How to Make Ice Cream at Home

Forget buying expensive ice cream full of questionable ingredients, artificial flavors, and even color additives. Making ice cream at home is quick, fun, easy, and economical when you use traditional or modern ice-cream makers that let you make the exact flavor, amount, and type of ice cream you want, using wholesome, natural ingredients.

Have you looked at the ingredients listed on many commercial ice cream cartons? Even premium ice cream, frozen yogurt, light ice-creams, and sherbets often contain these ingredients: Carrogeenan, guar gum, or carboxymethyl cellulose (added to keep ice crystals from forming), Polysorbate 80 and monoglyceride glycerol monostearate (added as emulsifiers to make the concoction "creamy"), Yellow #5, Red Dye #40 and Blue #1 – and many more (to tint it as if it contains certain fruits, nuts, or berries), and a host of artificial flavorings.

When you make ice cream at home, you control every ingredient. That’s one reason ice cream made at home tastes so delicious – it is made from real, wholesome ingredients. You can make exactly the flavors you love, too, and even make ice cream with a seasonal flair, such as strawberries-and-cream in June, when the new crop of berries is in, and delicious pumpkin-pie flavor for autumn get-togethers.

There are literally hundreds of recipes available free online and in recipe books for ice cream and other frozen delights. Some are traditional recipes, some are for those who want less sugar, some are for those cutting fats from their diets, and some are for those with allergies to nuts. They are easy to follow, and the ingredients are easy to find. Fresh milk, eggs, ripe fruits, real vanilla extract and real cocoa figure prominently. What you won’t find is anything that sounds like it comes from a chemical factory, not a grocery store.

When using recipes developed for at-home use, you'll notice how easy they are to follow and understand. They don't call for strange ingredients you don't have (and don't want). They don't require hours of preparation. They are straightforward, using standard, simple measurements of ingredients you probably already have on hand or can easily buy.

At IceCreamMaker.com, you can find machines for every size of household and every type of ice cream fan. There are in-freezer units, countertop machines, mechanized old-time salt-and-ice machines, even hand-crank units for the purists, and machines that make soft-serve ice cream, too.

You can find units that will make just enough ice cream for a family of two, and commercial units that make enough for a crowd. All the best brands are available, too: Famed White Mountain; the chef’s favorite, Cuisinart; family-friendly Rival; Lentek; Aroma; and more. Depending on the machine and amount of ice cream you want, it can be ready in as little as 10 minutes.

Many machines don’t even need ice or salt, but for those who love involving the whole family in making ice-cream the hand-cranked, old-fashioned way, we have those ice cream makers, too.

The easiest way to make homemade ice cream is with the machines that don't need ice or salt. With these machines, you just measure the ingredients, place them in the freezing chamber, turn on the machine, and get ready for a batch of ice cream. There are modern recipes that just need the ingredients measured out, and old-fashioned recipes that call for the milk to be boiled. But it's all easy to do.

But don’t stop at making ice-cream. All sorts of frozen desserts can be created with these machines, all of which also come with recipes for you to try. Frozen drinks, sorbets, ices, and more can all be made, quickly and wholesomely. You’ll enjoy making ice cream and frozen treats at home: They’re delicious, economical, easy to make, and fun.