The Best Ice Cream Scoops for Superior Cones and Sundaes, According to Our Tests (2024)

Whether you're making your ice cream at home or enjoying your favorite store-bought pint, a reliable ice cream scoop is a tool you'll reach for more often than you think. With a few years of ice cream scoop testing under our belts, we approach this topic with fervor (and delight in sharing some sweet treats in the process). Right on the heels of our ice cream makers tests, we've done a deep dive into how to get the best ice cream results at home in every season.

During our original scoop testing, we reached out to Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams for her scooping wisdom. Bauer's ice cream empire now includes dozens of shops and two ice cream cookbooks, so naturally she has a favorite model that she uses at her shops and doesn't love ones with moving parts like a release lever. "The spring/lever ones don't work well for American hard body ice cream," she says, "Too many pieces and they pop apart when scooping. I don't recommend them."

Starting with Jeni's recommendations and keeping her advice in mind, we've focused our testing on 2- to 3-ounce ounce scoopers and expanded to a few more styles to consider for your favorite pints.

Our Favorite

Though other scoops offered great results, overall the Zeroll Original Ice Cream Scoop proved to be the most useful ice cream scooper we tested. The heat-conductive handle allows for smooth scoops without introducing freezer burn to your favorite pints of ice cream.

The Tests

There are a few scenarios we want our scoops to have outstanding results. We tried them in pint and half-gallon containers of classic ice cream, looking at maneuverability, size, and getting into the corners. We switched to our left hands to ensure the angles worked for everyone, and we took the dishwasher-friendly scoops through two cycles to see how they held up to rinse, heat, and drying. In previous tests, our winners also spooned deep-frozen ice cream and sorbet, as well as freezer-burnt pints, for a test of durability.

We looked to see how the scoops curled, fit into bowls or onto cones, and how easily the ice cream and sorbet released from the scoop. We rated every tool and compared the results, and though there are no true duds (ultimately tasty ice cream will result even from a teaspoon), our favorites were standouts in all areas.

Factors to Consider

Comfort and Maneuverability

Most of the scoops performed well, especially in comfort and ease of scooping. A few that were otherwise great ran into trouble releasing the ice cream; the colder they got, the harder it became to get it out of the container. A few were too large or blunt to get into the nooks and crannies at the bottom of the carton.

Weight

Scoops fall into two general categories: light and heavy. Some were in the 4- to 4.5-ounce range, and others were in the 8- to 8.5-ounce range, but we find that design matters more than weight. We had favorites in both groups — a well-designed heavy scoop can give leverage cutting through hard ice cream. A well-designed light scoop can feel more comfortable and nimble.

Features

A few of the scoops have heat-conducting or defrosting fluid sealed inside the handle: Supposedly, that fluid transfers heat from your hand on the handle to the bowl, warming it just enough so that it glides smoothly through the ice cream and then releases the ice cream easily from the bowl. Both performed well — one better than the other — though the downside is that you can't put them in the dishwasher. However, washing an ice cream scoop by hand isn't much of a hardship, so we didn't hold that against those models in terms of ratings.

Other Ice Cream Scoops We Tested

Strong Contenders

Farberware Professional Soft Ice Cream Scoop, $10 at Amazon

While the Farberware performed well with the different-sized containers, the squared edge would be hard for left-handed folks. Otherwise, we found it easy to use and easy to grip, which means we could get consistent scoops. We like how the wide black handle fits in our hands, and the squared end is a nice feature when starting scoops.

Norpro Nonstick Anti-Freeze Ice Cream Scoop, $7 at Amazon

Like the Zeroll, the Norpro Nonstick Anti-Freeze Ice Cream Scoop is filled with heat-conducting fluid that helps ease scooping and release. This one also has a nonstick coating, so it was the most effective in releasing the ice cream from the bowl of the scoop. However, if you like a self-defrosting scoop, there's no reason to choose this one over the Zeroll. The handle is thinner than the Zeroll and feels slippery from the nonstick coating, so it's hard to get a good grip on it. The shape of the bowl is more oblong than round, so the scoops are not as neat and pretty.

Zyliss Right Scoop Ice Cream Scoop, $16 at Amazon

It might seem odd that the heaviest scoop — this one weighs in at 8.7 ounces — is best for small hands, but this scoop's well-balanced heft gives great leverage for cutting through hard ice cream or sorbet. The ergonomic handle of the Zyliss Ice Cream Scoop is super comfortable and made testers feel like their grip was secure. Minor quibbles: The scoop is too big and blunt to be very effective at getting the last bits of ice cream from the corners of a container; ice cream sometimes sticks a bit and needs a nudge to come off the scoop; and the scoops themselves aren't as pretty as those made by Zeroll. It also makes bigger portions than the other models we tested, which could be a good or a bad thing, depending on your perspective.

What Didn't Make the List

There were a dozen other scoops that we didn't like as much, including the Everyone who picked up the KitchenAid Classic Ice Cream Scoop (it feels cheap, slippery, and it's too rounded) and the Tovolo Tilt Up Ice Cream Scoop (huge, top-heavy, and unbalanced). At the end of the day having a scoop you can reach for for another 10 or 20 years is worth the initial investment, as the sub-par options are only going to need to be tossed and replaced within a year or two.

Our Expertise

Jennifer Zyman is a Senior Commerce Writer for Food & Wine and a former restaurant critic with a culinary school degree and over 15 years of food writing experience. Her work has appeared in Atlanta Magazine, Bon Appetit, Eater Atlanta, The Kitchn, Local Palate, National Geographic, Simply Recipes, Southern Living, and Thrillist.

Sarah DiGregorio performed earlier rounds of testing and wrote the original version of this piece. She has written for various publications, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Saveur. Her work has been included in the Best American Food Writing yearly anthologies three times. For the original version of this piece, she spoke with Jeni Britton Bauer, of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams for expert tips and developing the testing methodology.