Contents
Morphy Richards 48822
Pros
- Competitive Price
- Good All Round Performer
- Cleaning Fast & Easy
- Versatile
- 1600ml Capacity
Cons
- Opening lid restarts programme
Check Amazon Price
(18% Off RRP)
This is our full, in depth review of the Morphy Richards 48822 soup maker. It’s been consistently one of our favourite models, and you’ll almost certainly find it near the top of our recommendations table on the homepage for years to come after this review was written (initial version in 2017 and since updated).
It’s been a top seller on Amazon for as long as we can remember too – testament to a high quality product at a very affordable price. Whether you’re a first time soup maker or are more experienced and replacing an existing soup maker, we’re confident that this popular and competent machine will be in regular use in your kitchen if it’s the one you choose.
Check Amazon Price
(18% Off RRP)
Morphy Richards 48822 Soup Maker Review
The purpose of this page is to help you to make a buying decision, based on an understanding of what the strengths and weaknesses of the 48822 are. In some respects, the weaknesses are more important to understand than the strengths, and fortunately the former are few in number.
As well as the facts like features that we cover, we’re also keen to bring you opinions from other customers who have bought this product in the past. It’s one thing that we tell you what we think, but it’s better if we compare that against other people too!
The idea is that overall you’ll get a more balanced view of what this Morphy Richards soup maker really offers. Let’s begin then, and look at the features that the 48822 brings its owner.
Features Of The Morphy Richards 48822
If you’ve never owned a soup maker before, you’ve probably got no idea what sort of features a soup maker is likely to have, or need for that matter.
You could be forgiven for thinking there’s nothing more than the need to fill it with ingredients and hit a start button. In a sense you’d be right, but there is a little more customisation available with most soup makers, so lets have a step through the ones that come with the 48822 one by one.
The Cutting Blade
In general, when you buy a soup maker, it’s a bit like buying a blender and a kettle in one.
When you add ingredients and make your soup, it needs to know whether to blend up that soup into a smooth and creamy consistency or leave in more coarse and chunky. That’s simply a question of taste – there’s no right or wrong answer, but the blade is responsible for that task.
With the Morphy Richards 48822, the blade is attached to the lid, and lifts out of the soup making vessel completely, which is also great from a cleaning perspective as it doesn’t get in the way.
Easy To Use Controls
This is a critical part for many people. We buy electricals to make our lives easier, so why do we so frequently get that sinking feeling trying to decipher an instruction manual?
In this case, it’s not a tough learning curve. You get a simple and easy to understand control panel on the top of the lid, with a button for each of the four main functions – smooth or chunky soup and then juicing and blending.
There’s also an LCD display too, which tells you how long is left to go on the cooking cycle before the soup is ready to serve.
Easy Ingredient Loading
As we mentioned before, the blade lifts out with the lid, making filling it a breeze.
You can really add what you like to your soups, and create your own to meet your tastes. It’s wise to pre-cook all meats, as the soup maker may not reach a consistent and high enough temperature alone to be sure meats are fully cooked from raw.
Other than that, chop up your food into chunks, which should ideally measure no more than an inch so aide cooking, and load up the soup maker. If you like more ‘bite’ so your veggies, then use bigger chunks and vice versa.
Family Friendly Capacity
Unlike some cheaper soup makers, you’ll get a good number of servings out of each cooking cycle with the 48822. It makes a total of 1600ml per use, which is 1.6 litres.
That’s good for four large servings or at least five smaller ones, great for big family mealtimes. That’s a really common point made by previous customers about what convinced them to buy.
Easy To Clean
After the generous capacity, the next glowing reference for this product is how easy it is to clean.
The instructions are simple and clear – just rinse out any residue left after use, and then wipe out the internal surfaces with a cloth or sponge and soapy, warm water.
In practice it can be a little more intensive than that, particularly with ingredients that might be more prone to sticking to the insides of the machine. That’s not to say you’ll be spending time scrubbing, just that it can be a little more effort than a single quick wipe around.
As we mentioned a second ago, it’s helpful that the blade lifts out as it’s mounted to the lid so that it’s out of the ways for cleaning purposes.
Customer Thoughts
In order to get a more balanced view, this next part focuses on what people unconnected to our website have said about this soup maker.
We hope this round up of comments about the Morphy Richards 48822 are valuable in giving you a rounded view and help you make an informed buying decision.
Burnt Food Sticking
While it’s not very common, there are some reports of customers finding that food sticks inside the 48822 during the cooking process from time to time. How you deal with that in order to remove and clean up seems to be key here.
Fortunately, as you’re likely to be reading this in advance of buying, it’s good to know that the cause of burning is usually insufficient liquid in the machine when the cycle starts. Whether it’s water or stock, when you add solids, they’ll often absorb some liquid and then during cooking the contents thicken.
If there’s not enough water things can begin to dry out, and eventually get stickier and attach to the sides of the machine. That can lead to a burning effect, so the best thing to do is use plenty of liquid as a base for the soups.
If you find you’re already dealing with the content sticking, that’s not a lot of use, so in that scenario, avoid the temptation to use abrasive cleaning materials in the first instance, as that is likely to damage finish of the surface of the machine innards and increase the chance of the same thing happening next time.
Instead, fill the chamber of the machine with warm soapy water and let it sit for a few minutes as that will often soften the burnt food enough to clean. If a little comes away but leaves some still stuck, repeat until you no longer get any further and revert to the normal method of cleaning with a cloth and soapy water.
Finally, if you’ve tried and all else has failed, you can run a cycle with the soup maker just containing water, and hopefully that will soften things up. Trying these methods initially reduces the chance of damage to your soup maker, even if you do even up having to result to more vigorous cleaning in extreme cases at least you can say you tried first!
Thicker Soup Creations
Thickening soups is often an area where newbies to soup making at home have questions.
Generally speaking, the suggestions are to use starch heavy ingredients in your recipes like potatoes as a natural thickener, lentils can also be great too.
This is a great suggestion and much better than trying to achieve the same effect with less liquid – that’s a one way street to the burning we mentioned a moment ago!
Automatic Programmes
There’s no getting away from the fact that automation is popular with customers – after all that’s why a lot of people buy an electronic soup maker in the first place!
Load it up and let it go is a recurring theme, so that you can return to eat when you hear the beep after less than under thirty minutes.
Of course, as with most things, the more you use it the quicker it gets, don’t expect perfect results if you’ve only got half an hour to spare on the first use.
Frustrating That Opening Resets
While there is a countdown to completion available, there’s clearly a few people that can’t just leave things be!
If that’s you, remember that opening the soup maker will reset the cycle, which will clearly be annoying if you’re half way through cooking. As the machine isn’t see through, you can’t see what’s happening so there is a temptation to check.
It’s a temptation you’ll soon learn to resist though if you do check without thinking as you’ll find yourself starting the timer again!
The Soupy Summary
As soup makers go, this is going to appeal to a large proportion of customers as it’s a well priced machine that does everything you’re likely to need it to do in an average family kitchen. When you’ve got a strong contender like this, it leaves little reason to buy an unknown brand just other than to save a few pounds.
Our Morphy Richards 48822 soup maker review has uncovered a simple yet competent machine that’s able to deliver good quality soup with some versatility in that it’s as easy to make chunky soups as smooth, and adds in some nice extras like juicing and blending.
If it wasn’t for Tefal, this would be our top recommendation, but even though it’s beaten into second place, the 48822 gets our seal of approval. You can find the current Amazon price here:
