I cooked 40 batches of soup to test the best soup makers in the UK – here are my favourites

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When our bodies crave something nourishing, few things fit the bill better than a bowl of thrifty, healthy and comforting homemade soup. Having a few soup recipes in your back pocket is an affordable and easy way to up your vegetable intake.

However, homemade soups can be time-consuming to make – what with having to saute the veg, stand over the pan as you add liquid and simmer, before you finally blend into the finished soup. Not so with a snazzy soup maker, which will handle much of that faff with the press of a single button. And most of them take less than half an hour to run the programme from start to finish.

So, if healthy home-cooked lunches and dinners are on the cards for 2026, a soup-making machine could be a useful investment. I’ve spent months testing a range of the best soup makers to find out if they’re worth it, and I can attest that most of them are – particularly when you consider that some models start at £30.

At a glance

Best soup maker overall:
Tefal Easy Soup

£109.99 at Tefal

Best budget soup maker:
Aldi Ambiano soup maker

£29.99 at Aldi (in store only)

Best multifunctional soup maker:
Ninja Foodi blender and soup maker

£149.99 at John Lewis

Best compact soup maker:
Lakeland compact soup maker

£59.99 at Lakeland

Best premium-feeling soup maker:
Panasonic blender and soup maker

£129.99 at John Lewis

Why you should trust me

I’ve been trialling kitchen appliances – from coffee machines to pizza ovens – along with recipes, food and drink for a decade, for a range of national and consumer media outlets. As a keen home cook, I appreciate gadgets that can reduce prep and cooking time, but with cupboard and worktop space at a premium for many of us, these have to work hard for their place in the kitchen.

How I tested

A full soup maker on a kitchen worktop being tested using a thermometer probe.

I picked two soup recipes from the Guardian’s archives: Rukmini Iyer’s carrot soup with fennel, chilli and crab, and Thomasina Miers’ potato, leek and wild mushroom soup with chipotle oil and creme fraiche. Both make use of various root veg, with one smooth and the other chunky, to test the machines’ different soup-making programmes.

I assessed how easy the machines were to assemble and use, then I timed the duration of the smooth and chunky soup functions. I recorded the final soup temperature using a thermometer probe, along with the temperature of the handle and the exterior body of the machine at the end of a single cook cycle. While the soup was being made, I noted the noise the machine made during the blending cycle, and finally measured the power draw of a single smooth soup programme.

The resulting soups were all rated for texture and taste, with attention paid to whether the vegetables in the chunky soup were cooked through. Finally, I considered how easy each machine was to clean, and, if there was one, how well the self-clean function worked.

After testing, the soup makers were either returned to the brand or retailer, or donated to Gratitude Upcycle, a charitable organisation in Barnet, north London, that gives items to worthy recipients, uses the equipment in its community kitchens, or resells them in its store, with profits going to the charity.

The best soup makers in 2026

Four different soup makers on a kitchen worktop.

Tefal Easy Soup and Smoothie Maker, 1.2 L Jug

A Panasonic soup maker with ingredients inside

The best of the rest

Soup being poured from a Salter Kuro Digital Soup Maker

Morphy Richards Saute and Soup Maker – Stainless Steel

What you need to know

A bird’s-eye view of a soup maker full of vegetables and liquid

How much should I spend?

If you’re looking for an everyday soup maker into which you can simply throw some veg and stock to work its magic, then spending as little as £30 to £40 will bag you a good enough model, if you shop around for deals. Obviously, multifunction models cost more, but you’re paying for superior blending performance alongside added flexibility and functionality; think about whether you need all those options. If you already have a high-powered blender, stick to a small, basic soup maker.

What features should I look out for?

First, think about capacity: if you have many mouths to feed, opt for one that’s 1.6 litres and above, but for a smaller household that doesn’t like eating repeat meals, a more compact model without a two- or three-portion minimum fill level will be better.

Some pricier soup makers double as ice-crushing blenders, allowing you to whip up milkshakes, cocktails and the like; but, again, ask yourself whether you need such functionality. Even the cheapest soup makers have a non-heating blending function that may be all you require for other non-soup functions.

Finally, be aware that a machine may look like a soup maker and advertise soup functionality heavily, but it could be no such thing. Check that it actually comes with a heating plate!

For more:
The best rice cookers, tested
The best blenders for smoothies and soups
The best slow cookers for effortless homemade meals

Joanne Gould is a food, drink and lifestyle writer with a decade of experience. As well as enthusiastically eating her way through London’s best bars and restaurants, she’s also a keen home cook and can often be found trying a new recipe or kitchen gadget, while taste-testing anything from South African wines to speciality coffee or scotch. Luckily, she also enjoys walking, running and keeping fit and healthy in her spare time – for balance

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