Handles are usually made from rubber or plastic. The ice cream scoop will either have a coated handle, or it’ll have a rubber handle as a separate piece. Both rubber and plastic handles are comfortable and grippy, but you’ll lose any heat transference through the warmth of your hand which can make the ice cream a little harder to scoop. Grip Shaped into a tab to stop your hand sliding up towards the business end, the handle also has soft non-slip panels, making it comfortable to hold and ensuring your grip stays firmly in one place. To be labeled as ice cream in the United States, a gallon of ice cream must weigh at least 4.5 pounds and contain a minimum of 10 percent milk fat,” they say. “Milk fat is both delicious and expensive, so budget-brand frozen dairy desserts will often replace a good deal of the milk fat with whipped air in an attempt to mimic the creaminess of ice cream (while also decreasing the calories). This means a scoop of super premium ice cream will weigh significantly more than an equal-sized scoop of a frozen dairy dessert.” Why are some ice cream scoops hollow? Those made from pure metal are often the worst when it comes to grip. Finger grooves can help you keep hold of stainless steel handles, which can become very slippery when wet.

An updated take on the traditional ice cream scoop, this cleverly designed Trigger Action Ice Cream Scoop from OXO Good Grips is strongly made from stainless steel so it easily scoops through even the most solid ice cream, while the trigger action pops out perfect globes every time.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. We like the aluminum ice cream scoops that have a heat-conductive fluid inside,” says Kelly Williamson, co-founder of True Scoops ice cream. “The heat of your hand warms the fluid, causing the ball of ice cream to neatly release from the scoop. It makes the hardest of ice cream that much easier to scoop.” 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.

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. As well as being ideal for frozen desserts, the large round scoop is brilliant for serving measured doses of cake mix into cupcake moulds, or doling out portions of batter to make identically sized pancakes or crêpes – and of course, it's great for serving perfect portions of creamy mashed potato too.

What Is The UK’s Best Ice Cream Scoop?

Scoops may seem basic, but many of them come with various features that make digging into tubs of ice cream smooth and easy. For example, you’ll find that some ice cream scoops have metal grooves that help release the ice cream into the bowl, while others may have soft and comfortable handles so you get a great grip.

Expertly engineered, the ratchet trigger mechanism sends a bar sweeping around the bowl to easily release a perfectly round orb of ice cream or sorbet and deliver it precisely into wafer cones, waffle cones or dessert dishes. Most ice cream scoops are made out of some kind of metal, typically aluminum or stainless steel, with a rubber or plastic handle, either coated or as a separate piece. Both stainless steel and aluminum scoops are capable of cutting through hard ice cream and offer similar advantages. Plastic scoops are less common and also not recommended: plastic will neither last as long nor cut through ice cream as well as a metal scoop or bowl.

Ice Cream Scoop Buyer’s Guide

On average, a scoop of ice cream is 1/2 cup, but it depends on who is doing the scooping, what their methods are, and what size scoop is used. A scoop with a 1/2-cup bowl can easily create a 1-cup ball of ice cream. Pretty much all modern ice cream scoops are made from either aluminum or stainless steel,” say Wes and Kristen Bechtel, co-owners of Boombalatti’s ice cream shop in Wilmington, North Carolina. This makes sense, considering all of the options on our list are made of aluminum, zinc, or stainless steel. While we didn’t notice a certain material performing better than others in our testing, it’s worth noting that aluminum ice cream scoops are hand-wash only, while the other materials are typically dishwasher safe. 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. You wouldn't know from looking at it, but the Zeroll Original ice cream scoop is actually an engineering wonder. The scoop itself is made of lightweight aluminum, but the handle is filled with heat-conductive, FDA-approved mineral oil. The internal liquid heats up from the warmth of your hand, making the scoop's metal slightly warm. The result is a scoop that feels comfortable to hold and slides smoothly through hard ice cream with minimal pressure required. The Spring Chef Ice Cream Scoop has an ergonomic, comfortable rubber handle that comes in twelve different colors (we tested the purple one). The handle also boasts a notch at the bottom for lifting off frozen lids, similar to a bottle opener. No more cold fingers!

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. 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.The hollow design of some ice cream scoops helps with heat transfer. "Anyone who has tried to scoop ice cream from a tub that just came out of the freezer knows it’s not easy, so most scoops are designed to transfer the heat from your hand to the ice cream you are scooping," the Bechtels say. "Most hollow scoops are filled with a conductive liquid that warms the scoop, making it just a bit easier to get through a tub of ice cream.” This conductive liquid will often be advertised as an anti-freeze. Not sure what to look for when it comes to the best ice cream scoop? Take a look at this buyer’s guide. Design