too thin (pourable instead of spoonable), you either added too much milk or let the ice cream get too soft.

Fix: Put the whole bowl in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to firm up. Stir it once halfway through so it firms evenly.

If your Blizzard came out too thick (can’t even get a spoon through it), you didn’t add enough milk or your ice cream was too hard to start with.

Fix: Add another tablespoon of milk and stir until it loosens up slightly. Add milk in small amounts – it’s easier to thin it out than to thicken it back up.

Customization Options

Want more peppermint? Add a drop or two of peppermint extract to the base before adding the candy canes. Be careful – extract is strong. One drop goes a long way.

Want more chocolate? Double the chocolate chunks to ½ cup. Some people prefer a more chocolate-forward Blizzard.

Want it less sweet? Use dark chocolate (70% cacao or higher) instead of semi-sweet. The bitter chocolate balances the candy cane sweetness better.

Want to make it ahead? You can’t really. Blizzards don’t store well. The texture changes when they refreeze. Make it fresh and eat it fresh.

For a crowd: Triple or quadruple the recipe. Mix it all in a large bowl, then portion it out into individual cups.

Cost Breakdown

Dairy Queen Candy Cane Chill Blizzard (medium): $5.49-$5.99 depending on location

Homemade version (makes 2):

• Ice cream: $3.50 (half a pint of premium ice cream)
• Candy canes: $0.50
• Chocolate chunks: $0.75
• Milk: $0.10

Total: $4.85 for TWO Blizzards = $2.43 per serving

You save about $3 per Blizzard. Make these twice during the holidays and you’ve saved $12.

Why Make It at Home

Control. You decide the candy cane-to-chocolate ratio. You can make it extra minty or dial it back. You can use better chocolate than DQ uses.

Convenience. No drive to DQ. No waiting in line. No disappointment when they’re out of Candy Cane Chill mix because it’s January 2nd and they stopped making it.

Flexibility. Make it whenever you want. July? Sure. 11pm on a Tuesday? Go for it. The Candy Cane Chill season doesn’t have to end just because DQ says so.

Quality. Use expensive ice cream. Use real chocolate chunks instead of chips. Make it exactly how you like it.

More Indulgent Dessert Recipes

Sometimes you want dessert that doesn’t pretend to be healthy. This copycat Chick-fil-A peppermint shake is another seasonal favorite you can make year-round – thick, minty, loaded with candy cane pieces. For a holiday milkshake that combines two classic flavors, try this gingerbread eggnog milkshake with warm spices and creamy eggnog. If you want actual peppermint bark to go with your Blizzard, this easy peppermint bark recipe takes 20 minutes and makes perfect holiday gifts.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving (1 medium Blizzard):

• Calories: 400
• Protein: 8g
• Carbohydrates: 55g
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 48g
• Fat: 15g
• Saturated Fat: 9g
• Sodium: 120mg

Bottom Line

This copycat Dairy Queen Candy Cane Chill Blizzard tastes like the real thing. Thick, creamy vanilla ice cream loaded with crushed candy canes and chocolate chunks.

It’s not healthy. It’s not trying to be. It’s dessert. A really good dessert that you can make at home for half the price whenever you want it.

The hardest part is crushing the candy canes, and even that takes 2 minutes. Everything else is just stirring ice cream and folding in mix-ins.

Make it when you’re craving that specific DQ Candy Cane Chill flavor and don’t feel like leaving the house. Or when it’s not December and DQ stopped selling it but you still want it anyway.