Name: Butternut & Peanut Butter Soup
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: 1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (removing seeds and pith); 2 carrots, peeled and chopped; 1/2 large onion, sliced; 1/2 red chilli, chopped; 1 large tbsp peanut butter (crunchy or smooth, optional); 1/2 tsp cinnamon; 1/2 tsp nutmeg; 2 bay leaves; 500ml chicken stock; 2 tbsp oil or small knob of butter; 2 thick slices bread (better if a little stale); Sour cream and coriander to garnish; Salt and pepper to season

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Butternut squash + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together116 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Butternut squash + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together142 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together981 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Carrot + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,424 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

Swap the peanut

The recipe marks peanut as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butternut squash, carrot, onion, cinnamon, nutmeg, chicken, butter):

Chestnutfits better
Chickpeafits better
Lentilsfits better
Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butternut squash, carrot, onion, cinnamon, nutmeg, chicken, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Peanut	1 oz (28g)	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Pumpkin	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0
Coriander	not in our table	0

Butternut & Peanut Butter Soup