Old Fashioned Wood Ice Cream Maker
The research
- Why you should trust us
- Who this is for
- How we picked
- How nosotros tested
- Our pick: Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker (Water ice-21)
- Flaws but not dealbreakers
- Too great: Whynter ICM-201SB
- Upgrade option: Lello 4080 Musso Lussino
- Ice cream making tips
- What is overrun?
- Intendance and maintenance
- Other adept ice foam makers
- The competition
- Sources
Why you should trust the states
Anna Perling is a Wirecutter staff writer who has covered a variety of kitchen gear including stand mixers, Instant Pot pressure cookers, and common cold-mash java makers. For our 2021 update, she spoke with three ice cream experts: Pooja Bavishi, founder of Malai Ice Cream; Hannah Bae, founder of Noona's Ice Foam; and Lokelani Alabanza, founder of Saturated Water ice Cream. Both Bavishi and Bae started out making water ice foam at home before opening successful businesses to offer ice cream flavors, inspired by their cultures, that they weren't seeing in grocery stores; Alabanza helped found Hattie Jane's Creamery in Nashville, Tennessee, before going out on her own to make found-based CBD water ice creams.
To learn about the ice cream making process, Anna read pastry chef Fany Gerson's Mexican Ice Cream: Beloved Recipes and Stories, Jeni Britton Bauer's Jeni'due south Splendid Ice Cream Desserts, and David Lebovitz'south The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments. Previously, Wirecutter writers spoke with Brian Smith, co-owner of Ample Hills Creamery at the time of our interview; Billy Barlow, culinary and production director at Blue Marble Ice Cream at the time of our interview; and Douglas Goff, professor and food scientist at the University of Guelph.
We spent hours comparing recipes, poring over reviews of machines, and reading upwards on the science behind ice cream, sorbets, and vegan frozen treats. Before diving into full-on testing, Anna spent a week tinkering with recipes and machines to country on recipes that we thought would level the playing field. While testing, Anna likewise had assist from her mom, a retired caterer and Fine art Institutes culinary school graduate who has been making French vanilla ice foam for over fifteen years at home.
The original version of this guide was written past Wirecutter senior staff writer Lesley Stockton, who fabricated countless batches of ice cream and frozen yogurt over the course of her long culinary career. Marguerite Preston, who conducted testing for the 2017 and 2020 updates, is a senior editor at Wirecutter and a former professional baker who has a passion for ice cream. She has likewise worked on guides to block pans, waffle makers, pie plates, and more than.
Who this is for
Making your ain water ice cream can be magical, fun, and, oftentimes, more satisfying than swiping pints from the frosty towers in your grocery store freezer section. With your own automobile, you tin can also customize desserts if you desire to experiment with unique flavour combinations or accommodate recipes to piece of work for your dietary needs. An ice cream maker isn't an essential kitchen tool, but a good one is a worthwhile investment that will churn out amazing desserts for years to come. Blenders and DIY methods just don't yield the same dependably creamy, dumbo, spoonable results—and tend to be harder to apply and clean.
You can find a few different styles of ice cream maker, which we've outlined beneath, merely they all churn ice cream or sorbet in basically the same way. After you brand your water ice foam base, you pour it into the bowl of the automobile, which is cold enough to freeze the mixture. As the base freezes, a paddle—called the dasher—turns within the bowl, scraping the sides while breaking upwards ice crystals and churning air into the mixture, producing a soft, smooth water ice foam.
You can make something that'south tasty enough with just well-nigh whatsoever ice cream maker. Simply in our years of testing, we've establish that some machines tin produce icier results—and can be more difficult to use—than others. We accept recommendations for every manner of ice cream maker, but what yous buy should depend largely on how often yous plan to use it and how high your standards are for the ice cream it produces. To help you decide, here's a breakdown of the three basic styles of ice foam maker, which fit roughly into iii cost categories:
Water ice-and-table salt: These erstwhile-fashioned ice foam makers tend to be the about affordable. Y'all set the bowl filled with your ice cream base into a bucket of ice and salt, and so you churn the mixture, either past hand or with a motor clamped onto the car'due south top. If you lot desire to make ice foam only a few times during the summertime months, and you're non equally particular about getting the smoothest texture possible, this type might be a adept option. The setup can go pretty messy, though, so one of these machines may be best for people who have some outdoor space and are more excited about doing an interactive project (nosotros have an ice-and-salt machine we like in the department on other proficient water ice cream makers at the end of this guide).
Pre-frozen basin: This blazon of ice foam maker uses a liquid-filled insert bowl that you have to freeze for six to 24 hours before you tin use it to churn water ice cream (bank check the manufacturer'south instructions for recommended freeze times). This option is usually upkeep-friendly and will make delicious desserts. Using i of these machines requires a little foresight: You have to make sure your freezer is fix to 0 °F or colder, you may need to rearrange your freezer to accommodate the insert bowl, and you lot must remember to put the bowl in well earlier churning your ice cream. In addition, you can't make dorsum-to-back batches because yous'll need to refreeze the basin, simply you lot tin purchase actress bowls to stash in the freezer. Likewise, if you pull the bowl out during your freezer's automatic defrost cycle, it might non be cold enough to fully freeze your ice foam, though we haven't experienced this problem in our testing. (If you ain a chest freezer that requires manual defrosting, you lot can avoid the problem entirely.) Yous can check if the bowl is ready past shaking it: If you lot don't hear any liquid sloshing around, the basin is frozen enough to employ.
Compressor: This type—a self-refrigerating ice foam maker—is the easiest to use. Just flip a switch (which turns on the cooling mechanism, the compressor, to chill the bowl well beneath freezing), and you can plow out batch after batch of ice foam. These machines can be simple to apply, whether they're equipped with merely a few buttons to operate or loaded with automatic settings. Compressor models are the most expensive style of ice cream maker—skillful ones typically cost more than $200. Only they're the closest you tin get to professionally spun ice foam at habitation.
Making ice cream is an exercise in delayed gratification: The steps involve multiple rounds of chilling and freezing the base, and if you opt for an insert-bowl model, you also need to freeze the basin well ahead of fourth dimension. There'southward something captivating well-nigh undertaking the process and learning how to do information technology yourself, though. "When y'all touch something with your own hands and you spend the fourth dimension making it, I call back you just have a improve appreciation for it," said Lokelani Alabanza, founder of Saturated Ice Cream, a line of institute-based, CBD ice creams.
The best part about ice foam making is the inventiveness it allows. The base is a blank slate for fruits, nuts, cookies, vegetables, spices, and then much more. And whether yous're whipping up bases of French custard, egg-complimentary Philadelphia, or vegan coconut water ice cream, most recipes are simple to master. "It's a adequately like shooting fish in a barrel procedure—I don't think people necessarily know that," said Pooja Bavishi, founder of Malai Ice Cream. Watching milky liquid whip around and stiffen into a glittery, frozen mass is mesmerizing—and different the proverbial pot of water set up to boil, a watched ice cream will definitely freeze if yous have a decent machine. You can eat your dessert directly away if you want a softer texture (akin to a Dairy Queen Blizzard), or yous can wait a few hours after storing it in the freezer to pull a solid, satisfying scoop. Although yous can dive deep into the science of ice cream making (Penn Land offers a famous ice foam making form that many ice foam makers have attended), you can also find plenty of ice foam cookbooks and online recipes that are easy to use and not overwhelming. "That's why water ice cream makers accept written books for you," said Alabanza. "I never want anyone to feel overwhelmed. It'due south supposed to be fun."
While this guide is for dwelling cooks, the experts we spoke with take used several of our picks to develop their ain ice foam businesses. (Food & Wine has written nigh how the founders of brands such as Common salt & Straw and Jeni'due south Splendid Water ice Creams used the ICE-21 equally they got started; Jeni Britton Bauer withal recommends the auto in her book.) No dwelling house machine freezes as fast equally a professional person one (fast freezing means fewer ice crystals and creamier water ice cream) or yields every bit much ice foam. That said, they're a fraction of the cost. Yous may exist able to use one of our picks for recipe development or apply our upgrade selection for cottage-industry food production.
How we picked
An ice foam maker is a specialized machine: Its main job is to produce creamy ice foam that has few ice crystals. Over the years, we've found that compressor-cooled models usually do the all-time task of that because they generally freeze water ice cream faster than other styles practice. Plus, such models are the easiest to use since they don't require as much preplanning. We've tested but about every compressor model for home use out there, but for the 2021 update to this guide we also wanted to include several models that utilize a frozen bowl insert, which are less expensive than compressor machines but easier to use than ice-and-salt models. These ice cream makers take more than foresight to use since you demand to pre-freeze the insert bowl, and the bowl takes up space in your freezer. But we think the trade-offs may be worth it for the financial savings—and these machines tin yet make astonishing ice foam.
To choose what to exam for our 2021 update, we looked at every ice cream maker you can get from a retail shop today (and we considered a few from restaurant-supply stores, too). That meant scoping out Amazon, Sur La Table, Target, and Williams Sonoma. We read editorial reviews from Food & Vino, Good Housekeeping, Kitchn, Reviewed, Serious Eats, The Spruce, and The Strategist (like Wirecutter, many of these sites use affiliate links). We also looked at customer reviews of dissimilar models, read reader comments on the previous version of this guide, and asked the experts we interviewed near the machines they've used.
Based on our research and prior testing feel, we looked for water ice cream machines that met the post-obit criteria:
Freezes fast: The faster the mixture freezes, the less time ice crystals have to course. That'southward why compressor machines tend to produce smoother textures (and also why you should arctic your ice foam base before freezing). A automobile that uses water ice and salt or a frozen bowl but gets warmer as the mixture freezes. A good compressor machine, in contrast, can get equally cold as -31 degrees Fahrenheit and can maintain that temperature until the end of the wheel. And although most manuals won't tell you lot exactly how long it should have to make ice cream, we found that our favorite machines took effectually twenty to 40 minutes.
Churns quickly and efficiently: While the ice cream freezes, the dasher—a paddle in the machine—stirs the mixture. As it turns, it should scrape the insides of the bowl to intermission up the icy layer that forms there, and information technology should spin quickly enough to preclude large crystals from forming. The rate at which the dasher turns also determines, in part, the overrun (the amount of air whipped into ice cream, measured as a percentage), which helps make the ice cream shine and silky rather than dumbo and icy. The necessity of speed is also why, after trying some hand-crank models in 2014, nosotros dismissed those entirely: They're just likewise much work.
Easy to use: Even high-finish compressor machines don't crave much more an on/off switch to operate, so we looked for models with a simple interface. Very few machines we've found will tell you when your ice foam is done, simply it's helpful for a compressor automobile to at least include a timer that you tin can fix once you get a sense of how long information technology takes to churn your favorite recipes. In compressor machines, an automobile-off function paired with a keep-absurd setting is dainty to have for making the process foolproof: It shuts off the dasher if the water ice cream freezes too hard to churn—which could impairment the motor—only keeps your ice foam from melting. Beyond that, extra features, such every bit a cooling function to chill your base before churning, are squeamish but not necessary. Most recipes recommend storing the base in the fridge for multiple hours anyway.
Easy to make clean: Making ice cream is a sticky business, so we preferred machines that made the cleanup process easier. A removable bowl and paddle are best because they're like shooting fish in a barrel to wash in the sink. (Machines that have built-in bowls, or many nooks and crannies, are harder to wipe out.) We liked wider bowls instead of taller, narrower ones because they were easier to scrape the ice foam out of and also easier to add mix-ins to without spilling ingredients everywhere.
Like shooting fish in a barrel to store: Some ice cream makers, especially compressor models, are large and heavy. We measured models to note how much space they took up on a counter or in a cabinet also as how much they weighed, and nosotros considered how much space the inserts or bowls took up inside a freezer.
Warranty: Since the all-time ice cream machines can be expensive, we looked at each automobile's warranty and whether a company offered replacement parts. Our picks have at least a one-year warranty.
How we tested
We tested seven machines for our 2021 update. First, we made a batch of David Lebovitz's rich vanilla custard ice cream in each motorcar. Higher-fat ice cream bases are more forgiving because they contain a lower percentage of water, which can crystallize and ruin the flossy texture. If a exam car ended upwardly making icy ice foam from this luxurious base of operations, we figured information technology wouldn't exist worth buying.
Though we've skipped testing sorbet making in recent years (since we constitute that all of the machines created similar results in that regard), nosotros wanted to examination a vegan recipe for the 2021 update. We used a coconut milk and cream base recipe from Serious Eats, based on advice from the experts nosotros spoke with indicating that ice cream needs fat to create a flossy texture. (This vegan recipe also has some bourbon to get in easier to scoop, but yous can simply leave the alcohol out.)
While testing each ice foam maker, nosotros noted how like shooting fish in a barrel it was to employ, scrape out, and clean. Nosotros gear up a base of operations timer for 20 minutes and so checked each batch every five minutes after that for doneness, looking for a thicker, frozen-yogurt-like texture and checking whether a spatula left a valley backside when nosotros dragged it through the base.
To calculate overrun, or how much air each car whipped into the water ice foam, we weighed a pint of each base before freezing, and and then we weighed a pint of the frozen dessert. And after the water ice foam saturday overnight in the freezer, we tasted information technology, assessing texture and mouthfeel, taste, iciness, and density. Anna'southward mom, a culinary school graduate and retired caterer, besides weighed in. At this point we were able to eliminate some machines that fabricated icy ice cream or were choosy to utilize.
With the finalists, nosotros made a batch of Philadelphia-fashion water ice foam (which doesn't have eggs) with Oreos as mix-ins (these cookies are vegan, kosher, and available in a gluten-free pick). Nosotros considered how piece of cake information technology was to pour the crumbly crushed cookies into the base and whether the machine could handle the extra strain of mixing a chunkier base. Finally, we measured each car to brand note of how much space it took up on the counter.
In previous rounds of testing, nosotros made chocolate and vanilla custard ice cream following the same process outlined above, using crushed graham crackers as a mix-in. In 2015, nosotros also made a simple lemon sorbet, without added glucose or corn syrup to smooth out the texture, but all the ice cream makers produced duplicate sorbet, so nosotros did not repeat this test for other updates. Our determination: If you're interested mainly in making basic sorbets using just granulated saccharide, water, and fruit, our priciest picks may not be worth investing in, since without other ingredients—such every bit fats, stabilizers, and other sugars—fifty-fifty a great automobile volition yield somewhat icy results.
Our choice: Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Water ice Foam & Sorbet Maker (ICE-21)
Our selection
Ice cream from the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Water ice Foam & Sorbet Maker (Water ice-21) ranked amidst the best we tasted: Custard was flossy, silky, and dense, with a texture on a par with the output of machines costing most 10 times as much. Philadelphia-way Oreo ice cream was lighter and similar to water ice cream from our also-keen compressor choice, the Whynter ICM-201SB, with a petty crunch from the cookies. Its vegan coconut batch was smoothen, nutty, and rich—some of the best nosotros tasted, and just barely icy. Though you take to pre-freeze the bowl for this automobile, you can simply get an extra bowl if you'd similar to make a couple of recipes at a fourth dimension. The ICE-21 is unproblematic to use, with just one on/off button, and that's really all you lot need. If storage or lifting is an issue for you, note that this machine is smaller and lighter than a compressor model. Plus, the Ice-21 has a 3-year warranty and a great reputation amongst the experts we spoke with and big-league water ice cream makers: Lokelani Alabanza and Hannah Bae recommend it, as does Jeni Britton Bauer in her book.
In our tests, the Water ice-21 consistently made some of the all-time-tasting, creamiest ice cream. Custard was thick and flossy, non at all icy. It was slightly firmer and denser than the ice cream from the Musso Lussino, but we don't retrieve that's a bad thing (plus, it's ice cream—it will still dissolve on your natural language). At 48%, the overrun of the frozen custard (meaning, the percentage by which the volume of the base increased with churning, mostly from whipped-in air) was centre-of-the-road compared with that of water ice cream from other machines. And the flavors were blended and well balanced, amend than the ice foam from the freezer-bowl zipper for KitchenAid stand mixers, which tasted chalky. Vegan ice cream was also infrequent: business firm only polish and luscious, with but a trivial grittiness from water ice crystals. When Anna was trying out recipes to choose for our 2021 testing, she experimented past using the ICE-21 and our long-continuing upgrade pick, the Lello 4080 Musso Lussino, assuming that the Ice-21, equally one of the cheapest machines, would make worse results. She made various Philadelphia-style recipes, as well as the vegan and custard recipes we ended upwards using. She could barely tell the difference between batches of ice foam from the two machines, nevertheless, and that proved truthful again equally she formally tested them confronting five other models. With the rest of the machines, there was a more pronounced difference: Ice foam from the water ice-and-table salt Nostalgia, for example, was icier and grittier, while ice cream from the Whynter ICM-201SB was fluffier.
The Water ice-21 was repeatedly 1 of the fastest machines to make ice cream, besides, taking well-nigh 20 minutes for every style of recipe. Apart from shortening your water ice cream making procedure, a fast churning speed also means the ice cream freezes faster, resulting in fewer water ice crystals. In our most contempo tests, the Whynter ICM-201SB was the slowest motorcar, taking over 35 minutes to make each batch. (It made slightly icy desserts, only non as icy as what we got from machines like the Nostalgia; various factors can affect iciness, though, and churn fourth dimension tin vary a bit.) The Ice-21 won't tell you when your water ice cream is done, simply you'll quickly learn to gauge when information technology'due south ready by sight: The results should look like soft-serve water ice cream, and when you drag a spatula through the mixture, the tool should create a valley.
Ane of the all-time parts most making water ice cream is that for something so delectable, it's relatively simple to make. And amidst the machines we tested, the Water ice-21 is ane of the easiest to use. It has merely one on/off push button, and that's really all you lot need. At that place's no screwing in, assembling, or attaching of parts—yous just put the frozen bowl on the base, set the dasher in the bowl, place the plastic dome-like embrace over it all, press the on button, and pour in your base. Some more expensive compressor models have extra features such as a keep-cool role or a timer, which are overnice perks, but they aren't necessary for the essential function of the machine.
The Water ice-21's domed plastic lid has a hole without a cover, and then calculation mix-ins is easy: You just cascade them through the opening. Note that this machine has a smaller capacity (1.5 quarts) than some other models nosotros tested, so you may need to conform your base accordingly, peculiarly if yous want to add toppings. Each batch we made overflowed ever so slightly, seeping out of the bowl beyond the dasher. We ultimately had to swirl in the Oreos with a spatula, but information technology was like shooting fish in a barrel to exercise, and nosotros would accept had to dirty that utensil to scrape the auto make clean anyhow.
With its removable bowl insert, the Water ice-21 is easy to make clean in the sink. The double-walled bowl contains a layer of liquid that freezes, so it'south slightly heavier than a drinking glass mixing bowl. It's easy enough to scrape the squared corners of the container and hand-launder information technology with hot water to cook any remaining frozen water ice cream. The dasher doesn't have as many rungs as the one that comes with the Nostalgia machine, so maneuvering with a spatula to scrape it clean is easier. Cuisinart recommends hand-washing all parts and then wiping down the base of operations. Yous should also dry the bowl thoroughly earlier refreezing it. Fortunately, unlike some of the compressor machines we tested, this automobile doesn't have open grates or nooks and crannies to trap filmy stale milk.
The Water ice-21 is smaller and lighter than other machines we tested, which is a plus if y'all take limited storage space and want to stash the car away and then pull it out when you need it. The automobile measures about 12 inches tall, 8 inches broad, and 8.5 inches deep, and information technology weighs nigh 10 pounds. The bowl takes upwards freezer space, all the same, so keep that in mind when opting for any insert model—especially if you'd like to invest in an actress bowl, too.
Emitting just a gentle hum during operation, the ICE-21 isn't as loud as the whiny Cuisinart ICE-30 or the roaring Nostalgia machine, but it's less quiet than the Whynter ICM-201SB or Musso Lussino. All ice foam machines make some noise, however.
The ICE-21 comes with a three-twelvemonth warranty, i of the longest coverage periods nosotros found.
Multiple experts we spoke with recommended this automobile: Hannah Bae, the founder of Noona's Water ice Foam, started making ice cream with this machine, used it to develop flavors, and still has it, while Saturated Ice Cream's Lokelani Alabanza told us she recommends this machine across the board to people who desire to start making their ain water ice cream because it's and then easy to use. It also has multiple endorsements from other big-proper name creamery founders, including Jeni Britton Bauer, who recommends it in her book, and Tyler Malek, the founder of Salt & Straw, who recommends it in a Food & Wine article.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
The 1.5-quart Water ice-21 has a smaller capacity than Cuisinart's 2-quart ICE-thirty and ICE-70 models, and in our tests it slightly overflowed during mixing. Nosotros hands scraped the backlog frozen mixture off, notwithstanding, and it didn't drip downward the sides of the machine or stop the car from churning. When we added mix-ins, they did stop the churning, but this was true for all of the ice foam makers in our 2021 testing. If you want to make more ice cream at once, the Cuisinart ICE-30 or Ice-70 will work, as volition a few options in the Contest section. With any canister model, you lot also have to make sure that your bowl is thoroughly frozen before you lot use it—otherwise, y'all may be left with a shake and heartbreak.
Also great: Whynter ICM-201SB
Too swell
Whynter ICM-201SB
The best compressor model
Of all the compressor machines we've tested over four years, the larger-capacity ICM-201SB is one of the easiest to utilise, scoop from, and make clean. And compared with far pricier options, this model tin can't be beat for the shine water ice cream information technology produces.
If you lot want a machine that will churn out batch after batch without your having to pre-freeze a bowl, the Whynter ICM-201SB is the all-time compressor automobile you can get. Since 2014, we've tested merely about every compressor machine for home use, and Whynter machines consistently make not-icy desserts, though in our 2021 testing, we institute that the ice cream from the ICM-201SB was fluffier than the results from other machines. That'south non a bad affair—you may like a lighter frozen treat. Only if you desire denser ice foam, you lot may prefer one of our other picks.
Water ice cream from the ICM-201SB wasn't icy—it was airy with a silky mouthfeel. We fabricated two batches of custard in the ICM-201SB and got slightly different results depending on the churn time. The first batch, which spun for 40 minutes, had a texture like a frozen Absurd Whip, more similar whipped topping than thicker, spoonable ice cream. The 2nd batch, which churned for 35 minutes, was heftier but still not as dense every bit ice cream from our other picks. The Oreo-season batch from the Whynter was one of our favorites, though, as the airy texture contrasted nicely with the chunky cookie bits. Vegan water ice cream was e'er so slightly icy—the ice crystals felt similar fine sand that dissolved quickly on the tongue, versus the grittier, more gravelly ice foam from the Nostalgia machine—and had more of a chew than the vegan ice cream from the Lello 4080 Musso Lussino.
In our 2021 tests, the ICM-201SB took the longest to churn ice cream, though the timeframe was in line with the instructions in the manual, which recommended a 30- to 60-minute churn time. Our batches consistently took at least 35 minutes to make (in past years, we've made ice foam in the ICM-201SB in virtually 32 minutes, but that's however longer than our other picks have taken). We churned the get-go batch we fabricated in the ICM-201SB for xl minutes, which produced the airiest ice cream with the highest overrun; at 35 minutes, the 2d batch we made was denser and had an overrun percentage of 66%, lower than that of ice cream from the KitchenAid mixer's attachment only still one of the higher percentages among the machines we tested. That overrun percentage aligned with the comparatively fluffier texture of the ice cream. By comparison, in our 2020 tests, the similar simply smaller-capacity Whynter ICM-15LS produced a somewhat denser ice cream, with an overrun of about 49%. These two machines fluctuate in price, and you may be able to get the ICM-15LS for less; we retrieve either automobile is a groovy choice for a compressor model. Only go along in listen that the water ice cream from the ICM-201SB may exist fluffier.
Like all of the models nosotros tested, the ICM-201SB is pretty like shooting fish in a barrel to operate. In add-on to the water ice foam making office, the ICM-201SB has two other modes that are nice just not necessary—i for freezing only (useful if you can't transfer your ice cream to the freezer immediately, considering ice foam starts to melt quickly in the uninsulated bowl), and another for mixing merely (which allows yous to mix certain simple, no-cook bases directly in the machine). You lot tin also pause churning to add mix-ins or check the texture for doneness. The ICM-201SB has a timer on an LCD console that chimes and stops the machine'southward churning when the time is upwardly, earlier switching it over to cooling mode. This model won't tell you when your ice cream is done, but if you do let it go also long, the machine has a kill switch that stops its churning (but not its freezing) when the motor starts to strain confronting the thick mixture. Although nosotros found it easy to add mix-ins to the wide, 2.ane-quart basin, the kill switch shut the machine off when we added Oreos. (We didn't run into this issue when adding graham crackers in past rounds of testing.)
The ICM-201SB has a shallow, lightweight metal bowl that you can easily remove from the automobile for cleaning. It has a thin handle, equally on a pail, that flopped down when we scraped out water ice cream, which made it slightly more abrasive to wrangle compared with the unproblematic basin of the Cuisinart Ice-21. And the hole in the middle of the Whynter model has some crannies that are hard to get totally make clean—we recommend using a rolled-up paper towel or straw castor. Because the bowl is shallow, it doesn't take up as much space in the freezer if you want to pre-freeze it. (Technically y'all don't have to since this is a compressor model that will freeze the ice cream directly in the car, only it's notwithstanding a practiced idea to keep everything as cold equally possible before churning.) Unfortunately, the bowl and plastic paddle aren't dishwasher safe, but they are easy enough to launder by manus.
We found that the ICM-201SB was one of the quietest machines we tested, running at a gentle hum. The sound was noticeable, but it was non irritating like the high-pitched whine of the Nostalgia or the Cuisinart ICE-thirty. And the beep of the timer was loud enough for us to hear.
While the ICM-201SB is not every bit heavy as the Musso Lussino, it nonetheless weighs a fairly substantial 24 pounds. Information technology's taller just has a smaller footprint, measuring about x.5 inches wide, 12 inches deep, and 13.half dozen inches high. The automobile is nigh cube-similar, with an attractively modern stainless steel housing with black accents. It tin be a hurting to lug in and out of a cabinet every time yous desire to use it. If your kitchen space is limited, y'all may accept trouble finding a identify to shop this thing, but the same could be said for all of the compressor models we tested; you just need to decide whether committing to i of these hulking machines is worth the effort. The Whynter ICM-201SB has a one-yr warranty, which is on a par with the Musso Lussino's coverage but is shorter than the Cuisinart Ice-21'due south warranty.
Upgrade pick: Lello 4080 Musso Lussino
Upgrade pick
Lello 4080 Musso Lussino
A premium auto
This machine makes the absolute smoothest bootleg ice cream nosotros've tasted in years of testing. You may find information technology harder to clean than our main option because it doesn't take a removable bowl, and it'south large and heavy. The huge price tag may dissuade coincidental dessert-makers, but it'due south worth the investment for ice cream aficionados.
The Lello 4080 Musso Lussino is truly the nearly luxurious home ice cream maker we've ever used. Since 2015, it has consistently fabricated the best ice cream in our tests. With such a high cost, however, it'south worth the investment only if y'all're a serious connoisseur or want the absolute all-time. Musso is an Italian company that sells home and commercial ice cream and gelato makers, and the experts we spoke with have also used this motorcar in professional person settings. The design of the Musso Lussino is sleek and simple, with no bells and whistles, merely it's heavier and harder to clean than other machines we tested.
Thanks to a more powerful compressor that allows this machine to freeze the mixture faster than other compressor models we tested, the ice foam we made in the Musso Lussino had an intense creaminess reminiscent of shop-bought premium versions. The deviation was evident when nosotros scooped out the finished product: It was stretchy, like gelato, and visually smoother, with not a trace of gritty water ice crystals in a spoonful. All of the recipes we tested—custard, Oreo, and vegan coconut—were outstanding from the Musso Lussino. This machine was one of the fastest of all the models we tested, taking 20 to 22 minutes to churn. Every bit with the Cuisinart ICE-21, that speed resulted in fewer ice crystals and a silkier texture.
Like most of the machines we tested, the Musso Lussino is elementary to use. Its design is super sleek, with gleaming stainless steel housing and parts plus a built-in bowl with a ane.five-quart capacity. You get together the machine by screwing on a nut that secures a metal dasher in the middle of the bowl and then placing the domed plastic chapeau on top. The Musso Lussino's all-metal parts are unique among the machines nosotros tested, and they're probable to last longer than a plastic dasher or freezer bowl, which can scratch or ding over time. The auto is an elliptical shape with curved corners, a design that gives it a mid-century modern vibe. It has separate buttons for freezing and churning that illuminate when on, and you accept to switch both of them on to actually make water ice cream. You lot can suspension churning to add together mix-ins or check the doneness of your water ice cream. There's besides a knob-punch timer, though information technology isn't exact to the minute and has to run to the end (you tin can't turn it back to zippo to complete timing early on).
We practise have a few pocket-size gripes nigh the Musso Lussino'south build. It'south not as easy to clean every bit models with removable bowls. You need to wipe the machine out with a piddling warm soapy water, existence certain to wipe it again with water to rinse it completely. Lastly and optionally, you tin sanitize the automobile with a restaurant-class or food-service sanitizer spray (these may be hard to discover online in small quantities, just you may be able to option upwardly a bottle in a restaurant-supply store). The experts we spoke with, even so, don't mind maintaining their Musso machines. Saturated Ice Foam'southward Lokelani Alabanza, who has a larger (2-quart) version, the Lello Musso Pola 5030, said, "I don't experience cleaning and sanitizing the pocket-size basin is that bad," particularly compared with cleaning a larger industrial motorcar that you have to detach. Hannah Bae of Noona's Ice Cream besides thinks the Musso Lussino is piece of cake to clean because of the streamlined blueprint. Armed with 2 bowls and a few absorptive bar mops, we found that cleaning the Musso Lussino took simply a few minutes, only the chore was still a little awkward compared with washing a bowl in the sink.
The Musso Lussino is likewise huge and heavy. Information technology weighs about forty pounds and measures most 12 inches broad, 17 inches long, and ten.5 inches tall, taking up more counter space than whatever other motorcar nosotros've tested. This model isn't something you lot tin can easily stash on a shelf, so if y'all don't take room to keep information technology permanently on your counter, be enlightened that it will be a chore to pull this thing out when you lot want to make ice foam.
And again, the Musso Lussino is expensive. For the same toll, y'all could easily purchase over 100 pints of premium ice cream, at $5 per pint, from a store—if you factor in the price of the Musso Lussino plus quality ingredients (and why apply anything else in such a machine?). But if you lot like to make ice cream for family and friends on the regular, or if you want to upward your ice cream production, this machine is the best you can get for home utilise.
The Musso Lussino comes with a ane-year warranty, which is a scrap short given the hefty cost tag. The company does sell spare parts, and it has a breakdown of what's what so you can repair the machine (if y'all tin can notice this car used, we recommend testing it out and asking the previous owner how they used and maintained the machine earlier purchasing). Alabanza suggests finding a local repairperson who can aid fix a compressor machine if you take problems downward the line. Malai Ice Cream's Pooja Bavishi, who also has the Lello Musso Pola 5030, told us that the machine has worked well for the past vi years. Alabanza said of the Musso Pola: "It is an amazing machine. Everything's dissimilar [with plant-based ice cream]: time, temp, any. But it's produced some really great ice cream."
Ice cream making tips
Fifty-fifty the best domicile water ice cream machine volition never make ice cream that's quite as smooth as the stuff you tin buy in the store. Professional machines churn ice cream more quickly at lower temperatures, preventing ice crystals from forming. Only you can take some steps to greatly increase the quality of your homemade ice foam, generally by making sure it stays as cold as possible through every part of the process.
The most important thing to do is to arctic everything—your tools, ice cream base, mix-ins, and even storage containers—earlier churning, because when water ice cream freezes faster, fewer ice crystals grade. If you tin can, set your freezer to 0 °F or lower. The colder your freezer, the quicker your ice foam sets, which helps reduce the germination of large ice crystals. Brand sure to thoroughly chill your base in an water ice bath or in the fridge overnight before churning, too. And if yous want to add mix-ins, chill them in the freezer beginning so they don't melt your freshly spun ice cream. Be sure to add them when the ice foam is nearly finished churning, to foreclose them from getting soggy and sinking to the bottom.
Keep in mind that ice cream expands as it churns and you whip air into it. You lot may demand to adjust your base recipe to work with the capacity of your car so the ice foam doesn't overflow (most recipes should tell y'all how much ice cream they yield). Most machines, including our picks, don't tell yous when the ice cream is done, and so yous'll accept to use your best judgment. Our picks took 20 to 45 minutes to churn our chilled base of operations, then commencement checking on your ice cream after 20 minutes. Information technology should be thick, and about the consistency of soft-serve water ice cream, when it'southward done. If y'all drag a spoon through the base, the spoon should exit a valley behind.
When you remove the ice cream from the machine, it will be edible only likewise soft to scoop. To "ripen" information technology, transfer it to a container and put it in the freezer for at to the lowest degree a few hours. Try to motility quickly to avoid melting, which can cause ice crystals to form. Tightly pack your ice foam in a container to prevent any air bubbling from forming.
What is overrun?
The term "overrun" refers to the amount of air whipped into the ice cream as it's churned, and is commonly given as the percentage by which the volume of an ice cream base increases when churned. In other words, an ice cream with 60% overrun, for example, has a book that's 60% larger than its volume in unfrozen course, generally from added air. That air plays a role in both texture and flavor delivery. It helps give ice cream a lighter, smoother mouthfeel, and it can raise the flavor. Equally Billy Barlow, culinary and production director at Blue Marble Ice Cream at the fourth dimension of our interview, explained, "If you have mint or vanilla in your water ice cream, something that's aromatic, those air capsules actually hold the odour of whatever it is you're flavoring with."
Commercial ice cream overrun can range from the super dense to the light and fluffy. Brands defined as "super-premium" are typically denser, with an overrun of less than 50%, while inexpensive brands tin accept an overrun of 100% or more than. Douglas Goff, a nutrient scientist with all-encompassing experience in ice cream, told us that overrun is "one of the defining characteristics of quality" for store-bought ice cream. "Likewise low and it is very dense, heavy, and rich (Häagen-Dazs as the quintessential example), and too loftier and it is too marshmallowy/fluffy, the inexpensive supermarket no-name brands being a expert example."
If yous're making ice cream at domicile and using skilful cream, chocolate, or other flavorings, low and high overrun tin can both exist desirable, depending on your preference. Think of the divergence between low and loftier overrun as that between pudding and mousse—they're both stirred custard desserts, and they're both delicious. Many factors tin can affect your ice cream'southward overrun, including the speed at which the dasher in your ice foam maker turns, the add-on of stabilizers, and even the blazon of sugar yous use. Simply in practice, it's hard to control overrun when you lot are making water ice cream at home. Your all-time bet is to get a good ice cream maker that churns fast plenty to produce smooth, aerated ice cream.
Care and maintenance
Ice cream is frozen milk; when information technology melts, it tin can leave a viscous movie that becomes a breeding ground for bacteria. Brand certain to clean and dry your machine thoroughly later on each use, wiping downward the base, knobs, and dials, and getting into any nooks and crannies. And clean it right away to make the procedure easier: "Don't expect until the milk hardens upwards and dries," said Hannah Bae of Noona'south Water ice Cream.
If you're experimenting with powdery or aromatic ingredients, take extra care. Malai Water ice Cream's Pooja Bavishi said that when she was developing flavors with java or masala chai, which have fine particles, she preferred "taking a Q-tip or rolling a paper towel actually thin and trying to make clean the exterior edges to make sure that [the machine] would stay every bit kind of pristine equally possible." Saturated Ice Cream's Lokelani Alabanza prefers to use a harbinger-cleaning brush (we like the one included in this OXO castor set) to get into the crevices around a dasher; Bae recommends a toothbrush.
The experts we spoke with recommended spraying machines with a eatery-course sanitizer spray to be actress safe, only such sprays tin be hard to discover in small quantities online (you might take better luck at a restaurant-supply store). You can besides paw-launder with warm, soapy water. You tin can wipe down the motorcar with h2o afterward to remove any lingering smells or tastes that could affect your next batch, and so dry the machine.
You don't accept to store inserts in the freezer permanently, only recollect to put them in well before you want to churn a batch of ice foam. Bae recommends wrapping a bowl with plastic wrap to keep it make clean and to prevent any food or water ice particles from affecting your water ice cream. If inserts outset leaking or get scratched, you may need to replace them. Y'all should hand-launder these bowls and the other parts of an water ice cream machine following the manufacturer's instructions. To scrape out ice foam, Bavishi advises against using a metal spoon, which can scratch insulated bowls. "Utilise something soft, like a rubber spatula, or a wooden spoon," she said.
Other good water ice foam makers
If you prefer an ice-and-table salt option, the Nostalgia Electrical Water ice Cream Maker With Easy-Comport Handle is more than affordable than our other picks and effectively makes water ice cream, though information technology may have longer and create icier desserts. Nosotros constitute this machine harder to use than our picks since information technology requires breaking up water ice before adding it to a saucepan layered with salt. The taller, narrower canister was a little harder for us to scrape out and shop in the freezer. And considering the motor attachment rests on superlative of the machine, checking for doneness is more difficult. The sometime-schoolhouse pattern and more involved process may brand the Nostalgia a better bet for a fun outdoor activity versus producing multiple batches of ice cream.
The Whynter ICM-15LS was our runner-upwards pick in 2020 and a previous elevation pick. Information technology's a good option if yous're looking for a compressor automobile that's usually a piddling less expensive than the ICM-201SB, or i that makes somewhat denser ice cream. It makes groovy ice cream and has well-nigh of the same features we like in the ICM-201SB, including a timer, a keep-cool function, and an automatic shutoff (to keep the motor from called-for out if your ice cream gets also thick to churn). Information technology has a smaller capacity (1.6 quarts instead of 2.1 quarts) but a larger footprint. Over the years, we've noticed that prices fluctuate for both of these Whynter models; either one is a solid option if you lot tin can find it for a lot less than the other.
If you lot want a machine with a little more than capacity than the 1.v-quart Cuisinart ICE-21 offers, too as a few actress features, the ii-quart Cuisinart Cool Creations Ice Cream Maker (ICE-seventy) is a bully choice. It made succulent water ice foam in our tests, and we appreciated the addition features: It has a timer, as well as a wider opening to add mix-ins. Compared with the Water ice-21, it's similarly like shooting fish in a barrel to employ and clean, but it has three modes (for gelato, water ice cream, and sorbet) that you aren't probable to need. It's also more expensive. If you desire to make multiple batches back-to-back in this model, nosotros recommend getting an extra insert.
The competition
Slightly larger than the ICE-21, the two-quart Cuisinart Pure Indulgence Ice Cream Maker (Water ice-30BCP1) made icier ice cream than our picks. It was louder and slower, too. But if you desire to brand more than water ice cream at one time than you lot can with the Ice-21, which has a 1.5-quart capacity, the ICE-30 will do the job. Since this is also an insert model, if you desire to make multiple batches of ice foam in a day, we recommend getting an additional bowl.
We tested the Cuisinart ICE-100 Water ice Foam and Gelato Maker in 2017. Pitted against other compressor models, it couldn't compete and came in dead last in our sense of taste tests. It took the longest to churn ice cream—42 minutes—and the effect was the iciest in our exam group. We decided not to retest it because reviewers reported various problems with icy water ice foam, racket, and assembling and cleaning the machine.
In our 2020 tests, we found that the Whynter ICM-220SSY made denser and icier ice cream than our picks. Information technology has a unique yogurt-making part, just in our tests that mode was unreliable: More than once, the machine close off before finishing the yogurt-making program. (You can too make yogurt in an Instant Pot or in a regular pot, for what it's worth.)
The Whynter ICM-200LS is like a cantankerous between our likewise-neat pick, the Whynter ICM-201SB, and the ICM-15LS. It has the same chapters as the ICM-201SB just sports the aforementioned low, wide contour equally the ICM-15LS, as well as the same motor and compressor (according to a sales rep). The cost is usually closer to that of the ICM-201SB, but nosotros plant the operation more similar to that of the less expensive ICM-15LS, so nosotros think it's a skilful pick only if you lot can find information technology on sale, or if the other options are sold out.
The KitchenAid Ice Foam Maker Attachment (KICA0WH) works, but the design doesn't inspire conviction that the device volition last every bit long as the make's stalwart mixers. KitchenAid changed the pattern of the attachment since our last update in 2020: The adapter now lightly grips the base of the beater shaft and rests atop the dasher, which sits in a liquid-lined bowl that you freeze beforehand. The whole contraption stays in place due to force per unit area—when yous put the mixer head down, information technology presses down on top of the adapter. In our 2021 tests, we tried the attachment on four different KitchenAid mixers of various ages with mixed results; when we did get it to work, it barely stayed on. This attachment also fabricated the worst custard water ice foam, which turned out chalkier and mealier than ice cream from our picks. The KitchenAid freezer bowl doesn't take up much less infinite than that of a regular machine similar the Cuisinart Water ice-21, but if you really don't want to purchase a full ice cream machine and already own a KitchenAid mixer, this zipper will create frozen desserts.
A former runner-upwardly choice, the Breville BCI600XL Smart Scoop Ice Cream Maker made great ice cream that was near equally flossy equally anything we fabricated with the Whynter ICM-201SB, and it comes with some fun bells and whistles. It's the only auto nosotros tried that automatically tells you lot when your ice cream is washed and chimes when it'due south time to add mix-ins. It also includes a pre-arctic role that cools your base downwards before beginning to churn (starting from a common cold base of operations helps make your ice cream less icy). Merely none of these features are essential, and nosotros don't think they're worth the machine'south steep cost (which is at least $150 more than the ICM-201SB's cost tag at this writing).
Nosotros realize that the White Mountain Electric Water ice Foam Maker may have a special identify in some people's hearts.Though it's electric, this large machine needs ice and salt, making it a little messier to use and make clean (and requiring yous to get some water ice earlier churning). It too makes a lot of ice cream: 4 quarts, or viii pints, or about 32 servings. Nosotros decided to skip testing it after reading multiple reviews claiming that grease from the machine leaks into the water ice cream (not the kind of swirl we're looking for).
The Sunpentown KI-xv was an underperformer. It churned our vanilla water ice cream base with ease, and our tasters liked its results a lot. Simply that's where the skilful news ends: Information technology stopped churning our lemon sorbet and chocolate ice cream before the mixtures were completely set, producing icy and uneven textures.
Sources
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Pooja Bavishi, founder of Malai Ice Cream, phone interview , March 31, 2021
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Hannah Bae, founder of Noona'south Ice Foam, phone interview , April half-dozen, 2021
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Lokelani Alabanza, founder of Saturated Ice Foam, phone interview , April two, 2021
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Brian Smith, co-owner of Ample Hills Creamery, phone interview , May 9, 2014
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Billy Barlow, culinary and production director at Blue Marble Ice Cream, phone interview , May 8, 2014
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Douglas Goff, professor and food scientist at the University of Guelph, telephone interview, 2014
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Jeni Britton Bauer, Jeni's Splendid Water ice Cream Desserts, May twenty, 2014
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Fany Gerson, Mexican Water ice Cream: Dear Recipes and Stories, June xiii, 2017
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David Lebovitz, The Perfect Scoop: Water ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sugariness Accompaniments, May 4, 2010
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Max Falkowitz, Foolproof Vegan Vanilla Kokosnoot Ice Cream Recipe, Serious Eats , April 15, 2020
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Melissa Clark, Philadelphia-Style Water ice Foam Base, The New York Times
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