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The frozen dessert home appliance category has been full of buzz for the past 12 -18 months. Formerly the domain of restaurants and commercial kitchens, a range of soft serve ice-cream and slushie machines have hit the market, sparking a flurry of dessert and frozen beverage creativity in home kitchens. In particular the challenge of the one ingredient ice-cream hack.
Enter the GreenPan Frost Ice Cream and Frozen Drink Maker which combines two of these functions into one – an ice cream maker and a slushie machine.
We tested the soft ice-cream, sorbet, slushie and spiked slushie functions of this $599 machine (it’s currently on sale for $479.20 for Black Friday) , using a combination of recipes in the instruction manual, store bought juice and yoghurt, and our own mango sorbet recipe.
Here’s how we found it.
GreenPan Frost Ice Cream and Frozen Drink Maker review
GOOD FOR: Families and keen home entertainers. This versatile machine will inject a big dose of fun into dinner parties, family movie nights and even just everyday summer desserts.
What we liked
- It’s easy to use and clean. We loved being able to put some components in the dishwasher.
- It’s versatile. There are five different desserts/drinks to choose from, and seven textures from soft to firm.
- You don’t need to freeze ice-cream and sorbet mixtures before adding to the Greenpan Frost, simply mix, pour and churn in the machine. It’ll work best if the mixture has been chilled in advance.
- The convenience of being able to add store bought products to the machine, rather than having to make a recipe.
- It’s pretty quiet!
What you need to know
- Certain mixtures will dispense more easily than others. Changing the texture can impact this too.
- Chill your glasses and bowls before dispensing so the dessert or drink stays frozen for longer.
- The bowl is double walled plastic and condensation can get trapped in between the layers after washing, which can take time to dry completely.
- There are a few bits and pieces separate to the main machine which need to be assembled before each use. Store these carefully as you won’t be able to use the machine without them.
- Everything we made in the machine during our testing took between 28-45 minutes. Note: The machine needs to sit for two hours before using.
What’s so special about the GreenPan Frost Ice Cream and Frozen Drink Maker?
This is a fun appliance that will transform fruit juice into an iced slushie, a tub of yoghurt into fro-yo, and churn an ice-cream recipe into soft serve. Once you get the hang of it it’s simple to use, easy to clean and quiet to run. The soft serve function alone is worth the price of admission. Add to that the ability to make sorbet, milkshakes and slushies, and you’ve got a nicely-designed, fairly compact, multi-function machine that’s working hard for that summer residency on your bench top.
GreenPan Frost: Materials and size
- The Greenpan Frost base unit weighs 11kg. It is 44.5cm high with a width of 22.2cm and length of 44.5cm.
- The minimum amount of liquid needed to run the machine is 710ml. The maximum is 1.4L. The total capacity is 1.9L as mixtures can expand during the freezing process.
- Accessories come in a grey bag and include two star shaped nozzles and two spare extrusion head gaskets. Plus a silicone cleaning brush that is also useful for assembly, and a bristle cleaning brush for the mixing bowl and attachments. You can also use this bag to store the little pin that attaches the handle to the machine.
- The Greenpan Frost has six different modes: soft-ice cream, slushie, sorbet, spiked slushie, milkshake and extrude/clean. For each mode there are different texture levels – one is for a softer, looser end result, seven is for firmer.
How to use the GreenPan Frost
- There is a bit of assembly required for each use of the GreenPan Frost, but once I had watched the instructional video and gone through the steps, I was all set. My only worry was losing the pin to lock the old-school handle into place!
- Once assembled, it’s as easy as pouring your chilled mixture into the top of the mixing bowl, toggling between modes, using the dial to select the texture, then pressing this down to begin the process.
- When pouring the chilled mixture in, do this slowly so the mixture doesn’t spill over the sides. The mixture must contain a minimum of 4 per cent sugar to freeze properly. An error message will be given if it contains less than this.
- When completed, a beep will sound and the word COOL will flash on the display. If you aren’t happy with the texture, at this point you can make the texture firmer but not softer.
- To clean the unit, use the Mode button to move the appliance into Extrude/Clean mode. This will slosh water through the machine, dislodging leftover mixture. Keep the handle up high when you pour the water in so it doesn’t slosh out the dispenser before you’ve put a bowl there!
- Turn the machine off and disassemble the unit to wash the components more thoroughly. Some components are top shelf dishwasher safe.
Results from our test
Testing included recipes and store bought products, as we were keen to explore the convenience factor as well as the different functions. Texture was the biggest variable in each test – every thing we tested worked and tasted great, but at times there was a trade off between firmness and how much could be dispensed.
Soft serve & sorbet
The soft ice cream function was tested with the Vanilla Soft Ice-Cream recipe in the instruction manual, a tub of Greek-style flavoured yoghurt and a tub of flavoured natural yoghurt. Our own mango sorbet recipe was used to test the sorbet function.
The vanilla soft serve was a lot of fun – the kids couldn’t believe their luck when I set up a dessert bar with fun mix-ins to add in once dispensed. This was smooth, creamy and delicious, but softer than I was expecting. In my second test of this recipe, letting this mixture chill for a few hours produced a firmer end result that dispensed beautifully. The first time, I tried increasing the texture level by one once done, and it was hard to get the mixture out.
Store bought strawberry flavoured Greek-style yoghurt was so reminiscent in taste and texture of the frozen yoghurt from dessert bars my tween daughter exclaimed “mmmmm, that’s fro-yo, that’s really good”. The manual warns against using Greek-style yoghurt, and I can see why. It was very thick and not all of the mixture could be dispensed. But I’d be tempted to do this again and thin the mixture a little before adding to the machine. It was that good!
A tub of mango flavoured natural yoghurt had a thinner/softer texture than the Greek-style yoghurt but dispensed easily. This took 40 minutes and is the kind of healthier treat you could have churning while eating dinner for a quick and easy summer dessert. It’s a lot more fun than a simple bowl of yoghurt!
The Weekly’s mango sorbet recipe was a total hit. It’d be a fun twist to serve this as soft serve at a dinner party. The recipe needs a little tweak for this machine as it was thick and I wasn’t able to dispense all of it. But what I was able to get out was a real highlight. One hour in the freezer was all it needed to firm up into a scoopable form.
Slushies
Soft drink and store bought fruit juice were use to test the Slushie function. Plus the instruction manual’s Frozen Rose recipe for the Spiked Slushie mode.
The alcohol-free beverages took less than 30 minutes to freeze. This was as simple as taking them from the fridge pouring them into the machine and selecting the function. In both cases the slushies had a fine icy texture, which was pleasant to drink. But being on the softer side (texture level four) they melted quite quickly. With the frozen rose, I chilled the glasses, which helped.
Is the GreenPan Frost Ice Cream and Frozen Drink Maker worth it?
Testing this machine was a lot of fun, and if the bench space was available, it’s the kind of appliance that would get a lot of use over summer. What is what you want for an appliance with this price tag. We love how low touch it can be, with store bought juice being churned into a slushie, or a tub of yoghurt into fro-yo. As well as it working for more custom confections, like a home made sorbet or ice-cream. These can be piped out soft-serve style into a cone or bowl, or popped in the freezer for an hour or two, then scooped out once they’ve hardened a little (but before they get icy).
In our testing, the ice-cream and sorbet functions stood out as the strengths of this product. The fact that it can churn out a slushie is an added bonus.
Where can I buy the GreenPan Frost Ice Cream and Frozen Drink Maker?
The GreenPan Frost Ice Cream and Frozen Drink maker is currently on sale for $479.20 (RRP $599).
GreenPan is offering Women’s Weekly Food readers an exclusive $15 off discount on all GreenPan products (excluding accessories). When purchasing from the GreenPan website, use the code AM15 for the discount. Offer expires December 31, 2025.
