Ube Milkshake

This Ube Milkshake is creamy and tastes very strongly of ube. You only need four ingredients: vanilla ice cream, ube halaya, ube extract, and milk. The ube halaya is mandatory but the ube extract is optional. I'll get more into the ingredients below!

I feel like ube has really exploded in popularity in the last few years. I used to never see it in restaurants but now I see it all the time. Recently, I went to Pike Place Market in Seattle and even saw it at a new ice cream shop! They were selling ube coconut ice cream. Yum.

Last week, I had some friends over for a board games night, and I made some ube milkshakes to finish the night off. They were a huge hit. Everyone was surprised at how quickly I made them too—it only took 5 minutes. My Filipino friend even asked for the recipe, so you know it's good.

Key Ingredients

Ube Halaya

In terms of flavor, this is the most important ingredient. It's essentially Ube jam. It's very sweet, and you can buy it at most Asian supermarkets. This is the jar I'm using:

I definitely recommend buying a jar if you want to make ube desserts at home. It only costs around $5, and one jar will last you for many recipes. You can also use it for non-dessert applications. I sometimes use it as a spread for toast or bagels.

Ube Extract

Ube extract is what gives ube desserts their purple color. It's essentially purple food coloring but also has an artificial ube flavor. The problem is that it is very hard to find, so most recipes leave it as optional. Ube halaya is much more important in terms of flavor. If you do not care about the purple color, then you do not need it.

For the longest time, I could never find ube extract, so I've always made ube desserts without it. But recently, I made a trip down to Seattle and was able to find some at a local Japanese grocery store called Uwajimaya.