Name: Creamy Broccoli with Mustard Soup
Yield: 6 to 7 cups
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 1/2 pounds broccoli - stems peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks, remaining broccoli cut into medium florets; 1 large onion, cut into large dice; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 pinch sugar; 3 large garlic cloves, thickly sliced; 1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard; 1/2 teaspoon basil; 1/4 teaspoon oregano; 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper; 3 cups chicken broth, homemade or from a carton or can; 1 1/2 cups half-and-half (or whole milk); Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste; Garnish: toasted pine nuts*

Why it works: Broccoli and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 705 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Broccoli + mustardtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together705 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Broccoli + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,072 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Garlic + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,053 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, broccoli, onion, butter, sugar, garlic, mustard):

Capersfits better
Thymefits better
Cuminfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, broccoli, onion, butter, sugar, garlic, mustard. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pine	1 oz (28g)	191
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Creamy Broccoli with Mustard Soup