The 7 Finest Ice Cream Makers of 2024, Examined & Reviewed

Pre-Freeze Instances and Churn Instances for Our Favourite Ice Cream Makers
Ice Cream Maker	Fashion	Canister Pre-Freeze Time	Common Churn Time
Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker Machine	Canister	16 to 24 hours	20 minutes
Cuisinart Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Ice Cream Maker	Canister	16 to 24 hours	half-hour
Cuisinart ICE100 Compressor Ice Cream and Gelato Maker	Compressor	Not wanted	40 minutes
Breville The Sensible Scoop Ice Cream Maker	Compressor	Not wanted	40 minutes
Whynter 2 Qt. Automated Yogurt & Ice Cream Maker	Compressor	Not wanted	39 minutes
Lello Musso Pola 5030 Dessert Maker	Compressor	Not wanted	half-hour
Hamilton Seashore Automated Ice Cream Maker	Salt and ice	Not wanted	1 hour

The Standards: What to Search for in an Ice Cream Maker

We clearly needed to select winners that made the smoothest and creamiest ice cream, sorbet, and frozen yogurt. Since many fashions carried out equally nicely in these regards, we narrowed the listing down by taking into consideration elements comparable to ease of use and cleanup, worth level, and extra options.

We discovered that these seven winners had been the best to function, with broad openings for pouring within the base and toppings and clear buttons and interfaces. We additionally took under consideration every mannequin’s weight and footprint. Though we’ve one prime decide, the most effective unit for you relies on many elements, comparable to how avid of an ice cream maker you’re and the way a lot house and cash you may commit in trade for added comfort.

Our Favourite Ice Cream Makers

What we preferred: The small, light-weight mannequin freezes the ice cream base with the help of a coolant-lined canister. The canister should be frozen strong earlier than it is set onto the motor’s housing, which spins the canister whereas a stationary paddle scrapes the perimeters of the bowl and churns the ice cream.

It has one of many quickest churn instances, at a mean of 20 minutes, leading to a smooth-textured ice cream. The Cuisinart additionally had a excessive overrun, at about 30% for American-style ice cream bases. The asymmetrical type of the paddle promotes even folding and mixing, leaving minimal un-scraped base frozen alongside the canister partitions. It contains a easy one-touch operation with a large opening for a full view of the churning motion, and so you may simply add mix-ins of any measurement. The canister has a one-and-a-half-quart capability; nonetheless, for ice lotions with numerous overrun, we don’t advocate churning greater than a quart of base at a time.

What we didn’t like: The canister must be frozen till absolutely strong; the producer recommends a minimal of 16 to 24 hours in a freezer set to 0°F (-18°C). It’s additionally vital to needless to say all freezers undergo thaw cycles, so in the event you try to churn ice cream instantly after a thaw cycle, it’s doable the canister shouldn’t be chilled sufficient, no matter how lengthy it’s been within the freezer. 

Key Specs

• Said max capability: 1.5 quarts
• Canister pre-freeze requirement: 16 to 24 hours
• Common churn time: About 20 minutes
• Dimensions: 9.5 x 9 x 11.25 inches
• Colours: White, pink, crimson
• Included parts: Motor, lid, blade, bowl
• Guarantee: 3-year restricted

What we preferred: For those who’re searching for a barely bigger, sturdier model of our prime ice cream maker, the Pure Indulgence has a two-quart capability and a stainless-steel physique. It makes use of the identical pre-frozen bowl setup to freeze your liquid base, and it was in a position to churn creamy, ethereal, ice cream in round half-hour. Even after a while within the freezer, the ice cream’s texture held up nicely in style assessments, with solely a slight loss in its creaminess. To prime it off, all of its components are straightforward to assemble and hand-wash, and the stainless-steel physique will be rapidly wiped down with a moist material. 

What we didn’t like: Like every ice cream maker with a pre-frozen bowl, you really want to verify it’s frozen strong earlier than trying to make ice cream. This machine additionally produced numerous overrun, so in the event you’re planning on including mix-ins you may need to restrict your liquid base to only a single quart.

Key Specs:

• Fashion: Canister
• Said max capability: 2 quarts
• Canister pre-freeze requirement: 16 to 24 hours
• Common churn time: About half-hour
• Dimensions: 8.25 x 8 x 11.25 inches
• Colours: Chrome steel
• Included parts: Motor, lid, blade, bowl
• Guarantee: Restricted 3-year guarantee

What we preferred: This mannequin from Cuisinart has a compressor that chills the ice cream base with out the necessity to pre-freeze an insert or use a combination of salt and ice. Which means you may churn back-to-back batches of ice cream with no need to sit back a canister. A batch of ice cream takes 40 minutes on common to churn, and there may be additionally a “Cool” operate that can maintain the ice cream for as much as 10 minutes.

Identical to the canister mannequin from Cuisinart, this one contains a minimalist design and easy operation. The interface consists of three buttons: one to show the unit on and off, one to set the churning time, and one other to begin churning. By default, the timer is about to 60 minutes, but it surely’s simply adjustable to your required churn time, and churning will be stopped at any time. The locking lid has clearly marked arrows, making it fast to connect and take away.

The bowl the place the churning motion occurs has a wire deal with, which lets you elevate it out. As soon as the bowl is emptied and washed out, you may instantly churn the following batch immediately—simply you’ll want to totally dry the perimeters, or the water can freeze the bowl to the unit.

After you’ve got eliminated the paddle, there is no such thing as a dowel operating via the middle of the bowl (one thing current in lots of the different fashions), so your spatula has clear entry to scrape out the completed ice cream. The paddle design is much like that of the canister-style Cuisinart ICE-21 mannequin and due to this fact yields ice cream with a comparable quantity of overrun and the same ultimate texture. Whereas most ice cream machines warn you to not fill the canister greater than 60%, this mannequin tells you to not fill above the highest bar on the paddle—a clearly demarcated max-fill line that reduces consumer error.

The mannequin comes geared up with two paddles, one for gelato bases and one other that’s supposed to include extra air into ice cream bases. After making batches of high- and low-fat ice cream with each paddles, we discovered that they created ice lotions with equal textures and overrun.

What we didn’t like: Each paddles had excessive, squared shoulders through which ice cream would get caught, which required stopping the machine intermittently and scraping the ice cream again into the bowl for even churning.

Key Specs

• Fashion: Compressor
• Said max capability: 1.5 quarts
• Canister pre-freeze requirement: N/A
• Common churn time: 40 minutes
• Dimensions: 16.73 x 12 x 9.33 inches
• Colours: Black, silver
• Included parts: Bowl, gelato blade, ice cream blade, motor base, recipe booklet
• Guarantee: 3-year restricted

What we preferred: Identical to the Cuisinart ICE-100, the Breville Sensible Scoop has a compressor for self-freezing capabilities, however what units this unit aside is its absolutely automated churning. The mannequin has 12 hardness settings, starting from softer, spun sorbets to arduous, scooped ice cream. 

The Breville routinely stops churning as soon as the ice cream has reached your chosen texture by sensing the extent of resistance in opposition to the paddle because the ice cream freezes and thickens. As soon as the ice cream is prepared, the unit alerts you with (non-obligatory) traditional ice cream truck jingles. The churned ice cream will be held on the chosen texture for as much as three hours, making it excellent for dinner events and soft-serve ice cream followers. For those who want to take management over your ice cream churning, the Breville additionally has a guide possibility.

Most bases take a mean of 40 minutes to finish churning, however in the event you select the 10-minute “Precool” possibility to sit back down the machine earlier than including the bottom, that churning time will be reduce in half (saving you about 10 minutes in whole). This unit additionally has a most capability of 1 and a half quarts, however, as soon as once more, for high-overrun bases, it’s greatest to churn not more than a quart at a time.

The bowl on this mannequin is definitely detachable through its sturdy metallic deal with, permitting for fast cleanup. The lid can also be clearly marked, making it straightforward and to slip into place. The broad opening on the lid permits you to simply add mix-ins and regulate the ice cream’s progress.

What we didn’t like: The form of the paddle leads to the ice cream spinning alongside the middle dowel, not like the folding and sweeping movement produced by the Cuisinart’s paddle. This movement resulted in inconsistently distributed mix-ins and left a layer of un-spun, hardened ice cream base alongside the within of the bowl. This mannequin can also be large, heavy, and costly, requiring an funding of each cash and counter house.

Key Specs

• Fashion: Compressor
• Said max capability: 1.5 quarts
• Canister pre-freeze requirement: N/A
• Common churn time: About 40 minutes
• Dimensions: 15.75 x 11 x 11 inches
• Colours: Silver
• Included parts: Cleansing brush, bowl, paddle, motor base
• Guarantee: 1-year restricted

What we preferred: Barely costlier than the Cuisinart compressor mannequin, the Whynter is a half-quart bigger. It made glorious ice cream and sorbet, the standard of which our style testers thought was higher than something you may purchase in a retailer. We preferred its digital management panel that was illuminated in shiny blue, its clearly labeled buttons, and its built-in timer.

What we didn’t like: It’s arduous to justify its worth bump from the Cuisinart except the 1/2-quart bigger capability will imply one thing to you. We did like its snazzy champagne colour, although.

Key Specs

• Fashion: Compressor
• Said max capability: 2.1 quarts
• Canister pre-freeze requirement: N/A
• Common churn time: About 39 minutes
• Dimensions: 11.25 x 16.75 x 10.25 inches
• Colours: Champagne
• Included parts: Bowl, paddle, motor base
• Guarantee: 1-year restricted

What we preferred: All we are able to say is: Wow, this machine made distinctive ice cream. With simply two switches (on and chill), the Lello Musso was straightforward to make use of and we preferred its well-made, smooth stainless-steel building. It was additionally about as whisper-quiet as an ice cream maker may very well be. 

What we didn’t like: There’s no getting round it: This machine is large (at 38 kilos) and costly. One other enormous ding in opposition to it’s its bowl doesn’t come out for cleanup. As an alternative, the producer says, “Pour l/4 to l/2 cup of sizzling water into the empty bowl.” Then, you wait a couple of minutes and wipe the bowl out with a moist sponge.

Key Specs

• Fashion: Compressor
• Said max capability: 2 quarts
• Canister pre-freeze requirement: N/A
• Common churn time: About half-hour
• Dimensions: 11 x 12 x 18 inches
• Colours: Silver
• Included parts: Bowl, paddle, motor base
• Guarantee: 1-year

What we preferred: This unit by Hamilton Seashore permits you to expertise the old-school enjoyable of a hand-cranked ice cream maker, with out requiring any elbow grease. The ice cream base is frozen by surrounding it with an answer of ice and salt, whereas it’s churned by a motor that locks into place on the highest of the unit.

This mannequin has the most important capability of all our winners—excellent for summer season household enjoyable—with a canister that holds as much as a gallon of ice cream, sorbet, and even margarita base in the event you’re into making frozen cocktails. The paddle has a metallic dowel operating via the middle for sturdy building, whereas the remaining plastic building retains it light-weight, permitting for straightforward storage and use.

This unit was the lowest-priced of all of the fashions on the time of testing, making it an excellent decide for somebody who makes ice cream solely often.

What we didn’t like: It had the longest churn time, averaging about one hour, and in addition gave us icy outcomes. As a result of this mannequin relies on salt and ice to freeze the ice cream, it may be a messy course of, greatest suited to backyards and patios.

Key Specs

• Fashion: Salt and ice
• Said max capability: 4 quarts
• Canister pre-freeze requirement: N/A
• Common churn time: 1 hour
• Dimensions: 15.3 x 12.5 x 11.1 inches
• Guarantee: 1-year

The Competitors

• Chef’n Candy Spot Ice Cream Maker: Whereas it’s technically not an ice cream maker, we did take a look at it, and it did work nicely. Merely pour your base over the pre-frozen bowl, then use the twin spatulas to unfold it thinly till it begins to freeze. You’ll be able to then scrape the ice cream into rolls. We preferred the expertise (and the feel of the ice cream), however because it’s not introducing air we couldn’t fee it in opposition to our winners.
• Klarstein Candy Desires Ice Cream Maker: The Klarstein ice cream machine has a removable motor positioned on the highest of the unit, moderately than housed inside it just like the others, that rotates the paddle. It may be difficult to set the motor on prime and lock it into the paddle—we needed to rotate the paddle with tweezers to line up the keyhole to lock the motor into place. As a result of the motor is on prime of the unit, it’s tough to see contained in the canister to watch the ice cream churning. The opening for including mix-ins could be very small and positioned behind the motor, which makes it straightforward to spill sticky caramel and different mix-ins onto the motor. We fear that the mix of a removable motor and a gap for mix-ins so shut by may make this unit vulnerable to breakage.
• Nostalgia Electrical Ice Cream Maker: The Hamilton Seashore and the Nostalgia ICMP400 function identically, with the identical paddle, capability, and churn time. We gave a slight edge to the Hamilton Seashore as a result of the plastic paddle has a metallic dowel operating via it, whereas the Nostalgia has an all-plastic building.
• KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment: The churning paddle on the KitchenAid stand mixer ice cream maker attachment is sq., reaching the very prime of the bowl whereas not absolutely scraping the underside. This design led to spillage when including the bottom in addition to the mix-ins; additions would bounce or pour off the paddle itself. Additionally, as soon as the bottom thickened, the paddle gave the impression to be pushing the ice cream across the bowl, with little scraping or folding movement, moderately than the extra cyclical, churning movement of different paddles. This resulted in parts of ice cream that appeared each over-churned and greasy, and a few that appeared under-churned and icy, on the similar time. We didn’t have as apparent of a consistency subject churning lower-fat bases, comparable to frozen yogurt and sorbet.
• Ariete Ice Cream Maker: The Ariete Ice Cream Maker by DeLonghi has the same bowl, paddle, and lid design to the Cuisinart, our prime compressor decide, and due to this fact performs very equally. We finally went with the Cuisinart over this mannequin as a result of we want the simplicity of the management panel, smaller footprint, and lower cost level of the Cuisinart.
• Della Ice Cream Maker: The Della Ice Cream Maker is supplied with a yogurt maker operate, which warms the milk and tradition as much as set it earlier than chilling it right down to serving temperature. For those who’re occupied with an ice-cream-and-yogurt-machine combo, then that is your greatest wager. Nonetheless, in contrast with its competitors, this unit took the longest to totally churn the ice lotions and sorbets, upwards of 70 minutes. The touchscreen panel can also be not very delicate; we needed to press down arduous to activate the buttons.
• Whynter Automated Ice Cream Maker: The Whynter ice cream machine was the highest decide for Wirecutter and carried out nicely in our assessments, producing {smooth} ice cream. We finally selected the Cuisinart ICE-100 as our prime compressor mannequin, for its smaller footprint and lower cost, and one other Whynter mannequin that had a slight edge performance-wise.
• Lovely by Drew Barrymore 1.5-Quart Ice Cream Maker with Contact Activated Show: We didn’t like that the highest was opaque, which made it arduous to watch the ice cream’s progress.

FAQs

How lengthy does an ice cream maker have to freeze?

This relies each on the kind of ice cream maker you’re utilizing and the temperature of your freezer. The directions that include our prime decide ice cream maker—Cuisinart’s ICE-21—name for a 16- to 24-hour freeze at 0°F (-18°C). This implies you’ll have to plan accordingly in your ice cream-making endeavors. A phrase to the sensible: For those who shake your ice cream maker’s bowl and listen to any liquid sloshing round after freezing it, put it again within the freezer. It isn’t but able to make ice cream.

Is an ice cream maker price it?

For those who love ice cream and you’ve got the house in your kitchen to accommodate an ice cream maker, then sure, it is price it. Utilizing an ice cream maker does take some planning and endurance, however when you get the grasp of your machine and the fundamental approach for making ice cream, you may go wild with taste mixtures and add-in elements.

How a lot is an ice cream machine?

Our general prime decide is about $70, whereas our favourite, splurge-y ice cream maker is about $500 (and we have picks in between and past these costs). So, you may actually spend what you need to.

Are you able to make ice cream with out a machine?

No-churn ice cream recipes that don’t require an ice cream maker are positively a factor, however don’t be shocked if the feel isn’t fairly the identical. The graceful, melting consistency of churned ice cream is the results of air included into the creamy base, and when you can partially obtain this with a whisk attachment and a stand mixer, it’s powerful to match the outcomes of a well-designed, correctly chilled ice cream maker.

Which is best: An all-in-one ice cream machine or a guide or freezer bowl ice cream machine?

Whereas it relies on your wants and the way severe you’re about your ice cream, we predict that all-in-one ice cream machines with built-in cooling programs have a tendency to provide creamier, much less icy ice cream. That mentioned, the recipe you select additionally impacts outcomes. So, ultimately, you may nonetheless make nice ice cream in a hand-churn or freezer bowl-style machine.

Is the Ninja Creami an excellent ice cream maker?

Whereas it is much-hyped on social media, we did not just like the Ninja Creami. For starters, it is very loud. It additionally made inconsistent outcomes, was giant and tough to assemble, and, general, was far too costly given its usability and efficiency points.

Why We are the Consultants

• Sohla El-Waylly has labored for a few of New York Metropolis’s greatest eating places and is a cookbook writer, social media star, video character, and recipe developer for NYT Cooking.
• Sohla has written many equipment-related tales and recipes for Critical Eats, together with critiques of ice cream makers and immersion blenders.
• Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm is the commerce affiliate editorial director at Critical Eats. She’s been with the location since 2021 and beforehand labored at America’s Take a look at Kitchen, Food52, and EatingWell. 
• Riddley’s written quite a few critiques, together with air fryers. 
• For this overview, we examined 15 ice cream makers. We additionally not too long ago retested new fashions—evaluating them to our favourite machines.
• Which means for about six years, our favourite ice cream makers have been frequently used and re-tested—to verify they’re nonetheless the most effective.
• Jesse Raub (Critical Eats’ former commerce author) and Summer season Rylander (a contract meals journalist) up to date this overview by including in newly examined fashions and serving to to reply ceaselessly requested questions from readers.