Name: Italian Vegetable Soup with Beans, Spinach & Pesto
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients: 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 large onion, cut into small dice; 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick; 3 medium celery stalks, sliced 1/4-inch thick; 1 medium bell pepper (red or yellow), stemmed, seeded and cut into medium dice; 1 pound all-purpose potatoes, unpeeled and cut into medium dice; 1 (16 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes; 2 (15.5 ounce) cans cannellini or other white beans, undrained; 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth in can or carton; 7 ounces loosely packed baby spinach; 1 cup frozen green peas; Salt and ground black pepper; Prepared pesto (found in grocer's refrigerated section)

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. 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.

Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Tomato + beanstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,713 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,377 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 (olive, carrot, celery, pepper, potato, tomato, beans):

Capsicumfits better
Spinachfits better
Lettucefits better
Onionthe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Pea	1/2 cup (72g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Celery Stalks	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Bean	not in our table	0

Italian Vegetable Soup with Beans, Spinach & Pesto