Can a soup have too many ingredients?

No, the more the bettah !

There was a Mexican Restaurant we use to go to and the mole sauce had over 20 ingredients, more the bettah !
Maybe something like cilantro or some other spice you don’t like.

Not sure what it was. Maybe the smoked sausage?

Yes. When soup has too much stuff, it becomes stew.

More than one meat is too much, in most cases. Who needs sausage if it has chicken?

And, don’t need more than one starch, potatoes and pasta is usually too much.

(I know there are exceptions, like minestrone with potato, and bacon added to soups with meat, but those are exceptions.)

You soup Nazis

I agree with you about the meat @zenvelo.

Well, next week I’m making potato soup with bacon. Normally I wouldn’t do bacon, but it will be feeding a couple of starving teenage boys who will be hauling furniture for me. I’m also going to make Red Lobster cheddar biscuits for them. Y’all are in invited!

Personally, I’ve always preferred simple soups with just a few ingredients. The flavors enhance, rather than crowd, each other.

Tomorrow, I’m making a carrot bisque. The recipe is carrots, coconut milk, vegetable broth, which I made today, and some seasonings. Anyone who’d like to stop by is officially invited (nearby Jellies, you know who you are!)

I think it depends upon the ingredients themselves. Sometimes the tastes compliment each other, sometimes they compete and when this occurs it can overpower the taste buds and give food a muddied taste where no one ingredient stands out.

@dutchess_III Pass the cheddar biscuits please. If you don’t mind, I’ll just keep the whole plate.

Yes and no. My late grandmother made mushroom barley soup (eastern european recipe) and she threw in all sorts of stuff. Whatever was in the kitchen; never exactly the same mixture twice. It was thick and tasty.

The liquid-to-solid ratio was pretty good – lots of ‘stuff’ to eat but not overwhelmed by solids.

This seems more like a persoanl taste issue.

That describes it exactly @Love_my_doggie. It was crowded.

Have yet to try them @Chyna, but this looks delish.

I tend to agree with Willie…the MORE the bettah!!!

Maybe it’s because my Mom used to make what she called her Kitchen Sink Vegetable Soup…she threw in everything but the kitchen sink!!! She cooked fresh foods 3 or 4 days a week & we ate leftovers on the off days. Eventually, the fridge became full of left over veggies & Mom grew up during the Great Depression & she NEVER wasted food; so, she’d start a pot of tomato soup & open container after container of left over veggies. IF they weren’t bad, they’d get dumped into the pot. Occasionally, she’d add some fresh onions, garlic, or mushrooms to enhance the flavors. I looked forward to her KSVS because EVERY spoon full was a delicious & exciting flavor. One might showcase the tomatoes, the next the peas, the next the potatoes, etc. I never knew what surprise I was about to taste!!! I don’t think that she ever used 2 different meats. During the winter, I keep a pot of soup waiting in the fridge so when I come in cold that I won’t need to do much cooking…heat & serve is more my style!!!

Although I enjoy eating smoked sausage, I don’t usually care for it in my soups. I prefer building my soup around the “main meat” ingredient & letting the pot determine what veggies follow. Some pots showcase potatoes, some pasta, & some have a little bit of both. I love the flavor of pasta followed by the flavor of potato!!!

Some call it soup, some call it stew…I just call it delicious!!!

Sounds yummy!

Is this too many ?

Pork roast chopped up
Two kinds of polish sausage (smoked and garlic)
Bacon bits
Sliced apples
Sliced potatoes
Sauerkraut and cooked cabbage
Celery and carrots
Garlic and onions
Spices including black pepper and whole allspice
Chicken stock and water

Of course not. Asian people put a lot of spices in their soup. Indian curry (considered as soup) have lots of spices, more than what you could count with your fingers. I consider spices as part of the ingredients. What matter is not the quantity or diversity of the ingredients but the existence of ingredients that you personally love.

I probably wouldn’t like it @Tropical_Willie. But maybe I would. I tend toward very basic. Roast beef with onions (LOTS of onions!) carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, peas, corn and green beans.

The friend who sent it, for which I thanked her, tends to cook in ways she considers chic. Sometimes it’s good, but much of the time it’s too experimental for me.

Yes and no. I like minestrone with many different beans, so is that a lot of ingredients? Or, are all the beans just one?

I don’t like a lot of different herbs in soups, I like a simpler flavor.

I like my consommé type soups very brothy, not a lot of stuff in it.