Our choose
This frozen-bowl-style ice cream maker churns out dense, creamy ice cream quicker than any of our different picks—and at a fraction of the fee.
The Cuisinart ICE-21 is our favourite ice cream maker. It’s humble but mighty and often obtainable for underneath $75. And it’s favored by ice cream professionals together with Jeni Britton Bauer, of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Lotions, and Tyler Malek, of Salt & Straw.
This machine makes fairly dense ice cream, however we discover it to be properly chewy and wealthy. It’s a number of the smoothest ice cream you may make at house with out upgrading to a self-chilling compressor mannequin.
The ICE-21 is a frozen-bowl mannequin, so you should pre-freeze the bowl in a single day earlier than churning. And although that requires some preparation and endurance, as soon as the bowl’s prepared, this machine churns out ice cream quicker than our different picks—it reaches soft-serve consistency in about 18 minutes.
Plus, in contrast with our different picks, the ICE-21 is feather-light. It’s additionally simple to make use of: There’s only one change (on and off), and this mannequin has a large opening so you possibly can style your composition and simply deposit mix-ins.
Additionally nice
This self-cooling machine churned out ice cream that lots of our testers discovered to be simply the suitable texture—gentle, creamy, and stretchy.
This smaller-capacity compressor mannequin makes barely denser ice cream than the ICM-201SB, and it made a number of the greatest vegan ice cream—dense and creamy, with minimal ice crystals.
If in case you have the price range and the house, the Whynter ICM-201SB and the Whynter ICM-15LS are two also-great choices. Each are self-cooling compressor fashions, so you possibly can churn out batch after batch of ice cream with no in a single day prep wanted.
Each Whynter fashions make exceptionally creamy ice cream with ease. Compressor fashions like these two freeze extra steadily than the Cuisinart ICE-21 (which steadily will get hotter). And their paddles spin extra quickly, creating smaller, much less detectable ice crystals.
The pricier ICM-201SB outshines the ICM-15LS by a smidge. The ICM-201SB has a bigger capability for mix-ins (2.1 quarts, versus 1.5 quarts) and a best-of-both-worlds ice cream texture—wealthy and creamy but barely fluffy.
However in the event you like denser, chewier ice cream, the ICM-15LS could also be a better option for you. This mannequin additionally carried out one of the best general in our non-dairy checks, producing ice cream with an excellent, chewy texture and minimal ice.
Improve choose
This premium, stainless-steel compressor mannequin churns out flawless, creamy, gelato-like ice cream. However this machine is particularly heavy in addition to dear.
Should you’re severely dedicated to creating ice cream as a interest and are able to take your setup to the subsequent degree—and also you wish to spend money on one of the best house ice cream maker cash should buy—the Lello 4080 Musso Lussino is the machine for you.
This mannequin shortly churns out flawlessly easy, creamy ice cream with a wealthy, decadent, gelato-like texture. The large stainless-steel machine is a compressor mannequin with no detachable pail, but it surely’s fairly simple to wash out the bowl recess.
Aside from the plastic cowl, the machine’s elements are all metallic—it’s the one mannequin we examined with a stainless-steel paddle. The interface is unfussy, with one light-up change for churning, one for cooling, and a timer knob. However this machine is an enormous funding.