Add a pop of color to your collection of kitchen tools with the Spring Chef Ice Cream Scoop. Available in 13 bright hues, it offers the most color selections out of all the ice cream scoops on our list. In our testing lab in Birmingham, Alabama, we spent 10 hours testing 24 different ice cream scoops to determine the best ones. During our testing, we found that there are a few important factors to consider when purchasing an ice cream scoop. We found that the scoop is small enough to use in pints of ice cream, and it was equally efficient at scooping both smooth and chunky ice cream. Because of the dimpled texture of the head of the scoop, the ice cream easily released into the bowl. This tool would be the best ice cream scoop for making ice cream floats or ice cream sandwiches. In our testing, we found that the Sumo Ice Cream Scoop can give you a scoop of ice cream that looks like it came straight from your favorite ice cream shop. This scoop made it to the top of our list because of its durable stainless steel construction and grippy handle, which felt more comfortable in our hands than many of the other scoops on our list. Additionally, because the weight is distributed evenly throughout the handle length, you can scoop practically effortlessly without straining your hand. Plus, we felt that its pointed edge made it easy to dig the ice cream out. It’s the heaviest option on our list at 8.16 ounces, and it created ice cream mounds that were a little more square than round.

This brand is also a favorite for O’Hara to use in his ice cream shops. “We love a classic style scoop, our favorite brand is Zeroll,” O’Hara says. “We've used other similar styles, but Zeroll is the highest quality and most durable.” First, we tested each scoop on a pint of Häagen-Dazs to see how well it can scoop ice cream with a firmer texture and maneuver around a pint container. We took three scoops from the pint, paying close attention to how easily the scoop cut through the ice cream and how well it released the ice cream. We also noted how comfortable it was to hold, and we even used our left hand at least once to see if the scoop is suitable for lefties. Then, we hand-washed and dried the scoop before continuing to our second test. Sometimes you're craving more than just a little ice cream. One of these jumbo scoops is all you need for a generous serving of the delectable dessert, which means less scooping and more eating! The single-piece ice cream scoop, even though it has no mechanical release, is typically favored by ice cream shops because there are no parts that can gum up with repeated use. Ice cream can then be loosened with heat, either by dipping the scoop in warm water—as many ice cream shops do—or through the conduction of heat from the handle to the scoop.

Be sure to read the care instructions that come with your ice cream scoop before washing. Some of them, like the Joseph Joseph Dimple Non-Drip Ice Cream Scoop, are dishwasher safe, but others such as the Zeroll 1020 Ice Cream Scoop, should only be washed by hand. We tested 22 ice cream scoops in our Lab—including traditional scoops, dishers, spades, and even a scoop/disher combo—and evaluated them on performance, design, and durability. Each scoop was tested with two types of ice cream: Häagen-Dazs and Blue Bell. Five minutes before scooping, we took the ice cream out of the freezer and placed it on the countertop.

Over the course of 10 hours, our testing lab in Birmingham, Alabama, evaluated 24 different ice cream scoops. To properly test the ice cream scoops, we first learned the proper technique for scooping ice cream to ensure we were using the scoops correctly.

FAQs:

If your ice cream is coming straight from a household freezer, chances are it’s too hard to scoop. (FYI: Ice cream shops have temperature-controlled freezers to keep their ice cream soft and scoopable.) But that’s where this Good Cook Smart Scoop shines. By design, this aluminum scoop is made to handle frozen ice cream. It has metal claws that look clunky but are actually a genius way to cut through ice cream that’s too hard. It’s also a good option when serving up ice cream for guests, as it produces uniformly round scoops. It is dishwasher safe and held up well after washing, but it didn’t make our list since it performed so poorly. It may be better suited for scooping other foods, but not ice cream.

The handle is hollow and filled with antifreeze, which makes cutting through hard ice cream a breeze. (Though this also means you shouldn’t put it in the dishwasher.) In terms of performance, we hardly found any negatives except that it’s impossible to shape your ice cream scoops into balls due to the nature of spades. But if you don’t care about perfectly round scoops, this was one of the best-performing ice cream scoops we tested.A good ice cream scoop should have sharp edges to easily cut into hard ice cream and feature a well-rounded head to form neat, round balls. The most common types available include: The handle length was comfortable to use and wasn’t unwieldy despite its wider size, and the handle is also slip resistant to help prevent any accidents. There are also various grooves on the handle, so we were able to try out different gripping positions. Because of the grooves, we also found that our hands didn’t get tired since we could easily change positions to avoid fatigue. The best ice cream scoop according to our testing is the Joseph Joseph Dimple Non-Drip Ice Cream Scoop. Because of its innovative design and ease of use, it earned a perfect five-star rating in our lab.

The Midnight Stainless Steel Ice Cream Scoop has a sleek and ergonomic design that looks appealing, but we found it was a bit too bulky and awkward to use. The head of the scoop features a rounded tip on the right side, which made scooping ice cream more cumbersome. Although the ice cream itself fell into the bowl easily and the scoop seemed durable, we couldn’t recommend it due to its unwieldiness and high price point. Met Lux 4.66 Ounce Scoop Ice cream spades are usually seen in gelato stores, but you should really give one a chance over the traditional scoop. The Good Grips Stainless Steel Ice Cream Spade has a paddle that is slightly curved and slides through hard ice cream, or ice cream with mix-ins, easily. The spade is great for scooping large portions, as well as transferring homemade ice cream from the ice cream maker to a freezer-safe container or pint. For Kelly Williamson, co-founder of True Scoops ice cream, the best way to scoop ice cream is to let the ice cream soften on the counter until it gives slightly with the touch of a finger. “Dip your ice cream scoop in at a slight angle and drag it towards you until a ball of ice cream has formed,” she says. “If you’re scooping from a pint, dip into it at the same slight angle but ‘go around the world’ which basically means to go around the outside of the pint scooping up all that ice cream.” For mechanical scoops, the handle can also be where the release is. The release is typically a lever that is operated with the thumb or, in some models, squeezing the handle itself. These are typically designed to be done one-handed. Unlike traditional scoops, the HIC Kitchen spade is wide and flat with a rounded edge that makes it ideal for scooping out hard ice cream. We tested this space on both half-gallon and pint ice cream containers and had the best results with the half-gallon container due to its size. We found that the edge was way better for digging ice cream from around the rim compared to a regular scoop.

Kitchen tools to consider when buying an ice cream scoop

Although scoops with levers may require a bit of force or tension, this tool released ice cream gently and without any extra exertion. With this scoop, you won’t have to bang the tool on the side of your bowl to get the ice cream to fall. The size of a scoop of ice cream largely depends on who’s scooping—but in general, it can be anywhere from 2 to 4 ounces. Even though many of the models we tested don’t list the exact scoop size, those that do are within this range.