Hi Felicity,

I haven’t tried the Costco one, but it looks like a pretty standard low-priced compressor machine.

It might be OK, but I doubt you will get great results!

The main problem with the standard Ninja Creami is that it doesn’t churn air into the mixture, so the ice cream, while incredibly smooth, can seem a little bit “fudgy”.

Personally I don’t find that this outweighs the other advantages of the Ninja Creami, but others disagree.

However, if you were to get the Ninja Creami Swirl, the Soft Serve program runs in such a way that it does aerate the ice cream to create a much lighter final result.

I’ve only used it a couple of times so far, so I haven’t published a review yet.

But I thought it was great.

The attachment that makes the swirl is a bit of a gimmick, but the aeration of the Soft Serve program is a bit of a game changer as far as I’m concerned.

So that is what I would choose (or the ICE-21) personally.

Thanks!

Carl

With that in mind would you say that from a mouthfeel perspective the Ninja models lag behind traditional churning ice cream machines? I’m contemplating between the Cuisinart Ice-21 (don’t love how you have to freeze a big bowl in advance), the Ninja Swirl, and Costco Iceman Trio Ice Machine. Wondering if you’ve tried the Costco one (I’m leaning towards that one) and if you have any advice on which one to pick. Thanks so much in advance!

Hi Pamela,

Sorry, I haven’t posted it yet.

These are the ingredients, though:

Milk 300g
Cream 250g
SMP 30g
Sugar 80g
Corn Syrup 60g
Stabilizer 2.5g
Salt 1g

It’s similar to the original (https://www.dreamscoops.com/recipes/perfect-no-cook-vanilla-ice-cream-base/), but without the Condensed Milk.

For the stabilizer, you need to use Xanthan or Guar (or a combination) as they will work without being heated.

Thanks!

Carl

You mention in the comparison post that you used a variation of your perfect no-cook vanilla ice cream base (because you got rid of the condensed milk) and you would add the ‘new recipe version’ at the end of the article. Unfortunately, I can’t see the new version or a link to it. Can you direct me to it please?

Also, I’m sure this is a silly question but here goes… are the store bought ice cream starters simply for convenience and are inferior to what one would make at home?

Many thanks!

You’ll definitely be able to detect some ice crystals if you use a no-cook recipe.

I like the ICE-100, and I recommend it as the best ice cream maker with compressor, if you can’t afford the Lello.

But it’s not a patch on the Lello.

I’ve owned it for several years and have never in the many times I’ve used it had any kind of detectable ice crystals no matter what recipe I’ve used.

Many other experts (e.g icecreamscience guy) think it’s pretty good too and one of the best consumer alternatives to the lelo.

I will check it out!