6 Best Ice Cream Makers for Luscious and Creamy Ice Cream

Whynter: We've tested several Whynter ice cream machines and found them excellent overall. They're easy to use, and the built-in compressors perform well.

• Whynter Upright Compressor Ice Cream Maker with Stainless Steel Bowl & Churn Blade: When I want to make larger batches of ice cream, I reach for this 2.5-quart-capacity machine. It was a top performer, making one of the creamiest batches of vanilla ice cream. I love the stainless steel blade (most are plastic), and it also has a yogurt incubation mode.
• Whynter Upright Automatic Ice Cream Maker: This built-in compressor model has a smaller footprint and earned a Kitchen Gear Award. The trade-off for the smaller size is the 1.28-quart capacity, so it won't make big batches, but it makes top-notch ice cream and sorbet.
• Whynter 2-Quart Capacity Automatic Compressor Ice Cream Maker & Yogurt Function: Another top performer that churned out delicious ice cream, and the machine can reach temperatures between 104ºF and 110ºF, so you can use it to make homemade yogurt.

Cuisinart: Cuisinart ice cream makers work with a pre-frozen bowl and an automatic churning blade. We found that some machines work better than others.

• Cuisinart Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Frozen Yogurt-Sorbet & Ice Cream Maker: This machine performed nearly as well as our Cuisinart top pick, but doesn't have separate sorbet and gelato modes or a timer. It's a great choice for someone who wants to spend less money and doesn't mind skipping the extra features.
• Cuisinart 1-Pint Wonder Ice Cream Maker: One of the smallest machines in our tests. However, it wasn't cold enough to fully freeze the ice cream or sorbet, likely because the small bowl size allowed it to thaw quickly.

Other Brands

• Nostalgia 4-Quart Electric Ice Cream Maker: This uses a bucket, salt, and ice to make ice cream with a motorized churner. While it's novel, it didn't produce the best ice cream and requires a considerable amount of ice.
• Zoku Ice Cream Maker: A small machine that's single-serve and makes 5 ounces of ice cream. We didn't officially test this in the Lab, but some at-home testers tried it and love the individual serving sizes, which allow kids to choose their own varieties, flavors, and mix-ins.

Over the years, we've put more than 25 different ice cream makers to the test in the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen & Cooking Lab. When we test ice cream makers, we evaluate their performance and ease of use.

✔️ Types: There are four very different styles of ice cream makers for at-home use that can help you create your favorite flavors at home:

• Freezer bowl: A freezer-bowl-style ice cream maker is a common, easy-to-use option, though you need to ensure you have space in your home freezer to store the bowl for up to 24 hours before you intend to make ice cream. (If the bowl isn't truly frozen, you'll struggle to make ice cream.) With this style, you won't be able to make multiple batches at a time because the bowl needs to refreeze between batches. Also, if you churn too long, the bowl will start to defrost.
• Compressor: A compressor-style ice cream maker operates like a small freezer. You flip a switch that turns on the internal cooling mechanism (the compressor), chilling the ice cream bowl to below freezing while churning the ice cream base until frozen. I found that these ice cream machines make better ice cream than freezer-bowl styles because of their consistent temperature. It's a great option if you intend to make multiple batches of ice cream at once, don't have room for a freezer bowl, or aren't good at preparing in advance. Many self-freezing ice cream makers also have features like a timer or hardness settings.
• Pacojet style (Ninja Creami and Scoop & Swirl): The Ninja Creami and Scoop & Swirl are similar to Pacojet ice cream machines used in commercial kitchens or restaurants. The Ninja machines stand out from the others because instead of churning a liquid base, they use high-speed blades to process pre-frozen containers of ice cream (or whatever base you choose).
• Salt and ice: This traditional ice cream maker requires plenty of ice and salt with either manual or automatic churning. While not the most practical, it can be a fun family activity.
• Frozen bowls and plates: To operate this style, in some cases, you'll need to freeze the entire bowl or plate overnight and use a little manual effort to hand-churn (or scrape, for frozen plates) the ice cream base after adding it to the frozen bowl or plate. These tend to be single-serve, but it can be fun for kids to see ice cream forming right before their eyes.

✔️ Machine footprint: Ice cream machines range from small personal bowls to large compressor-style machines. Assess how much space you have in your freezer and kitchen before purchasing.

✔️ Capacity: Are you making ice cream for one every so often or multiple batches for big summer parties? This is important to consider before buying a machine. Ice cream makers range in capacity from single-serve to 2.5-quart.

Owning an ice cream maker doesn't mean you're limited to making ice cream: Ydou can also create gelato, sorbet, sherbet, and frozen yogurt. One significant advantage is that you can experiment with flavors you might not see in the store or cater to dietary needs, such as non-dairy or protein ice cream. Another fun option is using your ice cream maker for frozen cocktails or smoothie bowls. A few compressor ice cream makers also reach higher temperatures, so you can make yogurt. For ice cream makers that use a freezer bowl, the frozen bowl can double as a bucket to keep your wine chilled, or you can fill it with ice to keep food cold.

Ice cream's creaminess depends mainly on the size of the ice crystals that form during freezing. Smaller ice crystals mean creamier ice cream. Keeping all ingredients cold throughout the entire ice-cream-making process, even after churning, is key to preventing large ice crystals from forming.

Also, consider ingredients. Milk or cream with a higher fat content contributes to a creamier, richer texture, and adding egg yolks to some ice cream bases adds creaminess. The type of sugar used also contributes to ice cream stability and texture. Corn syrup, as opposed to table sugar, will give ice cream more body and make it more resilient to melting and refreezing, which creates large ice crystals. Alcohol is also sometimes used to reduce the size of ice crystals and create a creamy texture in sorbet.

Jamie Ueda is a consumer products expert with nearly two decades of experience in product testing, development, and manufacturing. She has tested and written about many kitchen items, including hand mixers, cookie scoops, bread makers, and more. She is an avid ice cream maker who has made over 30 pints of ice cream in the last year and loves creating her own recipes at home.

Nicole Papantoniou is the director of the Good Housekeeping Kitchen & Cooking Lab, where she leads all content and product testing for kitchen appliances, tools, and gadgets. She has been professionally testing kitchen equipment since 2013.