How do you make a mass gainer shake at home?

A full-fat liquid, a starchy base like oats, a fat source like nut butter, and two protein sources rather than one. The four blends above are variations on exactly that, with the figures for each.

Is a homemade mass gainer as good as a commercial one?

For the job it does — a surplus with protein attached — yes, and it is food rather than maltodextrin. A commercial gainer is more convenient and more concentrated; a homemade one is cheaper and brings fiber and micronutrients along with the calories.

How many calories should a bulking shake have?

It depends on the size of the surplus you are targeting and what the rest of the day looks like. A moderate, sustained surplus is what the evidence supports for gaining lean mass rather than just weight.

When should I drink a mass gainer?

Whenever you will reliably get it down, which for most people is between meals or after training. Total intake across the day is what drives the result; the timing is a much smaller factor than it is often made out to be.

Can you bulk with smoothies alone?

They work best as an addition rather than a replacement. Liquid calories are easy to add on top of meals, which is exactly the advantage — swap them in for food you were already eating and the surplus disappears.

Is whey or plant protein better for a gainer?

Both work. Whey is more concentrated per scoop and mixes more smoothly; pea protein is comparable on the numbers and suits a dairy-free build. The second build above uses the plant version and lands in similar territory.

Weight gain

High calorie shakes for bulking

A mass gainer is a surplus with protein attached. Both halves of that are easy to build at home, and the home version is food rather than a powder that tastes like a powder.

Short answer

A homemade mass gainer is a full-fat liquid, oats, nut butter and two protein sources in the same glass. The blends below carry between 34 and 79 grams of protein — Whey and oats gainer leads on protein and Post-training, lighter is the lighter post-training option — and every one of them is denser per mouthful than the fruit blends elsewhere on this site.

Commercial mass gainers are mostly maltodextrin with whey and flavoring on top. There is nothing wrong with that as a delivery mechanism, but it is expensive per calorie and it is not food, and the two things it does — a large surplus and a protein hit in the same glass — are straightforward to build from a cupboard.

The structure is always the same: a full-fat liquid, a starchy base, a fat source, and two protein sources rather than one. Oats and whole milk do most of the calorie work; whey or a plant protein plus a dairy or soy base does the protein. Fruit is there for taste and for the carbohydrate, not for the total.

This guide leads on the protein column rather than the calorie one, because that is what separates a mass gainer from a high-calorie smoothie. Both matter; the ordering here reflects the goal.

Four gainer blends, highest protein first

Blend

Protein

Fiber

Sugar

Fat

Whey and oats gainer 1½ cups whole milk · ¾ cup rolled oats · 2 scoops whey protein powder · 2 tbsp peanut butter · 1 cup frozen banana (sliced) — The reference build. Two protein sources, a starchy base and a full-fat liquid.

79 g

12 g

43 g

35 g

Vegan mass gainer 1½ cups soy milk · ¾ cup rolled oats · 2 scoops pea protein powder · 2 tbsp almond butter · 1 cup frozen banana (sliced) — Soy milk and pea protein stacked, with almond butter for the fat. No dairy anywhere.

78 g

19 g

25 g

33 g

Gainer with no powder 1 cup whole milk · ½ cup greek yogurt · ½ cup rolled oats · 2 tbsp peanut butter · 1 cup frozen banana (sliced) · 1 medjool date — Greek yogurt and whole milk carrying the protein between them, for anyone who would rather use food.

37 g

12 g

54 g

28 g

Post-training, lighter 1 cup whole milk · 1 scoop whey protein powder · 1 cup frozen banana (sliced) · 1 medjool date — Fast carbohydrate and protein without the fat, for drinking soon after a session rather than as a meal.

34 g

6 g

48 g

10 g

One serving each, ordered by protein. The calorie column is worth reading alongside it — the highest-protein build is not always the densest, and which of those you want depends on whether appetite or training is the constraint.

Which one to make

79 g

Most protein

Whey plus whole milk, over oats and peanut butter.

78 g

Vegan

Soy milk and pea protein, at a comparable total.

37 g

No powder

Greek yogurt doing the job a scoop was doing.

34 g

After training

Lighter, faster, and not trying to be a meal.

Where the protein comes from

Ranked by protein in one everyday measure of each. The powders lead, which is expected — what is worth noticing is how close the strained dairy options get for a fraction of the concentration.

Pea Protein Powder 1 scoop

24 Protein g

Whey Protein Powder 1 scoop

24 Protein g

Cottage Cheese (low-fat) 1/2 cup

14 Protein g

Greek Yogurt (nonfat, plain) 1/2 cup

13 Protein g

Soy Milk (unsweetened) 1 cup

8 Protein g

Rolled Oats 1/2 cup

7 Protein g

Egg (raw, whole) 1 large

6 Protein g

Silken Tofu 1/2 cup

6 Protein g

Where the calories come from

The same blends ranked on the other axis, by one everyday measure of each. Nut butter and oats are doing far more here than any protein source is.

Avocado 1/2 medium

160 Calories

Rolled Oats 1/2 cup

156 Calories

Whole Milk 1 cup

146 Calories

Whey Protein Powder 1 scoop

111 Calories

Oat Milk 1 cup

108 Calories

Almond Butter 1 tbsp

98 Calories

Peanut Butter 1 tbsp

94 Calories

Medjool Dates 1 date

66 Calories

The questions that follow

What people ask once the first shake is made.

How much protein do I actually need?

Less than the marketing implies and more than most people eat. The powder calculator works it out from bodyweight and training rather than from a scoop size, and it will tell you when the food in the glass already covers it.

Protein powder calculator → Protein in a smoothie →

Can I do this without powder at all?

Yes, and the third build above does. It takes more volume in the glass to get to the same protein figure, which is the only real trade-off.

Smoothie without protein powder → Yogurt in a smoothie →

What about the calories?

A gainer that hits its protein target but not its calorie target is just a protein shake. The high-calorie page approaches it from the other direction.

High calorie smoothies → 1000 calorie smoothie →

Building a gainer that works

Two protein sources, not one

A scoop and a dairy or soy base together get further than either alone, and the food half brings calories with it. This is the same principle as the powder-free page, applied with the powder still in.

Oats are the cheapest calories in the cupboard

By weight they are denser than almost anything else you would put in a blender, and they cost very little. Soaking them briefly first makes a smoother drink.

Take the liquid down as you add

Every base and boost occupies volume. Keep adding without adjusting and the blend stops pouring — the ratio calculator trades the liquid away for you.

Timing matters less than the daily total

A shake after training is convenient rather than magic. What drives gaining is the surplus held across weeks, and where in the day it lands is a distant second.

Get the protein number right first

Set your bodyweight and training and the calculator works out what the glass actually needs, rather than defaulting to a full scoop.

Open the protein powder calculator

Estimates, not advice. Every figure on this page is calculated from published per-100 g reference values and standard household measures, so your own brands, portions and equipment will move it. Nothing here is medical, nutritional or dietetic advice — talk to a qualified professional before acting on it, particularly if you are pregnant, managing a health condition, or feeding a child.