The Best Snow Cone Makers for Carnival-Worthy Desserts (2024)

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• How We Tested

• Other Options We Tested

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While a lot of snow cone makers need special ice blocks you have to freeze ahead of time, this handy little machine can use any kind of ice cube straight from your freezer or a store-bought bag—and it can crush enough ice for four or five cones per minute. You load cubes into the hopper, then press down onto the handle to push it through the blades into the bin below. In testing, it took six hopper loads to completely fill the bin, and that was enough ice for 13 standard-size snow cones.

Setup for the Cuisinart is incredibly easy, and using it is entirely foolproof as there's nothing to measure and no settings to adjust. It gave us classic crunchy bits, small enough to absorb syrup and hold a domed shape but not the finest-crushed snow cone you can get. The speed and efficiency of operation—and the flip-out trays that hold four cones for syruping—make this the ideal machine for a birthday party or summer get-together where you need lots of ice, fast. It might not be the best choice for the serious crushed-ice aficionado who wants more control over texture.

The fun machine is also safe enough for kids to use with adult supervision. The hopper leaves several inches above the blades, plus the included scoop means you'll never have to have your hands anywhere near sharp or moving parts. It comes with four reusable plastic cones and a dozen paper ones, so you'll likely need some extra cones before you throw your next party. The set also doesn't include any syrups, so you'll also need to buy some bottled snow cone syrups or make your own. The instruction booklet does have recipes, and we especially enjoyed the piña colada syrup we tried out.

When using the Cuisinart to make lots of snow cones at once, we did find that it dripped water as we opened and closed the hopper handle and pulled the bin in and out. It's a great idea to lay down a kitchen towel below the machine before you start using it. Also, the instructions say not to use the machine outdoors. We're not sure if that's because it might overheat in the sun or what, but it's unfortunate when snow cones are such an enjoyable treat to eat outside.

Dimensions: 9 x 9.3 x 12 inches | Weight: 7 pounds | Includes: 4 reusable plastic cones, 12 paper cones, ice scoop

The Shoxil machine makes fine, flaky shaved ice, and it does so for 20 bucks. The catch is that you have to crank it yourself.

We were honestly surprised in testing at how consistent a texture we got from this manual unit. You tighten the lid in place after loading in an ice block, which keeps even pressure against the blade regardless of how fast or slow you turn the crank. The Shoxil's blade works kind of like a cheese grater, making ultra-thin slices of ice rather than breaking into a more snow cone–like pebble. The result is a delicate, fluffy dessert that holds syrup well. It melts faster than the crunchier-style snow cone, though in our tests the ice retained pretty good texture even after five minutes on the counter.

Part of the reason this machine is so consistent is that it uses an ice puck sized exactly to fit. That's an advantage in one way, but not in another: Each one takes at least six hours to freeze completely, and there's only one mold included. The puck makes around three servings, which means you can't get a ton of shaved ice out of this machine without a lot of pre-freezing.

Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.4 x 5.4 inches | Weight: 1.5 pounds | Includes: 1 ice mold

Don't let its name fool you: The Great Northern Popcorn Company offers all kinds of snack-making tools. The brand is known for its high-quality professional-level concession equipment, including this seriously solid ice shaver. With its adjustable blade and 1/3-horsepower motor, the machine can demolish 6 pounds of ice per minute. In our testing, this beast shot out fine shards of still-crunchy ice, more snow cone—style than shaved ice. And we do mean shot: It quickly overflowed the small included plate under the blade. We put a full-size sheet pan under the whole machine to help catch some overflow, but you're probably going to want to set this up outside, in the garage, or in your snow cone shop's kitchen.

The Ice Cub can't really handle small cubes and needs large pre-frozen ice blocks, but at least there's no special mold to keep track of; you can use a storage container, bowl, or whatever you'd like as a mold. It can take on anything up to a cylinder 6.5 inches tall and 8 inches across. We used a 4-quart ice block and got 14 cups of snow cone, but we did find the setup a little finicky. You need a very flat surface for the blade to catch effectively, and we had to chip and carve at our block before we could start shaving.

Despite the cheery sunglasses-wearing bear printed on it, you should keep in mind that this ice maker is no toy. Essentially a drill press, it has a sharp blade spinning at 1,700 RPM and not a heck of a lot of safety features to protect your hands from it. Adjusting the blade requires touching the sharp surface itself. Kids should absolutely not be using this machine, and adults should exercise lots of caution.

Weighing in a 40 pounds, the heavy-duty model is also just plain heavy. It takes up a fair amount of space, and it has a price tag to match. But if you're a serious snow cone aficionado with a big family—or if you want to start your own snow cone business—you'll be rewarded with tons of fluffy, consistent ice in moments.

Dimensions: 15 x 12 x 30.5 inches | Weight: 40 pounds

The Snowie company is a maker of commercial shaved ice machines that cost thousands of dollars, and some of those commercial features are incorporated in its Little Snowie machines designed and priced for home use. The Little Snowie Max's angled dispensing system lets you fill a cup or cone directly, and it has a domed spout that makes it easy to create the proper rounded top. This machine uses standard ice cubes, so you don’t need to freeze special shapes, and it’s designed to look at home on the counter right next to the toaster and coffee machine.

It's not exactly tiny, but the Little Snowie Max does manage to fit an impressive capacity into its footprint. The hopper holds a half-gallon of ice cubes, which was enough for nine extra-large servings from a single batch. (The kit includes 8-ounce cups, which are quite a bit bigger than the classic paper cone.) It also comes with six packets of syrup mix in assorted flavors and colors, plus two dispenser bottles with spouts, to mix in and pour from.

We got super-consistent results with this machine, with the same texture of crunchy pellets from batch to batch. It's decidedly snow cone and not shaved ice texture, but it's excellent snow cone texture. It plowed through a full half-gallon of ice cubes in less than a minute, and we really appreciated the safety feature that the motor only runs when the ice hopper's lid is completely closed.

This machine is easy to use, powerful, fast, and includes all the accessories you need, but it has a price tag to match, as it's one of the most expensive we tested. Another, albeit minor, complaint we have is that it's quite loud and jumps around on the counter a little in operation. It didn't seem like a safety hazard or affect performance, but you might have to hold the unit in place while it works.

Dimensions: 8 x 6 x 12 inches | Weight: 11 pounds | Includes: 2 syrup bottles with pour spouts, 6 packets of syrup mix, 8 shovel spoons

There's not exactly a clear line between the crunchier ice bits of a snow cone and the fluffier flakes of shaved ice, but the Nostalgia Retro gives you the ability to make both. It has a dial to select a texture from coarse to fine, which is much simpler to use—and more effective—than any of the other "adjustable" machines we tested. It's also very versatile: While many snow cone makers say not to use anything but plain frozen water, this one can shave frozen whole fruit, juices, yogurt, or other ingredients to make more complex and creative desserts. On the finest setting, it produced our favorite-textured fluff of the test. We also like its fun midcentury look, a little like an old-fashioned milkshake blender.

You can use ice cubes in this machine, but for other ingredients (and for best results with plain water), you should use the included molds to make perfectly sized blocks. That means you'll have to prepare a day ahead of time whether you want snow cones or parfaits. The molds are fairly small, making just two servings each, and only two are included, so it's not the best choice for a big party. (You could freeze extra blocks and store them in a bag, but you'd need to start the process several days early.)

Operation is simple and safe enough that an older kid could help out (with adult supervision, of course), though it's a little tedious and annoying. You're not supposed to even plug the machine in until after you've loaded it with ice, and then to run it you have to press the power button with one hand while you rotate a wheel to lower the ice into the blade with the other. It's really kind of in between a manual and an electric.

Dimensions: 10 x 9 x 17 inches | Weight: 8 pounds | Includes: 2 ice molds

This powerful little machine is made to use in a restaurant, food truck, or other commercial setting, but it's priced low enough that it's reasonable to consider for home use, as well. The Zeny is capable of producing 143 pounds of snow-cone ice per hour—assuming you have 143 pounds of ice on hand to begin with. Next time you need snow cones on demand for a school bus full of screaming children, it's the machine you should consider.

The Zeny has a huge hopper you can fill up with ice of any size and shape, with a plunger that pushes it through the blades. (In a nice safety feature, the motor shuts off automatically when the plunger opens.) We got remarkably consistent texture from batch to batch, even when we tried pushing on the plunger with more and less force. The crushed ice shoots out of the machine into an attached rotating bowl, which is actually quite a bit smaller than the hopper—one hopper-load filled the bowl three times in our test.

The machine's high power makes it nearly lawnmower-loud, but it's heavy, and its stable base keeps it from moving around on the counter. It was also fairly messy in testing; the high-speed flow of ice bits tended to overflow the bowl and get everywhere. (On the other hand, it's only water and easy to wipe up.)

Dimensions: 17 x 12 x 9 inches | Weight: 13 pounds

This adorable snow cone maker puts a tiny old-fashioned push-cart—with two wheels, two legs, and a little shelf that holds two cones for filling and serving—right on your kitchen counter. It's a great way to add a little carnival atmosphere to a birthday, pool party, or barbecue. That said, it doesn't lack in power or capacity, with a bin that can contain enough shaved ice for about 20 cones.

Like the Cuisinart above, this machine can use standard ice cubes, but it's a bit more involved to use: You fill the hopper chamber with ice cubes, lock the lid in place, and wait for 30 seconds or so as it's turned into pebbly ice. We found the snow cone texture to be pretty perfect with the Nostalgia Vintage machine, with tiny crunchy bits in very consistent size.

The problem is that the hopper chamber that holds the cubes pre-shaving is much smaller than the generously sized bin, which means that you'll have to keep re-opening, refilling, and re-shaving over and over if you plan to make snow cones for a big party. The layout is also a little awkward: You have to scoop the crushed ice through the machine's fairly small door, which makes it easy to spill, especially if you have larger hands. It's slightly complicated to take apart and clean, though on the other hand, the parts are only really in contact with water and need just a wipedown after use.

Dimensions: 12 x 11 x 15.3 inches | Weight: 4.8 pounds | Includes: 2 reusable plastic cones, ice scoop

Pack a cooler with ice and you can make snow cones on a picnic, at the beach, or in your backyard with this manual ice shaver. Despite its low price, it lets you adjust the blade to dial in the perfect snow-cone texture. Once we figured out the best setting (very fine shaving worked best), we got consistently textured snow-cone ice with a nice combination of fluff and crunch.

Unfortunately, the Time for Treats model's cheap construction somewhat interferes with using it. The flimsy plastic makes it difficult to turn the crank without the whole machine jumping around the counter, and adjusting the texture requires loosening two screws to manually move the sharp blade. (Snow cones are a kid-friendly food, but with this machine's instability and sharp parts, we'd say only adults should do the loading and cranking.) On a coarser ice setting, it performed quite poorly, squeaking and scraping and making huge, sharp shards. It's best to keep this thing set to fine or medium.

The kit includes three stackable lidded molds for making ice blocks that fit perfectly, but you can also use regular ice cubes. As it works on muscle power, the Time for Treats might not be ideal for making snow cones for the entire neighborhood, but it's a great option to quickly whip up one or two servings on any random evening.

Dimensions: 8 x 7.9 x 9 inches | Weight: 1.8 pounds | Includes: 3 ice molds with lids

Final Verdict

After rigorous testing, we've declared the Cuisinart Snow Cone Maker our top choice, a powerful and effective way to turn regular ice cubes into a fluffy snow cone. For light and fluffy desserts at a low price, the Shoxil Manual Shaved Ice Machine is a great pick—but you do have to crank it by hand.

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