Review of the Morphy Richards Soup Maker
There's nothing quite like a comforting bowl of warming soup on those cold winter days. But is a soup maker worth the extra cost and effort to create your own homemade bowl of goodness? The short answer is, yes.
A number of Christmases ago, my husband handed me what he described as an impulse purchase. My reaction was a mixture of surprise and fear. In trepidation, my ‘I love it’ look perfected, I tore off the wrapping paper to reveal a Morphy Richards Soupmaker. It’s become one of my best loved and most used kitchen appliances.
So much so, that when the original soup maker stopped working, I immediately ordered another one. The newer design has a sleeker look with its black and orange colours, plus a sliding cover where the electric cable connects - extremely handy when you're cleaning the jug.
The original size and modes remain the same, with the latest models also having 'keep warm' and 'clean' functions. The upgraded version has the additional ability to reheat soup if required.
Ease of use
Turning vegetables into a fulfilling, healthy lunch, or a nutritious after school snack for the kids is noticeably easier when using the soup maker. Simply add your chosen ingredients, select the correct mode, and the soup maker does the rest.
This particular model does require pre-cooking the vegetables, but we feel this adds to the flavour, so it's worth the extra effort.
Overall, the soup maker is simple to operate, easy to clean and and we've had fun creating some mouthwatering recipes.
Here's what to expect:
Overview
The 3 main components include:
- Jug - stainless steel jug with a maximum capacity of 1.6L (min 1.3L)
- Lid - with a chopping blade attached, plus a handle upon which the LED function is displayed
- Power cord - 127cm (50 inch)
The soup maker has 4 functions:
- Smooth - a 21 minute program, which cooks the ingredients then blends to a perfectly smooth consistency.
- Chunky - if you prefer a chunky soup, this setting cooks for 28 minutes without blending at all. Therefore, ingredients need to be chopped to the required size before being added to the soup maker. Alternatively, the ‘Blend’ setting can be used to chop down larger chunks a little once the chunky setting has finished.
- Juice - great for producing large volumes of smoothies and shakes in 2 minutes.
- Blend -ideal for using after the chunky program, if you’re wanting a smoother soup, or for chopping herbs once the smooth setting has finished.
Cost
You can expect to pay around £45 for a basic soup maker, rising in price to over £100 more for one with more functionality. Therefore, it's important to understand exactly what you need from your appliance. There's no point paying for one with extras you won't ever use.
Costs can vary quite significantly, even for the same make, model and size. We've spotted ours retailing from anything between £50-80. So it's definitely worth shopping around to find the best price.
Amazon, Curry's and Argos often have a good selection of makes and models. It's also worth checking out the Morphy Richards website for any deals currently on offer.
As with anything, whether you feel the price is worth it obviously depends on how often you'll use the soup maker. Personally, barely a week goes by without mine whirring away in the kitchen, so we feel it was definitely worth the investment.
Pros:
- A quick and easy way to make fresh, healthy soup - ideal for using up leftover vegetables, or those past their best.
- If, like me, you favour smooth soups, the Morphy Richards Soup Maker blends to an ideal consistency. The soup maker cooks ingredients for 11 minutes, then continues cooking whilst intermittently blending for a further 10 minutes. Rather than programming just one main blend at the end of the cooking process.
- With a 1.6L capacity, there’s enough for 4 large servings.
- The soup maker is relatively compact for ease of storage. It's approximately 12 inches (31cm) tall and 9 inches (23cm) wide, including both handles.
- Resulting soup is piping hot, so there's no need to reheat if you eat it straight away.
- A handy countdown is displayed on the timer function of the lid
- The jug and blade are both easy to clean with hot soapy water
Cons:
- A lack of saute facility means most recipes require cooking before being transferred to the soup maker. This can sometimes be classed as a bonus because using roasted vegetables improves flavour, but a saute function would be handy when ingredients require cooking in a pan first.
- Ingredients can sometimes become stuck to the bottom of the jug, which shuts off the functioning. This requires you to: transfer the half cooked soup to a pan or bowl, clean the jug, then return the ingredients to the cleaned jug before beginning the cycle again. Putting stock in first, then adding the other ingredients, can help prevent this happening.
- If you lift the lid to add ingredients during the cooking process, the programme starts again from the beginning.
- As the jug has a minimum capacity of 1.3L, you can't make individual portions of soups and smoothies.
Star Rating: 
(4.5 / 5)
We give this particular version 4 .5 Stars for it's: simplicity to use, ease of cleaning and reliability.
To gain that extra half star, we'd like to see a saute function for this particular model for when recipes require ingredients to be cooked in a pan first.
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Recipes:
The Morphy Richards Soup Maker comes with a handy booklet, which includes a number of recipes for soups and smoothies. We've also devised a collection of our own soup recipes, which you can find over on our Soup Recipes pages, including:
What other recipes can you cook I the soup maker.
Thank you.
Sandra
Hi Sandra,
I tend to just use my soup maker for making soups. There are lots of recipe ideas here: https://zeshlife.co.uk/soups/ (if you scroll to the bottom of the recipe, the Notes section includes instructions for making each soup with a soup maker).
You could also use your soup maker for making smoothies or milkshakes by using the blend function.
I hope this helps.
Hannah
First time trying my new soup maker, I bought a soup mix of veggies from supermarket and mix,it was so easy and we had a nourishing lunch. Given me the impetus to improve. Love it.