We Discovered the Best Snow Cone Makers for Carnival-Worthy Desserts

Best Overall

Cuisinart Snow Cone Maker

Orig. $80 $60 at Amazon $85 at Walmart $80 at Wayfair

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.

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

Best Budget

Shoxil Manual Shaved Ice Machine

$16 at Amazon

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 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

Best Kit

Snowie Little Snowie Max Snow Cone Machine

$219 at Amazon $232 at Walmart $209 at QVC

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 appreciate 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

Best Commercial-Grade

Zeny Electric Stainless Steel Snow Cone Maker

Orig. $30 $26 at Amazon Orig. $53 $42 at Walmart

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 | Includes: No additional accessories

Best for Parties

Nostalgia Vintage Snow Cone Maker

$80 at Amazon $58 at Walmart $53 at Wayfair

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.

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

Best Manual

Time for Treats Snowflake Snow Cone Maker

$26 at Amazon Orig. $25 $19 at Walmart $31 at Wayfair

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.

However, we do like that 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

Best KitchenAid Stand Mixer Attachment

InnoMoon Shaved Ice Attachment for KitchenAid Stand Mixer

$70 at Amazon

If you already have a KitchenAid stand mixer, buying an attachment vs. a whole new appliance saves a lot of storage space. This attaches to the mixer the same way as most other attachments. Just unscrew the front badge, insert the attachment, and tighten the screw. While that was simple, assembling the attachment was a bit fiddly the first time we used it, but it got better with not too much practice.

Once it’s attached to the mixer, the ice-holding section can be removed for a refill without removing the whole attachment from the mixer. The only other bit that needs attention is freezing the ice pucks to use in the shaver. They can be stacked in the freezer, which is great, but if your freezer is packed, it may take some freezer Tetris to find a good place where they can stand fairly straight so the pucks freeze evenly. This attachment includes 8 freezer containers, so you can have plenty of pucks on hand to shave a lot of ice, although it would be nice if it could also take regular ice cubes.

Once assembled, it’s just a matter of turning the mixer on with a bowl under the attachment to catch the ice. It’s shockingly fast and each puck makes about 3 cups of shaved ice when it’s at its fluffiest. There are two different cutting blades for shaving fine or coarse ice. The fine ice was more feathery and light while the coarse was a bit more crunchy, while still very fluffy.

While it’s simple enough to pour syrup or juice over the shaved ice, the pucks can be filled with juice or other flavored liquids instead of water so the flavor is in the ice and not just drizzled on it. The shaved ice can also be used in drinks, where it melts quickly to cook drinks fast. Cleaning is super-simple particularly if it’s only used to shave plain ice, but no matter what, it doesn’t take much effort.

Dimensions: 12.68 x 10.67 x 5.59 inches | Weight: 3.85 pounds | Includes: 2 ice shaving blades, 8 cups for freezing ice