Name: Bean and Pasta Soup with Sausage
Ingredients: 1 medium onion, chopped; 1 large celery stalk, minced; 1 garlic clove, minced; 2 tsp olive oil; 3 cups fat-free, low-sodium or regular chicken broth, divided; 1 (15oz) can cannellini beans, rinsed and well drained; 1 (8oz) can low-sodium or regular tomato sauce; 1 tsp Italian seasoning; 2 to 3 drops hot pepper sauce (optional); 3 oz reduced-fat beef sausage; 1 oz angel hair pasta broken into 2-inch pieces (about ½ cup); salt to taste (optional)

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).
Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Beans + tomatotop 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).
Garlic + tomatotop 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

Cannellini beans: Add body and creaminess to the broth while holding their shape during simmering.
Chicken broth: Forms the liquid base that carries the flavor of every other ingredient.
Angel hair pasta: Absorbs broth and thickens the soup slightly as it cooks to tenderness.
Tomato sauce: Adds acidity and body, giving the soup its red color and savory depth.
Beef sausage: Contributes savory, meaty flavor and fat that enriches the broth.

The step that matters

Cooking the pasta at a low boil. Angel hair is very thin and overcooks quickly in a simmering pot, turning mushy. Checking for tenderness at the four-to-five minute mark keeps the pasta firm and prevents it from absorbing too much liquid.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, celery, garlic, olive, chicken, beans, tomato):

Cuminfits better
Thymefits better
Oreganofits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, celery, garlic, olive, chicken, beans, tomato. 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Pork	100g cooked	242
Pasta	1 cup cooked (140g)	220
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Cannellini Bean	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0

Bean and Pasta Soup with Sausage