Name: Creamy Roasted Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 head Broccoli; 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil; 1 cup Diced Yellow Or White Onion; 2 cloves Garlic, Minced; 1-½ teaspoon Prepared Roasted Garlic (optional); 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme; ½ cups Dry White Wine; 1 Tablespoon Whole Grain Mustard; 4 cups Chicken Broth; 2 Tablespoons Butter, Add More If You Want It Creamier; 2 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour Add More If You Want It Creamier; 1 cup Milk; 2 cups Sharp Cheddar, Grated

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).
Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,108 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

Swap the garlic

The recipe marks garlic as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (broccoli, olive, onion, clove, thyme, white wine, mustard):

Garlicthe original
Capersfits about as well
Tarragonfits less well
Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against broccoli, olive, onion, clove, thyme, white wine, mustard. 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
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3

Creamy Roasted Broccoli Cheddar Soup