Name: Ginger Orange Carrot Soup
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons vegetable oil; 2 cups carrots, peeled and sliced; 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger; 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour; 2 cups low-sodium, nonfat chicken broth; 1 cup skim milk; 1/4 cup nonfat powdered milk; 1 tablespoon frozen orange juice concentrate; 1 teaspoon grated orange zest; 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme; 1 bay leaf; Salt and pepper, to taste (optional)*; Nonfat sour cream (optional)*; Fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish (optional)

Why it works: Carrot and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,563 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. 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 + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,563 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Carrot + gingertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,377 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ginger + orangetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,833 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Orange + thymetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together442 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Carrots: Provide the main body, sweetness and earthy flavour of the soup.
All-purpose flour: Thickens the liquid slightly so the soup has a smoother body.
Chicken broth: Forms the liquid base that carries the other flavours and cooks the carrots.
Skim milk: Adds creaminess and a mellow dairy body to the blended soup.
Orange juice concentrate: Adds concentrated citrus sweetness and acidity that brightens the carrots.

The step that matters

Blending the hot soup. Hot liquid expands rapidly when blended, so the blender should be filled only partly and the lid held down with a towel over it, or steam can force the lid off and scald the cook.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, ginger, flour, chicken, milk, thyme, pepper):

Lemonfits better
Limefits better
Cherryfits about as well
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, ginger, flour, chicken, milk, thyme, pepper. 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
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Ginger Orange Carrot Soup