Name: Catherine's Spicy Chicken Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 2 quarts water; 8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 2 tablespoons dried parsley; 1 tablespoon onion powder; 5 cubes chicken bouillon; 3 tablespoons olive oil; 1 onion, chopped; 3 cloves garlic, chopped; 1 (16 ounce) jar chunky salsa; 2 (14.5 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes; 1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes; 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup; 3 tablespoons chili powder; 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained; 2 (16 ounce) cans chili beans, undrained; 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

Why it works: Garlic and onion 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.

Garlic + oniontop 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).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Garlic + olivetop 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).

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 (chicken, pepper, garlic, parsley, onion, olive, tomato):

Thymefits better
Cuminfits better
Basilfits better
Clovethe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Soup	not in our table	0
Bean	not in our table	0

Catherine's Spicy Chicken Soup