Name: Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup
Yield: Serves 5
Ingredients: [In order of cooking process]; 1 medium onion, thinly sliced; 2 medium carrots, thinly sliced; 1 medium to large sweet potato, thinly sliced; 2 rashers of smoked bacon, cut in small pieces*; 500ml chicken or vegetable stock; 600ml or more milk (Depend how thick you want); Pinch of salt and pepper; *If you are vegetarian, without bacon should be fine.

Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup

Serves 5

Ingredients

[In order of cooking process]
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 medium to large sweet potato, thinly sliced
2 rashers of smoked bacon, cut in small pieces*
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
600ml or more milk (Depend how thick you want)
Pinch of salt and pepper
*If you are vegetarian, without bacon should be fine.

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

593Calories

48 gProtein

15 gFat

67 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

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

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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 + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + sweet potatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together302 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Onion + sweet potatotop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together960 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

Swap the sweet potato

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

Potatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Tomatofits better
Sweet potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, carrot, chicken, milk, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.