Ice Cream Makers (Inexpensive)

We tested six inexpensive ice cream makers to find out which made the best dessert with the least amount of work. All used a canister that had to be pre-frozen. After 30 minutes of mixing, we noticed distinct differences in the ice cream, depending on whether the beaters or the canister revolved. Machines that had revolving beaters produced lighter, smoother, creamier French-style vanilla ice cream than models with revolving canisters because they move the ice cream more effectively and add more air.

Two days later the results had shifted. Now the lighter, airier ice cream made by revolving beaters contained ice crystals, while denser ice creams (made with revolving canisters) were smoother. It turns out that any unfrozen water in ice cream turns into ice crystals, wreaking havoc on texture, and the airier the ice cream, the more likely this is to happen.

We recommend a popular standing mixer's ice-cream attachment, which produced a very light, ultra-creamy ice cream, with only two attachment parts to store. For a stand-alone ice cream maker, our recommendation was the fastest stand-alone ice cream maker of the lineup, producing ice cream in 20 minutes that was dense, smooth, and kept well in the freezer.