This ice cream maker, like most compressor-cooled models, is pricier than those that require you to pre-freeze the bowl. The similar, smaller-capacity, 1. But if you make multiple batches of ice cream each week, plan on turning ice cream making from a hobby into a career, or just want the absolute best, the Musso Lussino is the way to go. Anna Perling is a Wirecutter staff writer who has covered a variety of kitchen gear including stand mixers , Instant Pot pressure cookers , and cold-brew coffee makers.

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 up 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 land on recipes that we thought would level the playing field. While testing, Anna also had help from her mom, a retired caterer and Art Institutes culinary school graduate who has been making French vanilla ice cream for over 15 years at home.

The original version of this guide was written by Wirecutter senior staff writer Lesley Stockton, who made countless batches of ice cream and frozen yogurt over the course of her long culinary career.

Marguerite Preston, who conducted testing for the and updates, is a senior editor at Wirecutter and a former professional baker who has a passion for ice cream. She has also worked on guides to cake pans , waffle makers , pie plates , and more.

Making your own ice cream can be magical, fun, and, often, more satisfying than swiping pints from the frosty towers in your grocery store freezer section.

With your own machine, you can also customize desserts if you want to experiment with unique flavor combinations or adapt recipes to work for your dietary needs. After you make your ice cream base, you pour it into the bowl of the machine, which is cold enough to freeze the mixture. As the base freezes, a paddle—called the dasher—turns inside the bowl, scraping the sides while breaking up ice crystals and churning air into the mixture, producing a soft, smooth ice cream.

We have recommendations for every style of ice cream maker, but what you buy should depend largely on how often you plan to use it and how high your standards are for the ice cream it produces. Ice-and-salt: These old-fashioned ice cream makers tend to be the most affordable. The setup can get 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 we have an ice-and-salt machine we like in the section on other good ice cream makers at the end of this guide.

This option is usually budget-friendly and will make delicious desserts. If you own a chest freezer that requires manual defrosting, you can avoid the problem entirely. Compressor: This type—a self-refrigerating ice cream maker—is the easiest to use.

Just flip a switch which turns on the cooling mechanism, the compressor, to chill the bowl well below freezing , and you can turn out batch after batch of ice cream. 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 bowl well ahead of time. The best part about ice cream making is the creativity it allows. The base is a blank slate for fruits, nuts, cookies, vegetables, spices, and so much more.

Watching milky liquid whip around and stiffen into a glittery, frozen mass is mesmerizing—and unlike the proverbial pot of water set to boil, a watched ice cream will definitely freeze if you have a decent machine. You can eat your dessert straight away if you want a softer texture akin to a Dairy Queen Blizzard , or you can wait a few hours after storing it in the freezer to pull a solid, satisfying scoop.

Although you can dive deep into the science of ice cream making Penn State offers a famous ice cream making course that many ice cream makers have attended , you can also find plenty of ice cream cookbooks and online recipes that are easy to use and not overwhelming.

While this guide is for home cooks, the experts we spoke with have used several of our picks to develop their own ice cream businesses. No home machine freezes as fast as a professional one fast freezing means fewer ice crystals and creamier ice cream or yields as much ice cream.

You may be able to use one of our picks for recipe development or employ our upgrade pick for cottage-industry food production. An ice cream maker is a specialized machine: Its main job is to produce creamy ice cream that has few ice crystals. These ice cream makers take more foresight to use since you need 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 can still make amazing ice cream. To choose what to test for our update, we looked at every ice cream maker you can get from a retail store today and we considered a few from restaurant-supply stores, too.

Based on our research and prior testing experience, we looked for ice cream machines that met the following criteria:. Freezes fast: The faster the mixture freezes, the less time ice crystals have to form. A machine that uses ice and salt or a frozen bowl just gets warmer as the mixture freezes. A good compressor machine, in contrast, can get as cold as degrees Fahrenheit and can maintain that temperature until the end of the cycle. 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 break up the icy layer that forms there, and it should spin quickly enough to prevent 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 smooth and silky rather than dense and icy. In compressor machines, an auto-off function paired with a keep-cool setting is nice to have for making the process foolproof: It shuts off the dasher if the ice cream freezes too hard to churn—which could damage the motor—but keeps your ice cream from melting.

Beyond that, extra features, such as a cooling function to chill your base before churning, are nice but not necessary. Most recipes recommend storing the base in the fridge for multiple hours anyway. Easy to clean: Making ice cream is a sticky business, so we preferred machines that made the cleanup process easier. 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 cream out of and also easier to add mix-ins to without spilling ingredients everywhere.

Easy 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 as well as how much they weighed, and we considered how much space the inserts or bowls took up inside a freezer.

Our picks have at least a one-year warranty. We tested seven machines for our update. Higher-fat ice cream bases are more forgiving because they contain a lower percentage of water, which can crystallize and ruin the creamy texture.

We used a coconut milk and cream base recipe from Serious Eats , based on advice from the experts we spoke with indicating that ice cream needs fat to create a creamy texture. This vegan recipe also has some bourbon to make it easier to scoop, but you can simply leave the alcohol out.

While testing each ice cream maker, we noted how easy it was to use, scrape out, and clean. 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. The ball is made from a durable plastic material, and it can make one pint of ice cream at a time. The best advice I can give you is to put in lots and lots of ice with the salt. I would say check after 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and then 40 minutes. This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here. More From Vetted.

Feb 1, , am EST. Nov 12, , pm EST. Nov 12, , am EST. Many users shared that the Cuisinart ICE was their first foray into compressor machines.

We even decided to have juice slurpees at the last min and they turned out great. It is easy to clean and use. Another added, "Love this machine! My favorite part is not having to chill the bowl for 24 hours before I can make ice cream. It's very quiet too, which surprised me. For a phenomenal machine that even professionals turn to, check out Whynter's 2-Quart Ice Cream Maker.

It features a powerful compressor freezer that eliminates the need for pre-freezing and automatically shuts off its motor once the ice cream has hardened to prevent damage. Its compact stainless steel exterior is effortless to wipe down, and it's outfitted with a removable bowl and churn blade for fuss-free scooping, storage, and cleaning.

Reviewers who have purchased the Whynter Ice Cream Maker appreciate its consistency, praising it for its durability and user-friendliness. Another shopper said, "Pros: Makes excellent ice cream, easy to operate and you don't need to keep a frozen bucket in your freezer like other types of machines Cons: None!

For the ultimate ice cream treat, check out the Lello Musso Lussino. Malek uses it daily in his test kitchen, saying, "I love my Lello. It makes an even better quality ice cream than our big 5-gallon machines. We have to remember that when we're doing a small batch test. Made of stainless steel, the machine is a workhorse. It holds 1. Plus it's fully automatic: Just pour all of your ingredients into the bowl, set the timer, press two buttons, and you're on your way to creamy goodness.

In addition to Malek's glowing review, the Lello also has hundreds of perfect five-star ratings on Amazon. Customers say they love how consistent and quiet it is, with one writing, "I've made about a dozen ice cream and sorbet recipes so far and each one has come out perfectly. The Lello is more than double the price of our top pick, although many of those who have bought and tried the machines say it's "worth every penny. These ice cream makers involve freezing liquid-filled canisters at least 24 hours in advance.

Once frozen, you put the bowl into a machine with a paddle, add the mixture, and the paddles stir. As the paddles churn the mixture against the sides of the bowl, it gradually freezes into ice cream. Because they require such a long pre-freeze time, you can only make one bowl at a time and they're not ideal for spontaneous spinning. But for occasional ice cream making, they're great. Whether you're a novice or dedicated churner, the Cuisinart ICE has you covered.

Universally recommended by our experts, some professionals even said they started out their businesses with the reliable Cuisinart. Scoop included: No. Measuring jug included: No. Spatula included: No. This mid-priced ice cream machine has fully automated processes that mean you simply add the ingredients, select the recipe and press start.

But was it as straightforward as that and how well did the frozen desserts turn out? Log in to your account or join Which? Size: H32 x W Capacity: 1 litre. Different desserts it makes: Ice cream, sorbet, frozen yoghurt.

Scoop included: Yes. Measuring jug included: Yes. This ice cream maker from Lakeland can create ice cream, sorbet, gelato and frozen yoghurt. It's claimed to make a litre of ice cream within 60 minutes and there's no need to pre-freeze any components. As one of the cheaper ice cream makers from our selection how did it fare against its pricier competition? To find out log in now or join Which?

Also available from John Lewis. Size: H26 x W29 x D37 cm. Capacity: 2 litres. Different desserts it makes: Ice cream, sorbet, gelato, frozen yoghurt, granita.

Spatula included: Yes. The Magimix Gelato Expert can whip up a wide range of frozen treats, including granita and gelato. It's the ice cream maker with the highest price in our selection. But does spending big bucks make a big difference?

To find out log into your account or join Which? Size: H23 x W39 x D26 cm.