Better Than Store-Bought: The Best Gear for Homemade Popsicles, Slushies, and Ice Cream

A single scoop of ice cream on a cone sits suspended inside a clear glass sphere. The entire scene is rendered in shades of monochromatic blue.

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It’s officially summer, and prime time for ice cream, ice pops, slushies, and more. Making frozen treats at home lets you customize flavors and accommodate dietary restrictions, and having the right tools on hand can help make the process more fun.

Wirecutter senior kitchen editor Marilyn Ong walks us through the most reliable gear for every type of frozen treat, from $10 ice pop molds to an $800 gelato maker. Plus, she reveals Wirecutter’s take on popular gadgets like the Ninja Creami, Ninja Slushi, and KitchenAid shaved ice attachment.

We also hear from Wirecutter experts Lesley Stockton, Ciara Murray Jordan, and Kathleen Squires, who share their favorite treat recipes and tips for making great frozen treats.

This episode covers:

  • Why DIY treats are worth making: You won’t necessarily save money on ingredients, but you will have total control over those ingredients. You can control the sugar content, dairy options, and flavor combinations.
  • Popsicle molds that actually work: Our favorite ice pop molds are easy to fill and release with little effort. You can choose from kid-friendly shapes (think fun animal shapes) all the way to refined classic molds fit for adults.
  • Shaved ice and slushie makers we like: The KitchenAid shaved ice attachment is a powerhouse for making Bingsu (a popular Korean-style shaved ice), while our kitchen team was surprised by how much they like the Ninja Slushi for making frozen drinks at home.
  • Why we don't recommend the Ninja Creami: Despite its viral popularity for making healthier frozen treats, in our testing it resulted in burning smells and complaints of plastic shavings.
  • Choosing an ice cream maker: Start by asking yourself how much you’re willing to spend and the texture you want to create. Our recommendations range from a $60 option that makes denser scoops, to an $800 machine that makes smooth, airy gelato.

Products we recommend :

This traditionally shaped mold is easy to fill, its pops come out cleanly, and the sticks stay firmly in place even before freezing. This set is also dishwasher-safe.

This rainbow edition of our top pick is cute but a bit pricier. They perform identically, though the size of the molds and sticks are just slightly different, so the two sets are not interchangeable.

The pops from these molds were so easy to remove, they practically slid out on their own. Though the set is a little pricey, it’s likely to last you a lifetime.

This was easily the cutest mold we tested (and it’s easy to fill and dishwasher-safe, too). The adorable cat- and dog-shaped pops remove cleanly with only a light twist of the tray.

Cute and fun, this set offers unusual shapes and an easily peelable silicone mold. The iceberg sticks are wide and easy to hold, too.

One tube, no problems. These molds are leakproof, and they can fit just about anywhere in the freezer. And the mold’s lid is attached to the tube, so you won’t lose it.

As long as they’re lying flat, these molds can slide almost anywhere into an already packed freezer. The silicone is easy to peel from the pop, and all parts are dishwasher-safe.

You can make a couple servings of shaved ice in under 30 seconds with this attachment. It’s a bit of a splurge but great if you want a fun, easy treat for kids or if you like to entertain.

This professional-quality frozen slushy maker is great for entertaining and surprisingly easy to clean. But it’s not great for making dairy-based drinks.

$300 $200 from Amazon

You save $100 (33%)

This frozen-bowl-style ice cream maker churns out dense, creamy ice cream faster than any of our other picks — and at a fraction of the cost.

This self-cooling machine churned out ice cream that many of our testers found to be just the right texture — light, creamy, and stretchy.

This smaller-capacity compressor model makes slightly denser ice cream than the ICM-201SB, and it made some of the best vegan ice cream — dense and creamy, with minimal ice crystals.

This premium, stainless steel compressor model churns out flawless, creamy, gelato-like ice cream. But this machine is especially heavy as well as pricey.

This cleaner gets stains out of rugs and furniture, and it costs less than most similar devices. But the smell of the cleaning solution can be strong, and the included brush head is a little hard to rinse.

Marilyn also brought in the Frozen Magic Squeezie Cup and ZOKU Original Slush and Shake Maker to try in the studio.



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