Soup maker recommendations, please.

[Snozzlemaid]

I've been looking at maybe buying a soup maker so wondered if anyone has one they love and would recommend?
Most of them look to be either 1 or 1.6 litres. I'd like to make a few portions at a time to keep or freeze even, so should I aim for the bigger one?
Do I need one with a saute function? Do you get better flavour if onion has been sautéed first?
Also, is there a recipe book you would recommend, please.
Thank you.

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Great that you're wanting to make soup - one of my favourite foods - but you really don't need anything but a biggish saucepan. Ideally stainless steel (cheap, durable, easy to clean and with no suspect plastics liners) and ideally with a fairly thick base. Should not be expensive.

To answer your questions - yes, onions and other hefty veg - pots, swedes, celeriac, celery, carrots, parsnips, peppers etc - do taste nicer when lightly browned (but not burned). In the old days, this process of gently softening soup veg in a little oil or butter (your choice) was known as sweating them. This method has existed for several thousand years (literally).

You don't really need a recipe book for the simplest soups - the basic principles are very easy to follow:
soften
simmer
add delicates
blend
garnish or enrich

But you do need a stick blender.

Here's a very basic recipe for 'bottom of the fridge/left-over veg' soup.

1. chop and 'sweat' very gently roughly chopped (washed or peeled) hefty/tough veg in oil/butter until soft when poked with the tip of a knife
2. add some boiling water (or stock, or stock cube or stock powder eg Marigold). Home-made stock is easy to make. Add also some herbs (dried), some ground black pepper, and some chopped garlic.
3. simmer the above very gently while preparing 'softer' veg - mushrooms, watercress, courgettes, peas or beans (frozen), fresh tomatoes etc, depending on recipe. Add these as you go along. Again (depending on recipe) if tomatoes are required instead of fresh you can simply add a tin of quality chopped tomatoes in juice and/or a good tablespoon of tomato puree. bubble gently until added veg are cooked - usually no more than 10 minutes.
4. If wanting to add lentils/beans, I prefer to cook these separately - just boil in water in a small saucepan until soft. Or use a tin.
5. BEFORE adding beans, blend all veg to desired texture - smooth or chunky. Then add beans/lentils. Now is also the time to add salt, to your taste, as well.
6. Gently stir everything over heat until piping hot. Add garnish of fresh chopped parsley, chives, basil (if tomatoes) just before serving. Or, if appropriate to the recipe, stir in some cream or yoghurt.

Delia is really excellent for the basics - and free:
https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/books/the-delia-collection-soup

I'd start with something like this:
https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/collections/root-vegetables/leek-onion-and-potato-soup

or this
www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/soups/slow-cooked-root-vegetable-soup

A stick blender is ok and I have a good one, but it doesn’t blend half as well as my Magimix blender.

https://direct.asda.com/george/electricals/kitchen-appliances/cooking-appliances/silver-16l-soup-maker/051189857,default,pd.html?cmpid=ppc--geor-------_-dskwid-_dm&utm_campaign=pla:Home_PROMO-_Performance_Max&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gad_source=4&gclid=CjwKCAiAmrS7BhBJEiwAei59i0fsr3hEeWUSlf49KAU-KGSKCrUBrRMSM29g7e5T-EWQBCkaZiVqJxoCw1wQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I have one very similar to this, just a basic model but does the job. I don't bother frying anything off, just chuck everything in and it's ready in 20 minutes. So much easier than faffing about with a stick blender, especially when you have a fussy DC that won't eat it if they detect the slightest lump in the soup. The blend function on mine gets it perfectly smooth.

@nameXname

Thank you for this , I love soup but for some reason I am rubbish at making it. I am a pretty good cook otherwise but soup always goes a bit bleurgh.I think I go too off piste

I have the Morphy Richards one, I bought it from FB marketplace for £10. I love it, easy homemade soup in 20 mins. I use it every week and don't need to watch it like a pan on the hob. Just turn it on and walk away.

Thank you but I do want a soup maker. I currently make a few flavours in saucepan and use a stick blender but would like to just stick it all in and leave it to do its thing. I work at home so it would be good to put it in, do some more work and then for it to be all ready to eat when I stop for lunch.
Recipe book would be for inspiration to try a few new types/flavours.

Pan and immersion blender

Have the basic Morphy Richards one, bought in 2020 and still going strong. Highly recommend it if, like me, you're not a fan of standing over the hob with a stick blender.

Thank you @UndeniablyGenXmasOfAWomblingMerryType. I have been looking at the Morphy Richard's ones.

Check out facebook marketplace - there are often soup makers on there.

The one I have will sauté the veg if needed, and has two soup styles, smooth or chunky, and the soup is ready in 20 mins. It's great for using up leftovers as, with already cooked food you don't even need to sauté, just throw it in with some stock and let it do its thing.

I had an expensive M.R. sauté soup maker. It stopped working after about a month.
Then I had a top-of-the-range Lakeland one. The glass cracked 2-3 days before the 1 year guarantee expired.

Luckily Amazon refunded both very quickly.

So I wouldn't recommend either brand.

I've had a Morphy Richards one for years - possibly about a decade now and still going strong.

Yes I could stand over a pan with a stick blender, but when I'm wfh - or even just cracking on doing other stuff - I like to bung everything in and leave it to its work while I finish up my tasks before lunch. 21 minutes and I have a nice soup waiting for me, plus extra portions for freezing.

What on earth is so taxing about chopping veg and blending soup? Honestly, people are ridiculous.
It took me probably less than 2 minutes earlier to use a stick blender to turn a big pan of soup from chunky to smooth.

It's not so much that it's taxing, but that it's boring, and you can be getting on with something else while your soup maker is blending away.

I've got the ninja. I made soup every day for half of this year. It's really easy to make and clean, the jug is heavy. I use saute when I am not in a hurry.
I also often made soup in pans before and our verdict is you don't need it, but it makes it a lot easier to do daily (think chuck some mushrooms and seasoning in and have soup ready for the flask before you've finished breakfast)
I like to make a kind of minestrone with chickpeas in, a sweet potato and lentil, or all kinds of others. Now I have an air fryer I sometimes roast things like butternut squash first, when I have time.
ninjakitchen.co.uk/product/ninja-foodi-blender-soup-maker-hb150uk-zidHB150UK?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAmrS7BhBJEiwAei59i-l6sbBfIEzAVp78WbCzLtKNdMZQPC0JhrwdkRx2vUVwPb70h0WSaxoCdZAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Don’t bother with the Ninja one. It may be okay for some soups, but I found that it did a poor job of sautéing at the beginning, and when blending, the chunky stuff remained ar the bottom, stopping the rest of the soup getting blended evenly. It has a very heavy glass jug which can only be hand washed. Cleaning the rest is also fiddly.

Such a disappointment as I love every other Ninja appliance that I have owned.

There's nothing taxing about it, but I want to be able to leave it and then serve it up when I stop for lunch.
I don't know why you'd comment on a thread where I'm asking for recommendations to tell me I don't need one.

Thanks for the honest opinion on this. I too love other Ninja products so could easily have been sucked into getting their soup maker.

I love mine and use it at least twice a week- it's a Morphy Richards one and I find it much better than having to boil everything up, keep an eye on it and then blend it all! Literally throw some stock, salt/pepper etc and vegetables of choice- press button and leave. 20 odd minutes later it's all done ♥️ I get the Lidl £1.50 veg boxes and am guided by what I have to make my soups for work.... some more stinky than others lol 😂

Oh, and if I'm lacking fresh veg then frozen peas make an amazing soup as do frozen veggies- like cauliflower with some cheese thrown in. I usually have onions, celery and garlic as a basic base. Pulses like lentils and butter beans are also great

I’ve had a few because I love making soup, but to be honest OP, they’ve not lasted long, and they weren’t cheap. I’ve never found anything that works as well as a pan of soup, a ladle and a good quality blender.

Honestly. You just need a big pot.

You can leave a pan on simmer and get on with other stuff. Stick blender takes 2/3 minutes, liquidiser 30/4/ seconds but takes longer to wash up.

I had exactly the same issues. I’ve a few Ninja products and I love them, but the soup maker was a failure. I bought a couple of the new range of pans and they came with a free gift of the muffin tin. Makes perfect sized mince pies and it’s the only tin I’ve used that really doesn’t stick. This years mince pies were intact and perfectly formed !!