Name: Minestrone Recipe
Cook time: 2 h 35 min
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 cup dried cannellini beans; 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/4 stick); 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling; 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped; 2 medium garlic cloves, peeled and minced; Salt; Freshly ground black pepper; 1 small russet potato, medium dice; 2 medium celery stalks, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced; 1 medium carrot, peeled, halved lengthwise, and thinly sliced; 1 medium bay leaf; 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juices; 6 ounces green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces; 1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise; 1/2 cup frozen peas; 4 cups (1 quart) low-sodium chicken broth; 3/4 cup ditalini, tubettini, or other small pasta; 1/2 cup finely chopped Italian parsley (from about 1/2 bunch); Grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese, 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).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,517 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

Swap the clove

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

Thymefits better
Parsleyfits better
Cuminfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, butter, olive, onion, garlic, pepper, potato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pasta	1 cup cooked (140g)	220
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Pea	1/2 cup (72g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery Stalks	1 stalk (40g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Cannellini Bean	not in our table	0

Minestrone Recipe