Name: Easy Meatball Soup
Ingredients: 1 pound frozen meatballs, Italian seasoned; 3 cups beef broth; 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings; 1 cup diced potato, about 1 medium potato; ½ cup chopped onion; ¼ teaspoon garlic powder; ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper; 16 ounces (about 3 cups) frozen mixed vegetables

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 ↓

Easy Meatball Soup

Ingredients

1 pound frozen meatballs, Italian seasoned
3 cups beef broth
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings
1 cup diced potato, about 1 medium potato
½ cup chopped onion
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
16 ounces (about 3 cups) frozen mixed vegetables

Directions

Make the soup

In crockpot, combine meatballs, broth, tomatoes, potato, onion, garlic powder, and pepper.
Cover and cook on high for 9 to 11 hours, until potatoes and onion are tender.
Stir in frozen vegetables and cook on high for 1 hour longer.

Serve

If desired, serve with a tossed salad and pass the Parmesan cheese.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

607Calories

33 gProtein

29 gFat

54 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Meatball	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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 + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,517 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Tomato + potatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,798 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Potato: Softens during long cooking and thickens the broth slightly as it breaks down.
Diced tomatoes: Provide acidity and liquid that build the savory base of the soup.
Beef broth: Supplies the main cooking liquid and gives the soup its savory, meaty flavor.
Onion: Softens over the long cook and adds sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, onion, garlic, pepper):

Chivefits better
Tomatothe original
Spinachfits about as well
Okrafits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, onion, garlic, 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.