The Best Ice Cream Scoops, According to Our Tests

Pros: The heat-conducting tool makes it easy to make perfect scoops with little to no effort.

Cons: It's not dishwasher-safe so it requires some care for cleanup.

The Zeroll Original Ice Cream Scoop, Jeni's go-to scoop, is the one that shows up on top of most lists, and for good reason. "They are the gold standard in ice cream dishes," Jeni said. It's made of lightweight aluminum with a simple, easy-to-grasp handle that's filled with a heat-conducting fluid. That fluid transfers warmth from your hand to the bowl of the scoop, helping it glide through the ice cream and then release the scoop easily. The lip of the bowl is a bit sharp, too, which helps it scoop rock-solid sorbet. Because the scoop is so light, you do need a little bit of elbow grease to get going. Once you do, it works like a dream, and it makes perfectly rolled balls of ice cream — the best-looking scoops of all. It's not dishwasher-safe, but it takes seconds to rinse it off, so that's not much of a problem.

Price at time of publish: $25

Comfort: 3/3 stars; Ease: 2.5/3 stars; Release: 3/3 stars; Attractiveness of scoops: 3/3 stars

• Weight: 4.9 ounces
• Material: Aluminum
• Dishwasher-safe: No

Pros: The ergonomic design and heft makes big, beautiful scoops easy.

Cons: It's on the heavy side and the large scoop shape isn't ideal for getting the last bits of ice cream out.

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 need 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 I tested, which could be a good or a bad thing depending on your perspective!

Price at time of publish: $16

Comfort: 3/3 stars; Ease: 2.5/3 stars; Release: 2/3 stars; Attractiveness of scoops: 2/3 stars

• Weight: 8.7 ounces
• Material: Stainless steel and plastic
• Dishwasher-safe: Yes, top rack

Pros: Sturdy handle makes it easy to dig into deeply frozen treats, and the stainless steel head won't chip.

Cons: Ice cream tends to cling to the scoop, so might require some shaking or prying.

The Oxo Good Grips Solid Ice Cream Scoop has a very comfortable and sturdy rubber grip on its handles that prevents slipping, so you can have total control of your scoop. It's also got a narrow bowl, flat edges, and a pointed tip, which helps it get close to the corners of the ice cream container and create a prettier scoop. The downside is that the more you scoop, the more the ice cream sticks, so you'll have to shake or pry it out.

*Note, the original Oxo Good Grips scoop used in our test is no longer in production, so we've linked to the newest edition (the handle construction is the same).

Price at time of publish: $16

Comfort: 3/3 stars; Ease: 2/3 stars; Release: 1/3 stars; Attractiveness of scoops: 2.5/3 stars

• Weight: 9.36 ounces
• Material: Stainless steel and plastic
• Dishwasher-safe: Yes

Pros: The pointed top can easily reach corners of ice cream pints, and it has a few color options.

Cons: Scooping can be messy as the cold foods will stick slightly to the head.

Similar to the Oxo scoop in terms of shape, the Sumo Ice Cream Scoop stands out from other scoops for its stainless steel construction, which is a plus because some online user reviews claim that models made from coated plastic — like the Zyliss — can flake after long periods of heavy use. It's a solid, well-made model that will last a long time. But like its Oxo companion, the ice cream is more inclined to stick, making for a messy scooping experience. On a more positive note, it's available in four fun colors, each of which will brighten up your utensils draw.

Price at time of publish: $19

Comfort: 3/3 stars; Ease: 2/3 stars; Release: 1/3 stars; Attractiveness of scoops: 2.5/3 stars

• Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Material: Stainless steel and BPA-free food-grade rubber
• Dishwasher-safe: Yes

Conclusion

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

To test the scoops, I spooned up cookies and cream ice cream from a 1.5-quart oblong container, mango sorbet from a pint container (both of which I put in a deep freeze for a few hours to make sure they were very solid), as well as a few pints of assorted rock-hard, freezer-burned ice cream that were hiding in the back of my freezer.

There were never going to be any true disasters here. No matter what you use to scoop — even a regular spoon — it's all going to end with a dish of ice cream. But in an ideal world, there are a few important criteria a good scoop should meet. Imagine, for instance, you are dishing out ice cream for a big birthday party. You want a model that's comfortable and balanced in your hand, one that glides easily through ice cream or sorbet (no matter how hard or how chunky), corralling it into a tightly curled, round orb for either a bowl or on a cone. Then you want the ice cream to release fairly easily from the scoop. You want the scoop to be compact enough to easily fit into a pint and nimble enough to navigate a container's bottom corners to get out every last bit of ice cream.

I rated each scoop from one to three stars (three being the best) on all the criteria above: comfort in my hand, ease of scooping, ease of release, and attractiveness of scoops. I also had my husband and a female friend with smaller hands than me try them to see if different hands prefer different scoops.

Factors to Consider

Comfort

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

Weight

The scoops fell into two general categories: light and heavy. Three were in the 4- to 4.5-ounce range and four were in the 8- to 8.5-ounce range. But design mattered more than weight. There were winners and losers 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

Two 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 really isn't much of a hardship, so I didn't hold that against those models.

What Didn't Make the Cut

Norpro Nonstick Anti-Freeze Ice Cream Scoop

Like the Zeroll, the Norpro Nonstick Anti-Freeze Ice Cream Scoop is filled with heat-conducting fluid that helps with ease of scooping and release. This one also has a nonstick coating, so it was the most effective of all in releasing the ice cream from the bowl of the scoop. However, if you're going to get 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.

Comfort: 1/3 stars; Ease: 2.5/3 stars; Release: 3/3 stars; Attractiveness of scoops: 1.5/3 stars

Tovolo Tilt Up Ice Cream Scoop

I could have sworn that the Tovolo Tilt Up Ice Cream Scoop was the heaviest scoop at 8.2 ounces, but once I weighed them all it turned out that the Zyliss (8.68 ounces) was heavier. It feels hulking because it's unbalanced — it's top-heavy, with a very thin neck, which makes it feel like it's going to fall out of your hand. The two little feet that prop the scoop up off the table when you set it down are supposed to minimize mess, but the ice cream just drips down the feet instead. It makes large, clunky scoops. If you want the leverage of a heavy scoop, the Zyliss is a much better choice.

Comfort: 1/3 stars; Ease: 2/3 stars; Release: 2/3 stars; Attractiveness of scoops: 1/3 stars