The 1. When we added mix-ins, they did stop the churning, but this was true for all of the ice cream makers in our testing. With any canister model, you also have to make sure that your bowl is thoroughly frozen before you use it—otherwise, you may be left with a milkshake and heartbreak.
If you want a machine that will churn out batch after batch without your having to pre-freeze a bowl, the Whynter ICMSB is the best compressor machine you can get. But if you want denser ice cream, you may prefer one of our other picks.
We made two batches of custard in the ICMSB and got slightly different results depending on the churn time. The first batch, which spun for 40 minutes, had a texture like a frozen Cool Whip, more like whipped topping than thicker, spoonable ice cream.
The second batch, which churned for 35 minutes, was heftier but still not as dense as ice cream from our other picks. The Oreo-flavor batch from the Whynter was one of our favorites, though, as the airy texture contrasted nicely with the chunky cookie bits.
Vegan ice cream was ever so slightly icy—the ice crystals felt like fine sand that dissolved quickly on the tongue, versus the grittier, more gravelly ice cream from the Nostalgia machine—and had more of a chew than the vegan ice cream from the Lello Musso Lussino. In our tests, the ICMSB took the longest to churn ice cream, though the timeframe was in line with the instructions in the manual, which recommended a to minute churn time.
That overrun percentage aligned with the comparatively fluffier texture of the ice cream. These two machines fluctuate in price, and you may be able to get the ICMLS for less; we think either machine is a great choice for a compressor model. You can also pause churning to add mix-ins or check the texture for doneness.
Although we found it easy to add mix-ins to the wide, 2. The ICMSB has a shallow, lightweight metal bowl that you can easily remove from the machine for cleaning. It has a thin handle, as on a pail, that flopped down when we scraped out ice cream, which made it slightly more annoying to wrangle compared with the simple bowl of the Cuisinart ICE And the hole in the middle of the Whynter model has some crannies that are hard to get totally clean—we recommend using a rolled-up paper towel or straw brush.
The sound was noticeable, but it was not irritating like the high-pitched whine of the Nostalgia or the Cuisinart ICE And the beep of the timer was loud enough for us to hear. The machine is nearly cube-like, with an attractively modern stainless steel housing with black accents. It can be a pain to lug in and out of a cabinet every time you want to use it. If your kitchen space is limited, you may have trouble finding a place to store this thing, but the same could be said for all of the compressor models we tested; you just need to decide whether committing to one of these hulking machines is worth the effort.
Since , it has consistently made the best ice cream in our tests. 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 machine in professional settings. Thanks to a more powerful compressor that allows this machine to freeze the mixture faster than other compressor models we tested, the ice cream we made in the Musso Lussino had an intense creaminess reminiscent of store-bought premium versions.
The difference was evident when we scooped out the finished product: It was stretchy, like gelato, and visually smoother, with not a trace of gritty 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.
As with the Cuisinart ICE, that speed resulted in fewer ice crystals and a silkier texture. Like most of the machines we tested, the Musso Lussino is simple to use. Its design is super sleek, with gleaming stainless steel housing and parts plus a built-in bowl with a 1. You assemble the machine by screwing on a nut that secures a metal dasher in the middle of the bowl and then placing the domed plastic lid on top.
The machine 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 have to switch both of them on to actually make ice cream.
You can pause churning to add mix-ins or check the doneness of your ice cream. You need to wipe the machine out with a little warm soapy water, being sure to wipe it again with water to rinse it completely. Lastly and optionally, you can sanitize the machine with a restaurant-grade or food-service sanitizer spray these may be hard to find online in small quantities, but you may be able to pick up a bottle in a restaurant-supply store.
Armed with two bowls and a few absorbent bar mops , we found that cleaning the Musso Lussino took just a few minutes, but the task was still a little awkward compared with washing a bowl in the sink.
The Musso Lussino is also huge and heavy. It weighs about 40 pounds and measures about 12 inches wide, 17 inches long, and And again, the Musso Lussino is expensive. But if you like to make ice cream for family and friends on the regular, or if you want to up your ice cream production, this machine is the best you can get for home use.
The Musso Lussino comes with a one-year warranty, which is a bit short given the hefty price tag. Alabanza suggests finding a local repairperson who can help fix a compressor machine if you have issues down the line. Professional machines churn ice cream more quickly at lower temperatures, preventing ice crystals from forming. But you can take some steps to greatly increase the quality of your homemade ice cream, mostly by making sure it stays as cold as possible through every part of the process.
The most important thing to do is to chill everything—your tools, ice cream base, mix-ins, and even storage containers—before churning, because when ice cream freezes faster, fewer ice crystals form. The colder your freezer, the quicker your ice cream sets, which helps reduce the formation of large ice crystals. Make sure to thoroughly chill your base in an ice bath or in the fridge overnight before churning, too. Be sure to add them when the ice cream is nearly finished churning, to prevent 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. Our picks took 20 to 45 minutes to churn our chilled base, so start checking on your ice cream after 20 minutes. If you drag a spoon through the base, the spoon should leave a valley behind. When you remove the ice cream from the machine, it will be edible but too soft to scoop.
Try to move quickly to avoid melting , which can cause ice crystals to form. Be sure to read about dessert settings to make sure the ice cream maker offers the versatility you're looking for. It depends on the quality of ingredients you buy. The basic ingredients needed to make your own ice cream, regardless of the ice cream maker you use, are cream, milk, eggs, and sugar. The dairy aisle can be pricey, especially if you buy organic or grass-fed cream and milk.
Eggs are relatively affordable, but increase in cost if they're sourced from pastured hens. Flavorings and mix-ins vary in price. And, although not expensive, salt-and-ice style ice cream makers will require you to a box of salt and a bag of ice on hand. There's no way to sugarcoat this: homemade ice cream tastes better and fresher than store bought. Homemade has none of the artificial or weird ingredients some grocery store varieties contain. Plus, making your own ice cream puts you in the driver seat to create flavors that just don't exist in grocery store freezers.
Anthony Irizarry is a freelancer who writes roundups for The Spruce Eats. Having previously worked as an appliance reviews editor, he's no stranger to kitchen appliances.
In addition to ice cream makers, Anthony has also rounded up our picks of the best toasters and best waffle makers. This roundup was updated by Sharon Lehman , a home cook who happens to be a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. She happily makes space for any gadget that makes cooking faster and easier and specializes in small kitchen appliance testing and reviews for The Spruce Eats.
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List of Partners vendors. By Anthony Irizarry Anthony Irizarry. Our Top Picks. Best Overall:. You can make up to two quarts per batch with this model, plus there are speed settings to create ice cream, sorbet, and gelato.
Best Budget:. Best Attachment:. Designed to fit both tilt-head and bowl-lift style mixers KitchenAid stand mixers, this attachment churns 2 quarts of ice cream. Best High-End:. A built-in compressor pre-chills the 1. Best Design:. Just like old-fashioned ice cream makers, this model uses ice to freeze the ice cream but churning is hands-free thanks to an electric motor. Best for Kids:. Kids and kids at heart will get a kick out of mixing ingredients by hand and watching as the cold dish instantly turns it into ice cream.
Best Soft Serve:. With built-in topping dispensers, a cone holder, and soft serve lever, this model turns your kitchen into an ice cream parlor. Best for Small Spaces:. This model needs 8-pounds of ice, plus plenty of rock salt, to chill and automatically churns up to 4-quarts of ice cream per batch. Best Single Serving:.
A small freezer bowl that holds just 5 ounces lets everyone make and eat their favorite flavor of ice cream out just one bowl. Best for Vegans:. Turn frozen bananas, berries, and other fruits—no other ingredients required—into creamy soft serve-like ice cream and sorbets.
In This Article Expand. Our Picks. What to Look For. Types of Ice Cream Makers. Why Trust The Spruce Eats? What Our Testers Say "The result was fluffy soft serve that hardened into lovely ice cream after a few hours in the freezer.
What We Don't Like Smaller capacity than other similar models Need to freeze bowl 24 hours before use. What The Experts Say "I always recommend mastering vanilla ice cream before moving on to more complicated flavors.
What Our Testers Say "We made one batch of blackberry and one batch of banana ice cream. Once the ice cream is frozen, the motor automatically adjusts to prevent the machine from overheating. This ice cream machine has its own refrigeration system, saving you from having to freeze a bowl in advance, and it can make around 1.
Plus, it automatically shuts off before your ice cream becomes too hard, ensuring your dessert is the perfect consistency every time. Its only limits are the size of your imagination and its stainless steel mixing bowl. Make ice cream faster with the Cuisinart ICE, which can whip up 1. This freezer-bowl machine comes in several different colors, and it has an updated mixing paddle that makes delicious frozen desserts more quickly.
The Cusinart Ice Cream Maker is simple to use—just freeze the bowl ahead of time, then add in your ingredients and turn it on. No messing around with ice and salt. Depending on the recipe it makes the same amount as a regular box of ice cream from the store.
The Yonanas Machine is most commonly used with frozen bananas, but you can put berries, mango, chocolate, and other ingredients in it, as well. I actually find the end product to be more like ice cream than some of the low-fat ice creams you buy in the store.
It is delicious. Rolled ice cream—also called stir fry ice cream—is extremely popular right now, and you can make this unique treat at home with the Whynter Frozen Pan Roller. The machine has a built-in compressor that cools the work surface down to just 10 degrees, which instantly freezes your ice cream mixture.
This ice cream maker has a sleek stainless steel housing, and it has four suction-cup legs that hold it tightly on the counter as you work. It only takes a few minutes for it to cool to temperature to be ready to use and a few more minutes to make the ice cream, so I can have my own homemade ice cream of whatever flavor in less than 10 minutes. To make ice cream with it, you put an ice cream base, ice, and rock salt inside the ball.
With that in mind, here's a reminder of the important features of each type of machine Maximum batch size. So hopefully you've now got some idea of which type of machine is best for you.
Once that's clear, it's time to look at some individual machines The freezer bowl market is dominated by Cuisinart. And there's a very good reason for this: I think they make much better ice cream makers than everyone else! Cuisinart ice cream makers dominate the freezer bowl market. Well, Cuisinart machines have a very high build quality and come with generous three year warranties or five years in Europe!
But the Cuisinart ice cream makers also work in a slightly different way to most other machines In other machines, the motor spins the dasher from above to churn the mixture in the bowl below.
As the liquid thickens, the motor will often struggle to propel the thin, plastic dasher through the mixture. So the gear can slip, causing horrible grinding noises. And the dasher will often stop altogether, forcing you to remove the ice cream before it's really ready.
In most freezer bowl machines the dasher is rotated from above. In Cuisinart machines, the motor revolves the bowl from below, while the dasher is held in place by the machine lid. So it doesn't struggle as the mixture thickens. The gears don't slip, there's no horrible grinding noises and the the machine runs until the ice cream's ready!
The ability of the Cuisinart machines to continue churning the mixture more efficiently, for much longer as it hardens, produces a smoother final product. And the reduced stress on the motor means the Cuisinart ice cream makers also tend to last much longer.
So the bottom line is this: unless there are very specific special circumstances more on that below , I don't think there's any reason to buy any other freezer bowl machine than a Cuisinart. There are only 4 different Cuisinart models that use freezer bowls. So it shouldn't be too difficult to choose between them. The problem is that it's not immediately clear how they differ from one another!
The first thing to think about is capacity. So if you want to make bigger batches of homemade ice cream, you'll want to go with one of the bigger capacity machines.
The second thing to think about is features. While the ICE and the ICE have three settings for different types of frozen dessert: ice cream, gelato and sorbet. Making different types of frozen dessert at the touch of a button sounds really exciting! But in reality it just means that the bowl spins at different speeds. Since gelato and sorbet should contain less air than ice cream, if the bowl spins slower, the dasher will whip less air into the mixture. But it does work really well! In my tests, the gelato has less air so it's thicker and creamier.
Ice cream, gelato and sorbet settings, plus timer on the Cuisinart ICE When you choose one of the three settings, the timer will default to a specific time 25 minutes for ice cream, 30 for gelato and 40 for sorbet. These times are based on the idea that lower fat mixtures will take longer to freeze. However, how long any mixture takes to freeze will depend on a whole load of factors and these times can only be regarded as a guideline.
Luckily, the ICE allows you to adjust the time upwards or downwards. And the machine doesn't actually stop when the timer reaches zero, it just starts beeping!
Unless the advisory timer is really useful to you, I'd recommend that just go for the one with the lowest price! As I've already mentioned, ice cream quality is mostly a result of how fast the mixture is frozen. And the fastest freezing Cuisinart machine in my tests is the ICE This is because it has the smallest bowl so a greater proportion of the mixture comes into contact with the freezing walls more often. But it also has a re-designed dasher that now has two blades to scrape the frozen mixture from the bowl and leaves very little space between those blades and the sides of the bowl.
This means more frozen mixture is taken from the sides of the bowl into the middle faster. And then finally the ICE with the older dasher design and the 2 quart bowl, froze just slightly slower than the newer models in my testing.
These freezing times do translate directly into ice cream quality. The ICE made the driest and smoothest ice cream. And then the ICE But just to be clear: the differences are quite small.
They can all make fantastically smooth ice cream, sorbet and frozen yogurt. If you're still unsure, my advice would be to first think about what capacity you're likely to need as that's the biggest difference between the machines. So if you don't need to make more that 1. My tests suggest that the improved dasher design does make a difference to the freezing time and therefore the smoothness of the ice cream. And the gelato and sorbet was also noticeably different too.
But if you can't or they're not available in your country , don't worry because in my tests, the ICE makes desserts that are almost as good and is usually available at a lower price too!
I think Cuisinart make the best freezer bowl machines. As far as I'm concerned, there's no doubt about this. However I can think of one situation where I wouldn't recommend a Cuisinart ice cream maker. And that's if you already own a KitchenAid mixer! KitchenAid produce a freezer bowl that you can use with your stand mixer to make all sorts of frozen treats.
It works in the same way as the other freezer bowl ice cream maker. So the bowl is lined with a special liquid gel that sets hard in the freezer. Once frozen, you attach the bowl to your mixer which powers a dasher that churns the mixture.
My experience using the bowl with my Classic Series KitchenAid stand mixer has been very positive and I've found it makes ice cream that is just as smooth as the Cuisinart machines. This is because the motor on a KitchenAid is so powerful, it's able to keep churning the mixture for much longer than most other machines,. However, I know that some people have had negative experiences with this attachment. These are generally related to the blue gel leaking from the bowl or the bowl not fitting to their particular mixer properly.
Given than the bowl itself usually costs about the same amount as the Cuisinart machine, whether it's good value for money is debatable! However if you already have a KitchenAid, it makes such good frozen desserts that I think it would be crazy not to go with this attachment!
Choosing a compressor machine might seem more complicated than choosing a freezer bowl machine: there's loads of different models and there isn't one brand that dominates. But if we look a little more closely, it's actually a lot simpler than you'd think.
I like to divide compressor machines into three distinct tiers In the top tier are domestic machines from companies that also make commercial ice cream makers. These machines provide commercial level build quality and components, scaled down for domestic use. In the second tier are domestic machines from long established and well known consumer brands. These ice cream makers are designed and built specifically for those brands.
And they're aimed squarely at the domestic market. In the third tier are domestic machines that are made to be white labeled by other brands. Any brand can order these machines with slight cosmetic changes and then market them as their own.
And when we look at it this way, there are actually just three significant players in the compressor machine market:.
Musso are an Italian company that have been making ice cream machines since the 's. There are only two machines in my top tier and they're both made by Musso! The Lello Musso Lussino is a 1.
The Lello Musso Lussino also know as the Mini is the smallest and has a 1. While the Lello Musso Pola also known as the Stella is a bit bigger with a 2 quart capacity.
The Lello Musso Pola Stella is the bigger, 2 quart brother of the Other than their capacities, the two machines are pretty much the same.
They both feature commercial level build quality and components. You don't get any fancy control panels or programmable features. Just two buttons and a manual dial. The buttons turn the compressor and the motor on or off. And the dial sets the timer. Lello Musso Lussino has a very simple, manual control panel. Unlike most ice cream makers, there's no removable bowl with the Mussos. The ice cream is churned in a depression in the body of the machine. This makes the freezing more efficient.
And it also makes it easy to clean! So they're pretty simple. But the frozen desserts I make with them are incredible. These Musso machines are the the only domestic appliances that can make the sort of ice cream you'd eat in a top quality restaurant.
Seriously, I think the desserts these machines make really is a level above what you'll get from any other domestic machine. The only drawback to the Musso ice cream makers is the price. They are usually eye wateringly expensive. Lello the only domestic machine with an integrated bowl and a metal dasher.
Some people have suggested that while the Musso machines do make fantastic frozen desserts, they're not that much better than those from other domestic ice cream makers. So they don't justify the extra cost. I disagree entirely. For me, the Musso machines are on a totally different level in terms of quality. Every machine below them makes desserts that are broadly the same. But when you taste the ice cream, sorbet, gelato or frozen yogurt from a Musso machine you know straight away that this is something else Apart from the Musso machines, the Smart Scoop is probably the most expensive domestic machine you can currently buy.
But unlike the Musso machines, the Smart Scoop is very much a domestic appliance and is in my second tier of compressor machines. What sets it apart from other domestic machines and apparently justifies the extra cost is a huge array of automatic settings and fancy features The Smart Scoop is the only domestic machine with an automatic pre-cool feature, 12 distinct hardness settings for different types of dessert, and an intelligent keep-cool program that will keep your frozen dessert at the desired consistency for up to 3 hours after it finishes!
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