Name: Tortilla Soup with Grilled Chicken, Avocado and Cheddar Cheese
Ingredients: ¼ Cup Olive Oil; 2 Tbsp Garlic , minced; 1 Small Spanish yellow onion, chopped; 2 ea. Anaheim chillies, seeded; 4 Tbsp Tomato paste; 1 doz. Corn tortillas, cut into thin strips; 10 oz can Whole Peeled tomatoes w/juice; 4 Cups Chicken stock; ½ Bunch Cilantro; Cayenne (to taste); Ground cumin (to taste); Chili powder (to taste); Salt (to taste); Garnish; Grilled diced chicken breast; Diced California avocado; Grated cheddar cheese; Crisp tortilla strips

Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cumin + avocadotop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together415 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Tomato + avocadotop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,385 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Corn tortillas: Fried into crisp strips that thicken the soup and add toasted corn flavor.
Tomato paste: Concentrates tomato flavor and adds depth and color to the base.
Anaheim chillies: Add mild, fresh pepper flavor and aroma to the base.
Olive oil: Carries the aromatics and tortilla strips, helping them brown and bloom in flavor.
Chicken stock: Provides the liquid body and savory flavor of the soup.

The step that matters

Sauté the tortilla strips until crispy. Frying the strips until well browned develops toasty flavor and lets them thicken the soup when pureed. Undercooked strips leave a raw, floury taste and a pasty texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, garlic, tomato, corn, chicken, cumin, avocado):

Capsicumfits better
Spinachfits better
Eggplantfits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, garlic, tomato, corn, chicken, cumin, avocado. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Avocado	1 medium (150g)	240
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Corn Tortilla	1 medium flour (45g)	140
Tortilla	1 medium flour (45g)	140
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Tortilla Soup with Grilled Chicken, Avocado and Cheddar Cheese