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Chicken Soup with Pasta

A hearty chicken soup featuring diced chicken thighs, mushrooms, pasta, and vegetables simmered in broth.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 20 ingredients
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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 ↓

Chicken Soup with Pasta

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the mushrooms in a medium bowl and fill with hot water to cover.

  2. Set aside to reconstitute.

  3. Place the flour in a shallow bowl.

  4. Dredge each piece of chicken through the flour to lightly coat on all sides.

  5. Set aside.

Brown and sauté

  1. In a large stock pot over medium‑high heat, combine the butter and olive oil.

  2. When the fat begins to sizzle, add the chicken and cook, turning as needed, until lightly browned on all sides, about 5 to 7 minutes.

  3. Remove the meat from the pot and set aside.

  4. Reduce heat to medium, and add the onion, garlic, thyme, basil, and rosemary.

  5. Sauté until onions begin to brown, about 5 minutes.

Simmer and finish

  1. Increase heat to high and add broth and water.

  2. Bring the broth to a simmer.

  3. Meanwhile, cut the meat into bite‑size pieces.

  4. Drain the mushrooms and squeeze any liquid from them.

  5. When the broth is simmering, lower heat to medium‑high and add the meat, mushrooms, peas, and carrots.

  6. Return to a simmer.

  7. Cook until the carrots are tender, about 5 minutes.

  8. Add the pasta and celery.

  9. Cook until just tender, about another 5 minutes.

  10. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice.

  11. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1245Calories
62 gProtein
32 gFat
177 gCarbs

Counts 18 of 19 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 18 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Pasta1 cup cooked (140g)220
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Pea1/2 cup (72g)62
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Celery Stalks1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Rosemary1 tsp dried (1.2g)4
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

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 Wikibooks Cookbook.

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.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Mushroom + chickentop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  4. Mushroom + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,700 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Mushroom + olivetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,571 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Lightly coats the chicken, helping it brown and slightly thickening the broth.
Chicken thighs
Provide rich flavor and tender meat that holds up to long simmering.
Dried mushrooms
Add deep, savory umami flavor to the broth after being rehydrated.
Yellow onion
Sweetens and builds the flavor base as it browns.
Garlic
Adds aroma and savory depth to the soup base.
Pasta
Adds starch and body, soaking up some broth as it cooks.

The step that matters

Browning the chicken. Searing the flour-dusted chicken in hot fat creates browned flavor through the Maillard reaction. Crowding the pot or stirring too early prevents browning and leaves the flavor flat.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, flour, chicken, butter, olive, onion, garlic):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Cuminfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, flour, chicken, butter, olive, onion, garlic. 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.

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