Name: Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup
Yield: 12-16 Servings
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 3 tablespoons minced garlic; 1 rotisserie chicken, about 4 cups shredded (no skin); 32 ounces reduced sodium chicken broth; Two 28 ounce cans mild green enchilada sauce; Two 10 ounce cans Mild Rotel diced tomatoes with peppers; 4 cups cooked spanish rice (I used 2 packages of Knorr Fiesta Rice); 3 tablespoons ground cumin; 8 ounces sour cream; 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese for topping; 1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves for topping; 1 bag tortilla chips for topping

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 + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,769 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, garlic, chicken, sauce, tomato, pepper, rice):

Capsicumfits better
Spinachfits about as well
Potatofits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, garlic, chicken, sauce, tomato, pepper, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Tortilla Chip	1 medium flour (45g)	140
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Enchilada	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Topping	not in our table	0

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup