Culinary Clashes: Philip's Soup Maker vs. Instant Pot

I know what you’re thinking: It’s an unfair fight. The Instant Pot has multiple functions, including rice cooker, yogurt maker, sauté pan, and meat crisper. What does the Philip’s Soup Maker do? It makes soup. End of story.

Not really.

In all fairness, I received the Philip’s Soup Maker as a gift for my birthday in April, and did not buy the Instant Pot until Amazon Prime Day in July. I had already familiarized myself with the Soup Maker and was using it almost daily. So, there was a little bit of a head start for the Soup Maker. But since Instant Pot can do so much more, I’m calling it a fair fight.

So let’s bring out our contenders. In one corner, we have the Instant Pot. Funny that I purchased it on Amazon Prime Day, because it’s one of the hottest selling items on Prime Day at only fifty bucks a pot. It’s almost a cliche to buy it on Amazon Prime Day, so call me unoriginal. Still, I was swept up in the Christmastime feeling of Prime Day (and by July, you miss buying stuff recklessly, right?) and ended up setting the Instant Pot snugly in my cart, among other items that I really didn’t need. My thought was that the Soup Maker did so much and so fast, the Instant Pot must be better, because it does SO. MUCH. MORE.

I was wrong.

The Instant Pot is not instant at all. That’s the first thing I learned, and I learned it fast. It has to heat up, which takes quite a bit of time, like preheating an oven. So why, if my oven is already right here, would I need to preheat another device that does the same thing? Okay, to be fair, there are a few food items that do cook quite a bit faster in the Instant Pot versus the oven (another Culinary Clash between Instant Pot and oven, maybe?). Beans, the dry ones, do cook faster in the Instant Pot. I’m a vegetarian, but I’m told that meat cooks pretty fast in the Instant Pot as well. Hard-boiled eggs, faster. And we did try baked potatoes in the Instant Pot, which came out pretty good.

Which leads me to taste. I wasn’t a huge fan of anything that came out of the Instant Pot. We tried chili, which was salty. We tried rice, which was al-dente. We tried pasta, which came out mushy. We were going to try yogurt, but when every recipe I found wanted a full day’s work for something I already had in the fridge, I decided to pass on the project. Surely you can understand. Overall, there were many different attempts to make meals in the pot—following directions to a T—and none of them I would actually rave about. The whole pressure and release thing was complicated, so if I did screw something up which led to the food being lackluster, then that’s a different sort of minus for the Instant Pot. It’s too difficult to use, and while I’m not a trained chef, I am an experienced home cook and do make meals for my family every night. 

Moving to the opposite corner, we have the Philip’s Soup Maker. The first ding is obviously the fact that this thing is not a rice cooker or yogurt maker. It can’t crisp up full chickens or bake potatoes to perfection. BUT! It does make more than soup. First, the Soup Maker comes with a recipe book, including many different kinds of soups, such as classic butternut squash, carrot, and corn chowder. It also includes more daring soups like parsnip and pear and Italian zucchini. There are a few different modes for the soup: pureed, chunky, and milk-based. This means you can do chili and minestrone and pasta soups on chunky without blending the contents to mush. The puree setting always provides us with smooth, silky soups, and in only 18 minutes (no preheating is necessary). The milk-based soups do take longer, but it’s still fast at 35 minutes. The Soup Maker also blends the soup, so all you really have to do is add in the ingredients, hit the button, and go sit and play games on the iPad while it does its work.

In addition to the soup, you can also do fruit compotes. Although my family is not huge on cooked fruit, I’ve tried the setting for strawberry pear compote and it was delightful on waffles. The biggest plus, however, is the smoothie setting. In all honesty, the Philip’s Soup Maker could be marketed solely as a smoothie maker and people would buy it, because it’s that fast and the smoothies are that delicious. We’ve used it all summer for cherry smoothies, blueberry smoothies, mango smoothies, and raspberry smoothies. We even tried an orange-coconut concoction that came out tropical and yummy. There are only a few ingredients required: frozen fruit, yogurt, orange juice, and honey. And it takes just three minutes to blend. Three minutes, done. 

One last option that the Soup Maker should be applauded for is the blender option. In the past, I would labor under the weight of my blender and barely touch the blades while washing it because I was afraid of getting cut. But the Soup Maker has a top blender which lifts up with the cover, so all you have to do is rinse it under water. And it’s a fairly decent blender as well. I make a green chili sauce for burritos and use the blend option on the Soup Maker for a smooth sauce, which makes me happy. In short, the Soup Maker does more than soup, and it does it fast and efficiently. I’m still not sure how the thing works so well, but it does. 

In looking at price, the Philip’s Soup Maker is a little more expensive than the Instant Pot (the Soup Maker is $129.95 on Amazon, a bit more in the stores). And while I admit that I was raving about the Soup Maker, it does have its faults. There’s no timer on the Soup Maker, which means you have to remember when you started it, although it does beep when it’s completed the soup or smoothie. You have to cut all vegetables down to around 3/4” inch so that they blend and cook fast, and you have to make sure you stir all the ingredients before starting up the Soup Maker. There’s also a fill line you cannot go over or under, which makes it hard to use recipes other than the ones provided in the cookbook, which is limiting. Still, I’ve had the device since the spring, and have yet to try the Viennese Hot Chocolate (this winter, can’t wait), the Greek Roasted Red Pepper Soup, and the Chilled Cucumber and Avocado Soup, to name a few. 

So who wins this Culinary Clash? The Philip’s Soup Maker, of course. I’ve found it easier and faster to use, with enough functions to cement it to my countertop for a while. The Instant Pot is still on the counter too, but my husband is already making comments here and there, suggesting the Instant Pot be sent to that sad little dark space under the counter. We’ll see what happens as these two continue to battle it out, and I would love to hear your experiences that may lead me to change my mind!

Here are the links to each product on Amazon:

Instant Pot

Philip’s Soup Maker

Smoothie with Soup Maker