How Long It Really Takes To Freeze A Whole Tray Of Ice Cubes

It's the day of the big party, and you're rushing around trying to cook, clean, and tidy up loose ends. Then you remember — you forgot to make ice last night. It's 2 p.m.; guests will start arriving at 6 p.m. Do you have enough time to freeze a tray (or trays) of ice cubes?

As it happens, you do, although with some caveats. It takes approximately three to four hours for an entire tray of ice cubes to freeze through solid, but it also depends on a few factors. First, the temperature of your freezer. While most freezers are set at an ideal 0 degrees Fahrenheit (remember, they only need to be below 32 degrees Fahrenheit to keep things frozen), if you keep opening the freezer again and again to grab things, it will raise the temperature within. If you have a second fridge or a chest freezer in your garage or basement, that would be the better location for faster ice cube freezing, provided you're not opening that door over and over.

You should also take into account the size of the cubes you're freezing. A typical tray will set within three to four hours, but larger cocktail cubes, like sphere ice, could take longer. Conversely, smaller cubes, like ice balls, could take a shorter period of time to freeze. The material of the tray doesn't matter so much, so plastic or silicone won't affect freeze time.

If you have fewer than three hours to get ice made, you can try this interesting, and rather paradoxical, freezing hack: If you freeze boiling or hot water, versus cold or room temperature water, it will magically set up faster. It's because of the Mpemba effect, so named for Erasto Mpemba, who discovered that hot water freezes faster than cold.

While scientists have been divided as to the veracity of this effect ever since Mpemba published his findings in 1969, those who do believe it offer a few reasons why, including the idea that water evaporates more quickly when it's hot, so there is less of it to freeze. Whatever the scientific truth of the matter, give it a shot the next time you need ice in a hurry. You can use hot water from the sink, put a kettle on to boil on your stove, or heat up an electric kettle, fill the ice tray with the water, and pop it in the freezer. Set a timer to gauge how long it takes.

Unfortunately, there is no super-fast solution if you need ice in a real hurry; you're going to have to head to the store and buy a bag. You can pick up a bag of ice in a lot of places, though, like Walmart and most other big box retailers, gas stations and convenience stores, most grocery stores. Even Dollar General sells them (when you bring the ice home, don't go banging it against your countertops to break up the ice).

However, if you find yourself time and time again needing ice for a crowd and coming up short time-wise, you can always invest in a countertop ice maker. They're relatively inexpensive and they make ice much faster than your freezer — in mere minutes — as little as six to eight. While some do have to be refilled to make each batch (pricier models may come with side or back tanks to eliminate this need), it will nonetheless up your ice-making game, producing cubes of all varieties with greater speed than your freezer could ever manage (and freeing up those ice cube trays for other purposes).