Sensio Home ice cream maker

There's nothing complicated about this model – it just has an on/off switch, it’s easy to use, assemble and clean.

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How easy is the Sensio Home ice cream maker to use?

Putting this ice cream maker together is as simple as it gets. It’s clear to see where everything fits together and the lid and base lock with a firm click.

There are no dedicated ice cream, sorbet or gelato settings on this model, nor is there a timer. A simple on/off switch is all there is to get you started.

Two recipes are included in the manual: one for vanilla ice cream and another for strawberry. It doesn’t say how long it will take to churn, rather it vaguely says ‘churn until it has reached the desired consistency’.

Whist its actual footprint isn’t that large, we struggled to fit the ice cream bowl into the freezer owing to the wide top. We managed to squeeze the base in, but our freezer drawer was noticeably warped afterwards. Check the dimensions to make sure this model will fit in your freezer before buying.

The top of the ice cream maker is clear plastic, so you can easily check on the mixtures progress. There’s also a feeding chute for extra ingredients – sadly this is quite small, when we poured our ice cream mix in, we ended up smearing custard down the chute. Thankfully, the lid can be easily removed from the motor for cleaning.

Results

Results were mixed. We made our ultimate vanilla ice cream and lemon sorbet. Our vanilla ice cream took 35 minutes to churn, after which it was smooth and creamy. We noticed a couple of ice crystals on top, but they were only small. Texture and flavour-wise, the ice cream was the texture of soft whipped cream, with the slightest of graininess.

There was a little build up of ice cream around the inside of the bowl where the paddle hadn’t managed to reach, which meant we had to sacrifice some of our yield. Overall, for the price of this machine, the results of the ice cream was impressive.

We had no such luck when making a lemon sorbet, though. Unfortunately, the mix was just too liquid, even after 40 minutes of churning. We let the bowl fully defrost, and refroze it for more than 12 hours, but again, the mix was still liquid.

We suspect that this freezer bowl can only handle thicker base mixtures, hence the success of our ice cream.

Conclusion

Considering its price point, this Sensio Home model is worth considering. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of it’s more expensive contemporaries, but it does make soft ice cream. We’d recommend making your ice cream base thicker than usual, to avoid the chance of it not turning into ice cream. Fans of sorbet should steer clear; we just couldn’t get it to work.

It’s easy to use, good value-for-money and not difficult to clean. Don’t forget to check that the bowl will fit in the freezer before you buy!

Specifications

Wattage: 12
Pre-freeze or self-freezing: pre-freeze
Accessories: N/A
Pre-set functions: none
Dimensions (cm): H: 14 x W: 20 x D: 20
Bowl capacity: 1.4L

Ice cream recipes

Ultimate vanilla ice cream
Strawberry ice cream
Vegan vanilla ice cream
Buttermilk, brown sugar and rye bread ice cream
Malt chocolate ice cream
Cranachan ripple ice cream
Gooseberry ice cream

Sorbet recipes

Mango sorbet
Raspberry sorbet
Elderflower sorbet
Lemon sorbet
Rhubarb and star anise sorbet
Gooseberry, elderflower and sauvignon sorbet
Refreshing lychee and lime sorbet

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This review was last updated in April 2021. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk