Name: Chilled California Avocado Gazpacho
Ingredients: 4 Cups chilled, canned tomato juice; ½ of a whole chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, with 1/2 teaspoon sauce; 14 oz canned, diced tomato; 1 medium green bell pepper, cut into 1/4" dice; 4 oz diced sweet onion; 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/4" dice; ½ Cup thinly sliced green onion; 15 oz cannellini beans, drained and rinsed; 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce; 1 ½ tsp salt; 1 tsp granulated garlic; 3 Tbsp olive oil; 1 ½ tsp hot sauce; 4 California Avocados; Cilantro or green onion brushes for garnish

Why it works: Onion and garlic 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Tomato + olivetop 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).
Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomato juice: Forms the liquid base of the soup and carries the other flavors.
Cannellini beans: Add body and creaminess when partly blended, thickening the soup.
Avocado: Adds richness and a smooth, fatty texture to the chilled soup.
Olive oil: Contributes fat that rounds the flavor and gives a silkier mouthfeel.
Cucumber: Adds cool, crisp moisture and a fresh, light texture.

The step that matters

Adding the avocado just before service. Cut avocado browns quickly from oxidation and softens when held in acidic liquid, so it should be diced and stirred in only at the last moment.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, sauce, cucumber, beans, garlic, olive):

Capsicumfits better
Eggplantfits better
Spinachfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, sauce, cucumber, beans, garlic, olive. 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
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Green Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Cannellini Bean	not in our table	0

Chilled California Avocado Gazpacho