Can You Put Juice In An Ice Maker?

The products and services mentioned below were selected independent of sales and advertising. However, Better Home + Living may receive a small commission from the purchase of any products or services through an affiliate link to the retailer's website.

If you’re thinking that it would be cool to add juice to your portable ice maker to create cool ice cube treats, think again!

In this article we’re going to run some tests to see if using juice in a portable ice maker is a good idea.

Can I Add Juice to a Portable Ice Maker?

The short answer is no.

Adding juice to a portable ice maker isn’t a good idea. Using any liquid, except for water, will gum up the sensors and gears that make your portable ice maker function correctly. If you decide to use juice in a portable ice maker, you’ll end up with a unit that doesn’t work.

All portable ice makers are designed to operate with water only!

I tried using juice in my portable ice maker, and it just doesn’t work. It makes a mess in the end and damages your unit. I purchased a cheap portable ice maker for testing this out, and I ended up throwing out the ice maker. It was never the same.

What If You Put Juice Into A Portable Ice Maker?

If you already put juice in your ice maker, you’ll find that it does produce cubes of juice. The problem is the mess that it leaves behind. The sugary coating will cover everything, leaving a sticky goo. This will impact your gears, walls, and the important sensors that operate the unit.

What do you do? It would be best if you cleaned the ice maker immediately. Do not let the juice begin to gel and harden. If you let the juice harden inside the ice maker, it will be bad news.

Follow the steps in my article on how to properly clean your portable ice maker. It’s important to keep cleaning your unit until there is no residue left from the juice.

How Can I Make Ice Treats With Juice?

Instead of using a portable ice maker for creating ice treats for your family, consider using one of the methods below. These methods are easy to do and won’t damage your ice maker.

The best way of creating juice cubes is to use a mold and add it to your freezer. This will take longer to freeze than a portable ice maker, but it’s going to protect your ice maker from damage.

If you do not have any ice molds, then you can use different products around your home. I suggest that you read my article on how you can create ice cubes without a tray to give you an idea.

Another simple way of creating juice treats with ice is to purchase some disposable ice cube bags. You can head over to Amazon now and check out the ones that I purchased. These are really easy to use and work perfectly. Once you freeze the ice, you just pop the ice cubes into your beverage. This is a great way of adding different flavors to your beverage. My whole family loves using them each day!

You can head over to Amazon, and you’ll find a TON of different ice molds that you can use to create some pretty cool (pun intended) treats.

You can also create regular ice from your portable ice maker, and use an ice shaver to make snow cone creations. Just use your ice shaver and then pour the ice over the ice shaver when you’re done. It’s really simple to do and it tastes great. You can be as creative as you want, the sky is the limit.