Welcome to our review of the Morphy Richards 48822 soup maker. This is not only our favourite model at the time of writing, but a hugely popular choice for soup fans regardless of whether it’s their first maker, or replaces a previous soup maker that’s come to the end of its life. What’s more, the 48822 has spent a considerable amount of time as an Amazon bestseller in recent months (based on the time of writing – April 2017).
Morphy Richards 48822 Soup Maker Review
On this page, you’ll find our full run down of what’s great, and equally what’s not so great about this product, including a summary of what people who’ve bought it have had to say. We believe it’s important to include those opinions alongside our own, so that you can find out what other soup lovers really think about this machine.
So, let’s get started by taking a look at what you get with this soupmaker, in terms of the features you can expect to benefit from when you buy.
Morphy Richards 48822 Features
You wouldn’t be alone if you didn’t think there could be many features included with a soup maker – after all, how complicated can making soup possibly be? You throw in the ingredients, blend them up, heat a little and that’s it, right? Well, yes, that’s the general process, but many of us want more control over the consistency, and even over how different sort of ingredients are processed. Let’s go into a little more detail about each of the features that the Morphy Richards 48822 soupmaker offers.
Cutting Blade
First and foremost, soupmakers are essentially very advanced blenders. They take ingredients (usually already chopped to a degree) and blend them up to either a smooth paste like consistency, or less so to leave a chunky style soup. The 48822’s cutting blade is located in the lid of the unit, which if nothing else helps with the easy clean nature of Morphy Richard’s design.
Simple Controls
Ease of use is always an important factor to consider, particularly in electronics, and in this case kitchen gadgets. There’s nothing quite like that blank feeling of not being quite sure what to do, so it’s good to know that Morphy Richards have thought carefully about making the 48822 control panel simple to use. The four main functions (smooth, chunky, juice and blend) are clearly labelled, and complement the countdown timer (which isn’t as clear in the picture as we’d like) to give you a good idea of what’s going on as your soup is prepared.
Versatile With Ingredients
There’s not much restriction on what you can cook in your soups, with the exception that it’s advisable that if you’re using meat to precook it, as the soup temperature may not be sufficient on its own. Generally speaking, ingredients should be placed into the soup maker in lumps measuring under an inch, and the smaller they are, the quicker they’ll cook (or the softer they’ll be in the same amount of time compared to larger chunks).
Good Capacity
The Morphy Richards 48822 offers you the chance to cook an impressive 1600ml (1.6 litres) of soup in a single programme, which is at the upper end of the capability of most machines on the market. If you’ve got a larger family this is a very useful factor and is one of the common reasons cited by previous customers about why they love it.
Easy Cleaning
Another big winner for this maker over others is the quick and easy process of cleaning it. According to the instruction book it’s as simple as rinsing it out and wiping around with a sponge and warm soapy water. We found it may need a little more effort depending on what’s been cooked, but it’s certainly not been necessary to spend a lot of effort scrubbing! Similarly, and as mentioned above, the lid mounted blade make it easily accessible to clean out any trapped ingredients that might be hiding around it.
The Customer View
Our next section considers other people’s points of view about the 48822 soup maker, rather than our own. We think it’s a good way to be more balanced, so hope you find our round up of previous customer’s opinions (positive and negative!) in our Morphy Richards 48822 soupmaker review valuable too.
Cleaning Burnt Food
There’s been a number of reports of food burning onto the base of the soupmaker, resulting in people questioning how to deal with it. The solution is twofold, both parts useful if you know them in advance.
The first is how to avoid burning in the first place, and that’s to make sure that there’s enough liquid in the soup maker before the solids go in. Think water or stock, which allows the solids to avoid sticking on contact, and likewise during the cooking process as the soup thickens.
Secondly, if you do find ingredients have burnt during cooking, they may appear to be near welded to the inside of the machine. Try not to turn to a scourer in the first instance, as you might damage the finish of the internal surface of your soup maker. Try letting warm water soak for a few minutes, and see if that softens it up a little – if so, revert to the standard cleaning instructions of wiping around with soapy water.
You can also try running a programme cycle with water instead of making soup – the heat will often help loosen the burnt on soup and come away easier afterwards. On occasion it also helps to repeat several times – for the sake of waiting a little while, you might save yourself damaging the finish before you need to resort to the brute force scouring option.
Making Thicker Soups
A really practical discussion is how to thicken up soups – if that’s how you like them! Starch based foods are perfect for this task – potatoes and lentils are common ingredients that you might like to try. It can be tempting to reduce down the liquid content, but don’t go too far with that approach as you may find you’re heading back towards that burnt on food problem we mentioned!
Load It Up And Let It Go!
A real plus point that’s been repeatedly raised is how simple the machine is to use. You’ll quickly learn how it works, and then it will be a simple case of loading it up and setting the programme running, while you get on with other things. In less that half an hour, you’ll have your soup ready to go, signalled by beeps.
Don’t Be Tempted To Check Progress
One negative point that’s been raised several times is that people would like to be able to check on progress. The problem is that lifting the lid resets the programme so that it starts again from scratch. In truth, this is likely to be a short term problem if you’re anything like me, as it was only the novelty value early on that triggered me to check it – once that wore off I just let it be!
The Souped Up Summary
To round up our Morphy Richards 48822 review, this is a great choice that’s versatile and affordable. If you like to eat soups regularly, this can provide you with a quick and easy way to prepare your meal with the minimum of fuss, both in terms of ingredients and cleaning after use. A quick blend will give you a nice chunky finish, or a more elaborate whizz of the blade can result in some consistent, smooth results.
Topping our table as the best soup maker, the Morphy Richards 48822 soupmaker gets our recommendation. Check out the current price at Amazon: