Morphy Richards Sauté and Soup 501014 Review: Family Soup With a Catch
This is the soup maker that lets you fry the onions in the same jug, with the lid off, before it cooks and blends the lot. Two editorial testers and a blogger who has written two soup-maker recipe books all like the soup. They all find the same catch too: the jug is fixed to the base, so you clean it in place.
Which Morphy Richards we chose, and why
Morphy Richards sells eight soup makers on its UK site. The Total Control 501020 has the most buyer reviews (817 at Currys), but on 12 October 2026 Morphy Richards' own page showed it sold out and Currys showed delivery as unavailable. The Sauté and Soup 501014 is in stock at Morphy Richards (£74.99, down from £99.99) and PriceSpy lists it in stock at Argos, Amazon and AO. That is the one we review here.
Where the reviews line up
Our evidence comes from three places: a test of a few months by Mumsnet's home and lifestyle expert, a timed test by Trusted Reviews, and Liana's Kitchen, a recipe blog whose author has owned this model for about three years. They agree on most points.
The soup is reliably good, and quick. Trusted Reviews and the manual both give 21 minutes for smooth soup and 28 for chunky. The sauté button is the reason to buy it. You fry with the lid off, so you can stir, and all three say it adds flavour. It is a family-sized jug. It holds 1.6 litres, about four bowls, and the manual says it needs at least 1.3 litres in it to work properly.
Two catches come up again and again. The sauté plate is hot and fast. Mumsnet's tester burnt garlic onto the base before she could stop it. The manual also limits sautéing to 10 minutes, and to no more than 100 g of mince or bacon lardons. The jug cannot be lifted off. Nothing goes in the dishwasher, and burnt-on food means soaking and wiping inside a unit that also holds the electrics.
Our view: at about £75 this is a good buy if you make soup for three or four people. Each batch costs about 9–12p in electricity at most, which is our own sum. It is the wrong machine for one or two people, because it will not run on a small batch.
The three reviews this summary is built from
- MumsnetEditorial test over a few months by its senior content editor. Rated cleaning lowest.
- Trusted ReviewsEditorial test with programme times. Says parts are not dishwasher safe and the timer cannot be changed.
- Liana's KitchenSoup-maker recipe blogger, about three years with this model. Compares it with the Total Control and the 48822.
Specification at a glance
| Spec | Figure | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Model | 501014 Sauté and Soup, 1.6 litre, stainless steel | Morphy Richards product page; Argos lists it as 439/1911 |
| Capacity | 1.6 litres max; recipes sized to a 1.3–1.6 litre working range, with MIN and MAX lines in the jug | Morphy Richards manual. Above MAX it shows “E1” and stops the blade |
| Power | 1,000 W | Morphy Richards, Currys and The Range agree |
| Programmes | Smooth 21 min · Chunky 28 min · Juice 2 min (no heat) · Blend (pulse, 20 s cut-out) · Sauté 5–10 min | Manual; Trusted Reviews timed the same. The maker's page says “about 25 minutes” |
| Sauté | Lid off only; up to 10 minutes; raw meat limited to bacon lardons or up to 100 g mince | Manual |
| Electricity per batch | Up to about 9p (smooth) or 12p (chunky); add up to 4p for a full 10-minute sauté | Our sum: 1 kW × programme time × 26.32p/kWh. This assumes full power throughout, so it is the most it could cost |
| Cleaning | Non-stick base on a fixed jug; not dishwasher safe; do not immerse jug, lid or base | Manual, Currys and Trusted Reviews |
| Dimensions | L24 × W16.7 × H30.9 cm (Morphy Richards) · H32 × W24.5 × D16.3 cm (Trusted Reviews) · H31 × W22 × D17 cm (The Range) | Three published sets; the maker's is the one to plan cupboard space with |
| Weight | 2.1 kg (Morphy Richards) · 2.17 kg (Currys) · 2.19 kg (Trusted Reviews) · 2.3 kg (The Range) | Small spread; all close |
| Cord | 1.2 m (Morphy Richards) · 0.8 m (Currys) | Detachable; the two disagree |
| Warranty | 2 years + 1 extra year if you register (Morphy Richards page) · 1 year, extended to 2 if registered within 28 days (Rev 3 manual) · 2 years (Currys) | Sources disagree — see below. Register it either way |
| Price | RRP £99.99; £74.99 at Morphy Richards and Argos; £73.20 at Amazon; £77.99 at Currys; £78 at AO | Morphy Richards' page and PriceSpy, 12 October 2026 |
Mumsnet
Who they are: Rebecca Roberts is a senior content editor and Mumsnet’s home and lifestyle expert. Her author page says she leads its buying advice on kitchen appliances, cleaning and laundry and has more than 15 years of editorial experience with hands-on testing, so this is a long family test by someone who covers this category.
Roberts calls herself a novice cook, which suits a machine built to make the decisions for you. She found the soup reliably good and ready in under 25 minutes. She liked the simple controls, the sauté button on the handle and the four-portion batch. She describes it as “firmly a family-sized soup maker”. She scored it 4 on most counts. Ease of cleaning got 3, her lowest score.
Her complaints are the useful part. The sauté plate gets hot fast, and her garlic stuck to the jug before she could stop it. Her advice is to have everything chopped before you press the button and to add a little oil or liquid. The fixed jug means you scrub inside the unit while keeping clear of the electrics. Soaking deals with everyday residue, but burnt food is “more of a chore”. Steam escapes near the end of cooking and fogged up the cupboards above it. She now ranks the newer Total Control higher and calls the Sauté and Soup “a great mid-range soup maker”.
Watch: The Ultimate Guide to Morphy Richards Saute & Soup Maker
A walk-through of this Sauté and Soup range, which is the closest video match to Mumsnet’s long family test. We confirmed it by search listing only and could not see who made it.
Watch on YouTube ↗ Independent YouTube video — not made by or for Shopbam.Trusted Reviews
Who they are: Trusted Reviews is a UK tech and home review site whose editors use each product and pair that with industry-standard tests in equipped facilities; it says manufacturers don’t vet its reviews and it never takes money to test, so it is a strong hands-on source. We could find no byline or date on this review, so we cannot say how old it is.
Trusted Reviews made a lamb and lentil soup on the Chunky programme. It browned a small amount of minced lamb with the lid off in a few minutes, then softened the vegetables. Its timings match the manual exactly: 21 minutes for Smooth, 28 for Chunky, 2 for Juice. It notes that sauté “is only designed to cook small amounts of raw meat”. That matches the manual's 100 g limit, and it is worth knowing if you planned on browning a pack of stewing steak.
It found cleaning “effortless” and said it “took seconds”, thanks to the non-stick plate and hard plastic lid. That is a kinder verdict than Mumsnet's, probably because nothing burnt in its test. Its cons are specific and fair: parts are not dishwasher safe, you cannot see the soup while it cooks, and the cooking time cannot be changed. Its verdict is good value for novice cooks, because the machine makes the timing and temperature decisions for you.
Watch: Morphy Richards Saute and Soup Soup Maker (501014)
The only one of our three videos that names the 501014 in its title. We confirmed it by search listing only.
Watch on YouTube ↗ Independent YouTube video — not made by or for Shopbam.Liana's Kitchen
Who they are: Liana runs Liana’s Kitchen, a cooking and nutrition blog. Her about page lists four recipe books she has published, two of them soup-maker books (“Soup Maker Recipes” and “100 Soup Maker Recipes”), and calls her soup maker one of three appliances kept on her worktop full time. That makes her a heavy everyday user rather than a lab tester. The page does not say how long she has been reviewing.
This is the long-ownership view. Green says the 501014 “hasn’t let me down yet” after about three years. She calls it “a one stop appliance for making soup from start to finish” because you sauté in the jug. Her pros are price, ease of use and easy cleaning. Her one con is the same as Mumsnet's: it cannot make smaller amounts.
Her comparison is the most useful part for anyone choosing between Morphy Richards models. The Total Control 501020 adds portion control and a removable inner pot with a pre-clean setting. But it makes you sauté with the lid on, which she calls “the biggest (and probably only) downfall” of that model. The 48822 is the budget choice with no sauté at all. Her picks are the 501014 for sautéing and family batches, and the Total Control for smaller portions. The review is from 2018, updated in 2021, so it predates the current prices. One thing to watch: it gives the power as 1,000 W in one place and 1,100 W in another, and a reader spotted a lid-on/lid-off mix-up that she then corrected in the comments.
Watch: Morphy Richards Soup Maker - how to saute
A short sauté demonstration. The title does not name the model, and Morphy Richards sells more than one sauté model, so it may show a sibling. We confirmed it by search listing only.
Watch on YouTube ↗ Independent YouTube video — not made by or for Shopbam.Strengths and weak points
What holds up
- Sauté with the lid off, in the same jug, so you can stir. All three sources say it improves the flavour.
- Fixed, predictable times: 21 minutes smooth, 28 chunky, with a countdown on the display.
- Four bowls a batch, and about 9–12p of electricity at most (our sum at 26.32p/kWh).
- An owner reports about three years of trouble-free use.
- Detachable cord and a footprint no bigger than a large kettle.
- About £25 below its £99.99 RRP at several retailers in October 2026.
What people complain about
- The sauté plate catches quickly. Burnt garlic in one test.
- Fixed jug: no dishwasher, no immersing, and burnt food means soaking and scrubbing.
- Needs about 1.3 litres in to work properly, so it is no good for one bowl.
- You cannot see the soup, and the cooking time cannot be changed.
- Steam at the end of the cycle fogs up the cupboards above it.
- Sauté is limited to 10 minutes and small amounts of meat.
Who it actually suits
Buy it if you make soup for three or four people, you like starting with fried onion, bacon or spices, and you want a machine that times everything for you. It is a good fit with a slow cooker such as the Russell Hobbs 24180. The slow cooker does the all-day stew, and this does a weekday lunch in under half an hour. If you mostly want one-pot meals rather than soup, a multi-cooker like the Instant Pot Duo also sautés and does more.
Look elsewhere if you cook for one or two. The Total Control does portions, but it was sold out on the day we checked. A microwave reheats single bowls better. Also look elsewhere if dishwasher-safe parts matter to you, or if you only want smoothies, where a small blender is cheaper. And if you enjoy cooking soup on the hob, a heavy casserole like the Le Creuset 24cm plus a stick blender gives you more control.
What we could not check
- Buyer ratings with a sample size. Argos's page is browser-rendered and showed us no rating. Currys shows 4/5 from just one review. A price-comparison site shows 5.0 from 13 reviews across two unnamed shops. None of that is enough to count, so this page has no verified-buyer source.
- Warranty length. Morphy Richards' product page says 2 years plus 1 extra year with registration. The Rev 3 manual we found says 1 year, extended to 2 if you register within 28 days. Currys says 2 years. We could not tell which manual edition ships today. Register it, and keep the receipt.
- Who is selling. Argos, Currys and other retailers also host marketplace sellers, and we could not read a “sold by” line on their 501014 pages. Currys showed third-party delivery. The Range lists it through a marketplace partner, Consumer Brands Ltd.
- Argos stock and price come from PriceSpy's listing (£74.99, in stock, 12 October 2026), not from Argos's own page.
- Real energy use. Our 9–12p per batch assumes the full 1,000 W for the whole programme. Nobody measured it with a meter, and the real figure is probably lower.
- Noise. None of the three sources measured it or mentioned it.
- Dimensions and cord length. Published figures differ (see the table). We have used Morphy Richards' own.
- Trusted Reviews' date and author. The page shows neither, so we cannot say how recent its test is.
- The videos were confirmed by their titles in search listings, not by opening them, and none of the listings named a channel. The sauté video does not name its model.
Sources last checked 12 October 2026. Soup-maker prices move a lot, and PriceSpy records this one as low as £37.50, so check the listing in front of you before you order.