Name: Easy Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
Cook time: 1 h
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 bone-in chicken breast (about 1 pound); 1 whole chicken leg (thigh and drumstick, about 3/4 pound); 1 tablespoon olive oil; 2 medium carrots , medium dice; 2 medium celery stalks , medium dice; 1/2 medium yellow onion , medium dice; 1 teaspoon kosher salt , plus more as needed; 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper , plus more as needed; 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme; 6 cups (1 1/2 quarts) low-sodium chicken broth or stock; 1 bay leaf; 1 (2- to 3-ounce) package instant ramen noodles , flavor packet removed; 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. 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.

Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, olive, carrot, celery, pepper, thyme, parsley):

Tomatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Parsnipfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, olive, carrot, celery, pepper, thyme, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Celery Stalks	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Easy Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe