6 best ice cream makers UK 2023, tried and tested: we tested out the best gadgets from Ninja, Sage, Magimix and more

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IF YOU'RE looking for a tasty new hobby, then we'd point you in the direction of homemade ice cream.

The best ice cream makers will make the silkiest, creamiest, most flavourful ice cream you've ever had.

While it's more effort than just nipping down to the shop to get a pint of Ben and Jerry's, you'll be astounded at the results.

It's also a great way to spend a lazy Sunday, and we can vouch that people are always thrilled if you turn up to a dinner party with a gift of home made ice cream.

We've spent the summer testing out some of the best models available on the market. Read on for our thoughts.

In each machine featured, we made around one and a half pints of ice cream using the best method that I’ve come across, which is the New York Times’ “Master Ice Cream Recipe”. (You’ll probably have to create an account to view it; I promise it’s worth it).

The recipe, while being a bit of a faff, creates a very good ice cream base and also gives you more specific instructions depending on what flavour you want to make, including some more outre flavours like green tea and butterscotch bourbon.

In order to stay as consistent as possible, we made the same flavour every time: chocolate, which is both low-cost and a crowd pleaser. (We also made some other flavours in some of the machines).

Once the ice cream was made, a range of very willing participants gave their thoughts. God, our job is hard.

Pros: Makes lots more than just ice cream; the process is super quick; easy to use; doesn't take up loads of space; ice cream is ready to eat as soon as machine has stoppedCons: Loud; storage containers are a bit smallRating: 5/5

If you've ever had ice cream in a fancy restaurant, the machine most likely to have produced it is a Pacojet.

We haven't included the Pacojet in this roundup because it costs around £5k, depending on the country you're in, and it's designed with professional kitchens in mind, rather than leisurely Sundays spent whipping up some ice cream at home.

The closest thing designed for home use is the Ninja Creami. It works in exactly the same way as the PacoJet, which is very different to the other ice cream makers we tested.

Rather than gradually freezing the ice cream while churning it, as you do with a traditional ice cream maker, you completely freeze your ice cream mixture before getting the Creami involved.

The machine then uses a process called "micropureeing", which involves using a very sharp blade to chip away at the block of ice, adding air to it until it achieves a creamy, silky consistency. It's a technique associated with Haute cuisine, so it's exciting that Ninja has brought it to home kitchens.

It's an alchemic process; you start with a completely solid, frozen block of ice cream mixture, and after two or three minutes of extremely loud micropureering, the Ninja spits out impossibly creamy, silky results.

In terms of the ease of the process, this machine definitely wins, too. With a normal ice cream maker, you need to make the base, before chilling it for a minimum of four hours. You then churn it in the ice cream maker for another hour or so, before putting the ice cream in the freezer until it achieves your desired consistency.

With the Ninja, things are much easier; you bung the ice cream base into one of the included storage containers, then put that straight into the freezer.

Once the mixture is fully frozen, you let the Ninja attack it for a couple of minutes, and you have ice cream that is ready to eat.

Capacity: 0.5L Weight: 6.4kg Warranty: 2 years Other programs: 7 presets including Milkshakes, Smoothies and Sorbets

Pros: Don’t have to freeze the bowl before making the ice cream; looks great on a countertop; sleek interfaceCons: Extremely expensive; comes with little-to-no instruction; big footprintRating: 4.5/5

If we had a kitchen big enough to allow us to permanently have an ice cream maker on display, we'd be buying the Sage Smart Scoop. It’s a very nice device to look at; 14 kilograms of brushed steel, sleek digital displays and internal wizardry.

However, you would certainly need a big kitchen. The Sage is a whale of an ice cream maker, measuring nearly 40cm in width. If you’re struggling for storage, we wouldn’t recommend this device.

The reason it’s so big is that it has all the components necessary to freeze the mixing bowl itself, rather than requiring you to pre-freeze it as most ice cream makers do. If, like us, you have a constantly full freezer, that’s a huge bonus.

It’s extremely easy to set up, which is pretty necessary as Sage includes little-to-no instruction, and unlike most other brands, it doesn’t include any sort of recipe booklet either. For a device that costs the best part of £400, that’s pretty poor.

However, there is no denying that this machine is a joy to use. Its digital display tells you exactly where your dessert is on the spectrum between cold custard and ice cream, it’s quick and efficient, and the ice cream we got at the end was beautifully silky.

This is definitely only a machine to buy if you’ve got a hefty amount of disposable income, but in our dream alternate life where we have a townhouse with a kitchen island and unlimited ice-cream-making time, this is sat on our worktop.

Capacity: 1L Weight: 14kg Warranty: 2 years Other programs: 12 hardness settings

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Pros: Mid-range price; sleek metal finish; easy-to-use digital interfaceCons: Have to freeze bowl before using; loudRating: 4.5/5

At £79.99, this Lakeland model is a reasonable price point for an ice cream maker, but it’s certainly not the cheapest on this list.

It’s a great option if you want a reasonably-priced ice cream maker, but are willing to fork out for something that looks a bit more sleek than the cheap white-plastic Duronic model below.

It has a sleek metal finish, which is a bit of a pain to clean if you get your cream-covered fingerprints all over it, but nonetheless looks nice and smart on a countertop. It also has a sleek digital interface, which is a step up from some budget models.

And thanks to the fact it doesn’t have any of the componentry required to freeze the bowl, it’s also a much more compact option than the Sage or Magimix models.

The ice cream we made in this was absolutely delicious; there is perhaps a very marginal decline in creaminess compared to the more expensive models that freeze it more gradually, but we don’t think it’s a difference that’s worth £100.

It’s also noticeably louder than the more expensive machines, but no louder than anything else in its price bracket.

We’ve noticed a few reviewers have complained about the fact that the paddle gets stuck in the ice cream after it’s been churned, making it messy to decant the finished product.

This isn’t something that happened to us, and to be honest, if you’re making ice cream at home, mess is the name of the game!

Capacity: 1.5L Weight: 3.2kg Warranty: 3 years Other programs: N/A

Pros: Looks great, easy to use, 5-year guarantee, comes with extra paddle for fresh fruitCons: Slightly small, have to freeze bowl, a bit expensive compared to competitorsRating: 4/5

We love the look of the Cuisinart Iced Dessert Maker; its "Light Pistachio" hue makes it look like something from a 1950s American Diner. It's perhaps not as sleek-looking as the Lakeland model, but it certainly more fun.

That fact is also illustrated by the way the machine makes ice cream; instead of the paddle moving in a circle, as it does in most ice cream makers, in the Cuisinart model it stays stationary while the frozen bowl spins around it, which looks extremely satisfying.

Like the Lakeland Model, this is a machine that requires you to pre-freeze the metal mixing bowl, and considering that, it's not cheap; in fact, the Duronic Model further down this list does a similar job for a third of the price.

Our other qualm is that, with its 1.4L capacity, it seemed slightly smaller than some other models; while our ice cream mixture fit in fine to begin with, as the machine whipped air in and the mixture began to expand, it came close to overflowing.

However, this machine can also make a range of other cold desserts and comes with a separate paddle designed to blend soft fruits.

Capacity: 1.4L Weight: 5.72kg Warranty: 5 years Other programs: Comes with a separate paddle for blending soft fruit

Pros: No need to freeze bowl; sleek look; more compact than Sage model; quick and effective ice-cream-making; 2L capacityCons: Ludicrously expensive; have to make a brine every time you want to use it; doesn’t look as smart as the SageRating: 4/5

The Magimix Gelato Expert is definitely a model for those who are serious about ice cream making.

Described by one Amazon reviewer as the "Rolls-Royce of ice cream makers", it costs an eye-watering £500, and it doesn't look as expensive as the Sage model.

However, that does mean you can be sure that your £500 is going towards some high-tech gear rather than a status symbol, and you can tell: this is a seriously impressive bit of kit.

Like the Sage Smart Scoop, there is no need to freeze the bowl before using it — simply press the little button bearing a snowflake symbol five minutes before you’re ready to churn, and you’re good to go.

However, unlike the Sage Smart Scoop, the Magimix isn’t a huge appliance; while it’s heavier than most of the other devices in this list, it doesn’t take up much more counter space, thanks to the fact that its internal freezing components are very neatly integrated. We had plenty of space to cook my dinner while it was quietly whirring away.

And for a £500 device, it’s extremely simple to use, to the point where you might even feel short-changed — there’s no digital display or dials, just four buttons.

The only slight bit of faff is that you have to brine the non-removable bowl, which helps conduct the freezing effect throughout the device. However, this is as simple as making a solution of water and salt.

There’s also no denying that the ice cream that comes out of it is fantastic. If you’re planning on making ice cream regularly for years to come, this is the one to go for. It’s the least faff, takes the least time to use (apart from the Ninja, which works in a different way), and produces extremely high-quality ice cream.

Capacity: 2L Weight: 13.4kg Warranty: 3 years Other programs: Gelato and Granita

Pros: Cheap; lightweight; does everything you need an ice cream maker to doCons: Looks cheap; have to freeze the bowl; no frillsRating: 3.5/5

This is the machine we bought when we first got into ice cream-making during lockdown (annoyingly we have no pictures of it, and it's since been misplaced), and it’s definitely a good option if it’s something you’re trying it out for the first time.

At £39.99 on Amazon (it often gets discounted to £29.99, too), it’s one of the cheapest on this list, and to state the obvious, it looks it. It’s made of cheap white plastic, which isn’t the greatest colour for an ice cream maker. Ours looked fairly dirty after just a couple of uses, no matter how much we wiped it.

However, it does absolutely everything you need an ice cream maker to do. If you need convincing that homemade ice cream is better than anything else you can buy, we'd recommend buying this. Once you’re convinced, you can move on to a more expensive model.

Capacity: 1.5L Weight: 2.4kg Warranty: N/A Other programs: N/A

As you'd imagine, there are hundreds of ice cream recipes out there, but put simplistically, you're basically making a cold custard that you then put into an ice cream maker.

This is done by heating a mixture of cream and milk, to which you add rather a lot of sugar. You then delicately need to introduce eggs into the mixture (usually between four and six, depending on how much you're making) by gently warming them using some of the hot cream, before adding the egg and cream mixture back into the larger pot of cream.

Once this mixture has chilled for a few hours, it's time to get the ice cream maker out.

Our favourite recipe is this one by the New York Times, although this BBC Good Food one works well too.

Apart from the Ninja Creami, all of the ice cream makers in this list work in a fairly similar fashion (although some more affordable models will require you to pre-freeze the bowl before use).

Before you bring out the ice cream maker, you will need to make your ice cream mixture, which is usually a mixture of milk, cream, eggs, sugar and whatever flavouring your heart desires.

Once you have made and chilled this mixture, you simply pop it into your ice cream maker and switch it on. It will then gradually chill the custard mixture while whipping air into it. After around 30 minutes you should have achieved a soft-serve texture, which can then be decanted into a container and then frozen until you have a fully-fledged ice cream.

As you can tell from our roundup, ice cream makers can be broadly split into two categories: those that require you to pre-freeze the mixing bowl, and those that don't.

Machines that require you to freeze the mixing bowl before use can be picked up for less than £50, but you need to make sure you have enough space in your freezer to store a bowl with a capacity of 1L-1.5L.

The fact you need to pre-freeze also means that there's not much room for spontaneity (unless you store the mixing bowl in your freezer all of the time).

If you want a machine that will freeze the bowl for you, then you need to be willing to fork out; the two machines with that capability in this list are the Magimix Gelato Expert and Sage Smart Scoop, which both cost north of £300.

When it actually comes down to it, there are only a couple of benefits of buying an ice cream maker. Depending on which machine and recipe you opt for and which brand you usually buy, it’s probably not much cheaper than getting it from the shop, and it’s certainly more faff.

However, we can guarantee that the ice cream you make will be better than any you’ve eaten before, and almost more appealing than that is the fact that you have carte blanche to try any flavours you like. Once you’ve got the base recipe down, you can simply mix in ingredients to make whatever flavour comes to mind.

We’ve been making ice cream for around three years now, and here are some of the more successful flavour combos we’ve tried.