Name: Slow Cooker Beef Stew From Campbell's
Prep time: 20 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 3 cups (1-inch) potato cubes or mini potatoes, halved; 2 cups baby carrots; 2 cups sliced celery; 1 small onion, cut into wedges; 2 bay leaves; 1 1/2 pounds stewing beef, cut into 1-inch cubes; 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 tablespoon canola oil; 2 cups CAMPBELL'S® Ready to Use 30% Less Sodium Beef Broth; 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves; 2 cloves garlic, minced

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).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,107 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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 (potato, carrot, celery, beef, flour, pepper, canola oil):

Capsicumfits about as well
Spinachfits about as well
Parsnipfits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, carrot, celery, beef, flour, pepper, canola oil. 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2

Slow Cooker Beef Stew From Campbell's