A domestic ice cream machine or ice cream freezer is a machine used to make small quantities of ice cream at home. The ice cream machine may stir the mixture by hand-cranking or with an electric motor, and may chill the ice cream by using a freezing mixture, by pre-cooling the ice cream machine in a freezer, or by the ice cream machine itself refrigerating the mixture.

An ice cream machine must cool the mixture, and must simultaneously stir it to prevent the formation of ice and aerate it to produce smooth and creamy ice cream. Most ice creams are ready to eat immediately, but some, especially those containing alcohol, must be chilled more in a freezer to attain a firm consistency. Ice cream from an ice cream machine that is stored in a freezer usually needs to be removed 20 to 30 minutes before serving to soften it, partly to make it easier to serve and eat and partly because when ice cream is very cold, the taste is impaired.

Some ice cream machines, such as certain low-priced counter-top models, require that the resulting mixture be frozen as much an extra four hours or more (or overnight), depending on the recipe, in order for the ice cream to harden to a desired consistency.