Ice cream makes me melt, no pun intended. There’s no better way to cool off than with a proudly heaping cone of soft-serve, the swirled tip drooping gently in the heat of the day. Mixing up a batch of icy frozen margaritas for my friends on a hot night makes my heart beat faster, and there’s no better way to ensure a perfect summer morning lives up to its promise of joy than making my whole family frosty, protein-packed smoothies, fuel for our adventures to come. 

As summer comes around again, I’ve found myself craving a way to make access to frozen treats easier, and to have more control over their contents. I wanted a way to make my house the go-to spot for an evening with the girls, and to give my kids a reason to bring their friends over. What better way to do that than by acquiring my very own ice cream machine?

Enter my new best friend: GreenPan’s Frost, a countertop self-serve ice cream and frozen drinks maker. I can go from zero to ice cream in hand in just 30 minutes. Game changed!

What is the GreenPan Frost?

As a busy mom balancing career and family (as well as trying to have a social life!), my ask for an all-in-one summer solution that would save me time and money, entertain my kids, impress my friends, and ensure that I never ran out of ice cream again felt like a pipe dream. But the new GreenPan Frost ticked all of my boxes, and now I’m its biggest fan. 

The Frost is a brand-new offering from GreenPan that’s not like traditional ice cream makers—it’s better. It doesn’t require you to stash inconveniently-sized bowls in your freezer for days or do anything at all in advance. It creates soft serve, slushies, sorbets and more in as little as half an hour without sounding like an airplane is taking off. It’s so simple to use that my children often surprise me with their very own soft-serve creations. And the real kicker? It’s dishwasher-safe, so cleanup is a snap.  

How to use the GreenPan Frost

The GreenPan Frost comes with the countertop machine itself (with built-in chiller and a clear, double-insulated built-in mixing bowl with two quart capacity), complete with a traditional fountain-style self-pull dispensing handle, a recipe booklet, and a silicone cleaning brush. 

It was simple to learn to use, and mostly just involves pouring and pressing a few buttons. There are six preset modes (soft serve ice cream, sorbet, milkshake, slushie, extrude, and clean) and seven texture settings (ranging from soft and creamy to smooth and thick) to choose from. This allows you to create essentially any texture of frozen treat by simply pouring it into the machine and pressing a button on the LED panel. It literally couldn’t be easier. 

There’s no waiting around for mixtures to freeze. You simply mix up whatever you’d like to freeze, pour it into the machine, and wait around 30 minutes for it to churn to your desired consistency. 

So far, my favorite uses have been to combat the after-school slump with healthy froyo, mix up some post-work frosé for cocktail hour with a girlfriend, and make myself a frozen smoothie bowl for a perfect summer breakfast. 

Why I love the GreenPan Frost

My kids were incredibly entertained watching the machine churn away. The mixing bowl is clear, making it obvious when your treat is ready and how much mixture is left. It’s double-insulated, forgetting to put the ice cream container back into the freezer again. 

When it’s finished freezing, it’s time to play at being an ice cream van owner and pull the dispensing handle down to serve up a classically swirled bowl of soft serve or a glass of frozen cocktail. For a recent sleepover, I even set out bowls of toppings like a real froyo shop and the kids went wild for it. No extra charge for chocolate chips in my kitchen!

I don’t have any food allergies or dietary restrictions, but I whipped up a batch of coconut milk soft serve for my vegan friend and they said it was some of the best they’ve ever had. It’s ultra-simple to customize your ice cream and slushies to be health-forward or dairy and allergen free, as you completely control what goes into the machine. 

It’s also great for anyone maximizing their protein goals or reducing their sugar intake. You can add extra protein, skip the sugar entirely, or use milk alternatives, and the Frost churns your sweet treat up exactly the same. On days when I manage to get to the gym, I get to skip the line for a post-workout smoothie and make my own instead. 

Why you need the GreenPan Frost for summer

The GreenPan Frost has made my kitchen the coolest spot in town this summer. My friends keep asking me when they can come over to drink homemade spicy frozen margs. I’ve stopped buying ice cream, frozen yogurt, or anything that you’d crave on a hot day, because I can make it myself in less than the time it takes to drive to buy a milkshake. 

It serves as both entertainment and a way to feed my kids easily, as well as knowing exactly what’s going into their mouths. They love playing chef and trying new flavor combinations, and I like that I can keep it healthy if I want by freezing up fruit, yogurt, and protein powder to make good-for-you treats. It makes cooking feel fun and achievable. 

It is a little bit of an investment at $399.99, but for me it’s already paid its way. For context, an industrial soft serve machine is around $5,000, which makes the price tag seem way more reasonable. 

The main reasons I love it, though? The fact that there’s no wait time, nothing else to consider (such as having to stash bowls in my freezer a day in advance), and practically no noise. I can’t see it leaving my counter anytime soon.