A malted, sometimes called a “malt,” is a milkshake made with the addition of malted milk powder. It uses the same base as a regular milkshake (ice cream and milk) but gets a distinctly sweeter, richer, and slightly nutty flavor from that one extra ingredient. If you’ve ever seen “malt” and “shake” listed separately on a diner menu and wondered what the difference was, the malted milk powder is the entire answer.
How a Malted Differs From a Milkshake
A standard milkshake is ice cream blended with milk, often with flavored syrup mixed in. A malted starts the same way but includes a spoonful of malted milk powder blended in at the end. That powder changes the texture and flavor noticeably. Malteds tend to taste richer and more complex, with a toasty, almost biscuit-like quality underneath the sweetness. The powder also thickens the drink slightly, giving it a creamier body than a plain shake.
Making one at home is straightforward: blend ice cream, milk, and any flavoring (chocolate syrup is classic) until smooth, then add the malted milk powder and blend for a few more seconds so it incorporates fully. Chocolate malts are the most popular variety, but vanilla and strawberry work just as well.
What Malted Milk Powder Actually Is
Malted milk powder is a blend of wheat flour, malted barley extracts, powdered milk, salt, and a small amount of baking soda to balance the pH. Each brand has its own proprietary ratio, so some taste more dairy-forward while others lean grainy, but they’re similar enough to swap interchangeably. Carnation and Horlicks are the two names you’ll see most often on store shelves.
The “malted” part comes from barley that has been through a specific process: the grains are soaked in water, allowed to sprout just enough to activate natural enzymes, and then dried with controlled heat to stop the sprouting. During that brief germination window, enzymes inside the grain convert its starches into simple sugars. That conversion is what creates the characteristic sweet, toasty flavor. The heat-drying step (called kilning) then triggers reactions between those sugars and proteins, producing compounds that add caramel and roasted notes to the final product.
A three-tablespoon serving of malted milk powder contains about 90 calories and 16 grams of carbohydrates. It’s roughly 57% sugar by weight, though those sugars come from the grain conversion process rather than added sweeteners. It also provides a modest amount of potassium.
Where the Flavor Comes From
The distinctive “malty” taste that sets a malted apart isn’t just sweetness. When the sprouted barley is heated, a reaction between its sugars and amino acids produces a cascade of flavor compounds. Lighter heating preserves fruity, delicate notes. Heavier roasting pushes the flavor toward caramel, toast, and biscuit. The malted milk powder used in milkshakes falls on the lighter end of that spectrum, which is why it reads as warm and nutty rather than dark or bitter.
Compared to plain sugar, malted milk powder brings a layered, savory-sweet quality. Some food writers describe it as the “umami of dessert” because it deepens and rounds out flavors the way soy sauce or parmesan might in a savory dish. That’s why it pairs so well with chocolate: it amplifies the richness without just making things sweeter.
A Brief Origin Story
Malted milk powder was invented in the 1870s by brothers William and James Horlick, who founded their company in Chicago. They originally marketed it as “Horlick’s Food for Infants and Invalids,” a nutritional supplement that consumers mixed into milk. It wasn’t designed for milkshakes at all. The leap from health product to soda fountain staple happened in the early twentieth century, when drugstore counters started blending the powder into ice cream drinks. The combination stuck, and malteds became a fixture of American diner culture.
Two Types of Malt Powder
If you go looking for malt powder at a grocery store or bakery supply shop, you’ll find two distinct types, and they aren’t interchangeable.
- Non-diastatic malt powder has been heat-treated to deactivate its enzymes. It’s purely a flavoring ingredient. This is what goes into malted milk powder, cookies, bagel glazes, and milkshakes. It adds color, sweetness, and that toasty malt flavor without affecting how dough rises.
- Diastatic malt powder still has its enzymes intact. Those enzymes break down flour starch into sugars that yeast can feed on, so it’s used in bread baking to boost rise and promote a golden-brown crust. Adding too much will make dough sticky and unworkable.
For making a malted at home, you want malted milk powder specifically (which contains the non-diastatic type along with milk solids and wheat flour). It’s sold in the baking aisle of most supermarkets.
Uses Beyond the Milkshake
Malted milk powder shows up in far more recipes than just milkshakes. Bakers fold it into cookie dough, brownie batter, and cake recipes to amplify chocolate flavor and add a toasty undertone. It works especially well in anything with brown butter or caramel. Whopper candies, the crunchy chocolate-coated balls, are essentially malted milk centers dipped in chocolate coating.
Plain malt powder (without the milk solids) has an even broader range. Bagel shops use it in their dough and boiling water to develop that signature glossy, deeply browned crust. It appears in granola recipes, sauces, and gravies where a touch of sweetness and color is useful. Some adventurous cooks even use it in mashed potatoes for an unexpected depth of flavor.
The FDA has never established an official standard of identity for malted milk, but a 1917 government definition still serves as a compliance guide. Under that definition, malted milk must be made by combining whole milk with a liquid separated from a mash of ground barley malt and wheat flour, with the water removed. The final product must contain at least 7.5% butterfat and no more than 3.5% moisture. In practice, any malted milk powder from a major brand will meet those parameters.