Broccoli + Shiitake
A proven pairing. Cooks put them together in 30 recipes, and they share 215 flavor molecules: the top 3% of all ingredient pairs.
Do broccoli and shiitake go together?
Yes. 30 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 215 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 3% of every ingredient pair we score.
Why they work
Almost everything shiitake carries, broccoli has too: 215 of shiitake's 235 flavor molecules also occur in broccoli. Among the shared key aromas are nonanal (fat, citrus) and coumarin (sweet, hay).
What each one brings
broccoli
The tartness. Sour notes make up 19% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 16% for shiitake. It carries 83 molecules shiitake doesn't have.
shiitake
Much the same character. It carries 20 molecules broccoli doesn't have.
Add a third ingredient
- Sesame: the best fit for both, top 1% of pairs with broccoli, top 1% with shiitake.
- Pasta: top 1% of pairs with broccoli, top 1% with shiitake.
- Kale: top 1% of pairs with broccoli, top 1% with shiitake.
- Welsh onion: top 1% of pairs with broccoli, top 1% with shiitake.
Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.
Recipes with broccoli and shiitake
Almost always mains: 3 of the 3 recipes with a course label are mains.
Can you swap one for the other?
Fairly well, for flavor. Each carries most of the other's flavor molecules (72% of broccoli's and 91% of shiitake's are shared). This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
All 215 shared molecules
See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 83 only in broccoli and the 20 only in shiitake.
Broccoli and shiitake questions
Do broccoli and shiitake go together?
A proven pairing. Cooks put them together in 30 recipes, and they share 215 flavor molecules: the top 3% of all ingredient pairs.
Why do broccoli and shiitake taste good together?
Almost everything shiitake carries, broccoli has too: 215 of shiitake's 235 flavor molecules also occur in broccoli. Among the shared key aromas are nonanal (fat, citrus) and coumarin (sweet, hay).
What goes with broccoli and shiitake?
Sesame is the best third ingredient: top 1% of pairs with broccoli and top 1% with shiitake. Pasta and kale also fit both.
What can you make with broccoli and shiitake?
Almost always mains: 3 of the 3 recipes with a course label are mains. Common dishes include Broccoli with Five-Spice Tofu, Chinese Chicken and Broccoli, Chicken Dumplings with Orange Dipping Sauce.
Can I use shiitake instead of broccoli?
Fairly well, for flavor. Each carries most of the other's flavor molecules (72% of broccoli's and 91% of shiitake's are shared). This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
Compare other ingredients
Ranks compare this pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. Molecule counts are what the studies and databases we aggregate have reported for each ingredient: a measure of coverage, not a full census. How we score pairs
Cite this analysis
Compound Kitchen (2026). Compound similarity analysis: Broccoli vs Shiitake. https://compkitchen.com/compare/broccoli-vs-shiitake. Accessed 2026-11-04.
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_broccoli_vs_shiitake_2026,
title = {Compound similarity analysis: Broccoli vs Shiitake},
author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/broccoli-vs-shiitake},
note = {Accessed: 2026-11-04}
}
Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.