Name: Cheesy Tortilla Soup
Prep time: 35 min
Yield: 8 cups
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons butter; 3 tablespoons chopped onions; 3 tablespoons flour; 1 (28 ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained; 1 (14.5 ounce) can fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth; 1 (1.25 ounce) package TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Taco Seasoning Mix; 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken; 1/2 pound VELVEETA®, cut into 1/2-inch cubes; 1/2 cup tortilla chips, coarsely crushed; 1 lime, cut into 8 wedges

Why it works: Tomato and lime are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,878 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Tomato + limetop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together1,878 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + chickentop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together6,031 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the lime

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, flour, tomato, chicken):

Avocadobetter flavor fit
Coconutbetter flavor fit
Cherrybetter flavor fit
Limethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, flour, tomato, chicken. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

Cheesy Tortilla Soup