Lakeland Touchscreen Soup Maker

The Lakeland soup maker still offers the simplicity of a basic soup maker but also provides versatility for a wider range of uses. The smooth setting produced an ultra fine carrot & coriander soup, taking 30 minutes, so nearly 10 minutes longer than the Morphy Richards, but with equally good results.

We tried the Lakeland chorizo & chickpea soup for test-running the chunky setting. The consistency was coarse rather than chunky with only the chorizo surviving in larger pieces. However, manual can be used as an alternative if you're making a soup where you'd like pieces intact.

Both the smooth and chunky settings go on to keep the soup warm for 20 minutes, which we think is a useful addition, especially if you're entertaining.

The manual option can be set to high (90–100C) and low (75–85C), and the time adjusted from one–60 minutes. The blend button lets you blend as you go.

As you can see the contents through the jug, it's easy to decide how coarse or fine you want it. Surprisingly, not all soup makers offer a pause button, but this one does and that's helpful if you want to add ingredients at different stages – giving you a wider range of recipes you can adapt.

The ice crushing setting proved great for smoothies. We added ice and frozen berries and with a minimum of 500ml, it was much more suited to the task, giving the right amount for one large or two smaller drinks. The one-minute timer was sufficient for a smooth result.

Additional features include the option to blend on three different speeds for use in purées, baby food, cold sauces and dips, plus a sauce setting, which takes 20 mins, is a lower temperature than soups and blends less.

This soup maker is not dishwasher safe, but an ‘auto clean’ function allows you to add water and a few drops of detergent for a 5-minute cycle that got most, if not all, of the residue off. A brush is also included, which helped get the last bits off.

Six soups, six sauces and two drinks recipes are provided, and that along with the manual flexibility gives this piece of kit plenty of scope in the kitchen. It takes up more room than a basic soup maker but this matches its functionality.

Specifications
Capacity: Hot – maximum 1.4 litres, minimum 600ml, cold – maximum 1.75 litres, minimum 500ml
Dimensions: 24 x 19 x 44cm
Weight: 7.14kg
Power: 1000W
Jug material: Glass
Functions: Smooth (30 mins), chunky (30 mins), sauce (20 mins), ice crushing (1 min), auto clean (5 mins), blend
Cleaning: Auto clean function setting or by hand. Brush provided. Not dishwasher safe
Timer? Yes
Keep warm setting: Yes
Removable jug: Yes
Guarantee: Three years

Buy from Lakeland (£99.99)

Read our buyer's guide to the best soup makers

This review was last updated in July 2019. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.