Dill + Capers
A proven pairing. Cooks put them together in 117 recipes, and they share 205 flavor molecules: the top 2% of all ingredient pairs.
Do dill and capers go together?
Yes. 117 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 205 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 2% of every ingredient pair we score.
Why they work
Almost everything capers carries, dill has too: 205 of capers's 213 flavor molecules also occur in dill. Among the shared key aromas are coumarin (sweet, hay) and 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
What each one brings
dill
The herbal side. Herbal notes make up 14% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 7% for capers. It carries 137 molecules capers doesn't have.
capers
The sulfurous side. Sulfurous notes make up 6% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 3% for dill. It carries 8 molecules dill doesn't have.
Add a third ingredient
- Chervil: the best fit for both, top 3% of pairs with dill, top 1% with capers.
- Shallot: top 5% of pairs with dill, top 1% with capers.
- Sorrel: top 2% of pairs with dill, top 1% with capers.
- Mustard: top 2% of pairs with dill, top 1% with capers.
Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.
Recipes with dill and capers
Mostly mains: 10 of the 14 recipes with a course label are mains.
Can you swap one for the other?
Only partly. Almost all of capers's flavor molecules (205 of 213) are also found in dill, but dill has 137 that capers lacks. Capers gives you part of dill's character without most of its herbal side. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
All 205 shared molecules
See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 137 only in dill and the 8 only in capers.
Dill and capers questions
Do dill and capers go together?
A proven pairing. Cooks put them together in 117 recipes, and they share 205 flavor molecules: the top 2% of all ingredient pairs.
Why do dill and capers taste good together?
Almost everything capers carries, dill has too: 205 of capers's 213 flavor molecules also occur in dill. Among the shared key aromas are coumarin (sweet, hay) and 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
What goes with dill and capers?
Chervil is the best third ingredient: top 3% of pairs with dill and top 1% with capers. Shallot and sorrel also fit both.
What can you make with dill and capers?
Mostly mains: 10 of the 14 recipes with a course label are mains. Common dishes include Baked Shad Glazed with Dijon Mustard, Capers and Dill, Barramundi Recipe, Canapé Recipe – Potato Cake with Cream Cheese and Smoked Salmon, Cypriot Village Salad.
Can I use capers instead of dill?
Only partly. Almost all of capers's flavor molecules (205 of 213) are also found in dill, but dill has 137 that capers lacks. Capers gives you part of dill's character without most of its herbal side. 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: Dill vs Capers. https://compkitchen.com/compare/dill-vs-capers. Accessed 2026-11-04.
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_dill_vs_capers_2026,
title = {Compound similarity analysis: Dill vs Capers},
author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/dill-vs-capers},
note = {Accessed: 2026-11-04}
}
Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.