Lime + Onion
A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 4,263 recipes, and they share 216 flavor molecules: the top 13% of all ingredient pairs.
Do lime and onion go together?
Yes. 4,263 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 216 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 13% of every ingredient pair we score.
Why they work
More than half of lime's flavor molecules (216 of 299) also occur in onion. Among the shared key aromas are decanal (soap, orange peel) and coumarin (sweet, hay).
What each one brings
lime
The herbal side. Herbal notes make up 15% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 4% for onion. It carries 83 molecules onion doesn't have.
onion
The sulfurous side. Sulfurous notes make up 13% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 3% for lime. It carries 149 molecules lime doesn't have.
Add a third ingredient
- Avocado: the best fit for both, top 1% of pairs with lime, top 5% with onion.
- Cumin: top 1% of pairs with lime, top 6% with onion.
- Lemon grass: top 1% of pairs with lime, top 11% with onion.
- Coriander: top 1% of pairs with lime, top 11% with onion.
Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.
Recipes with lime and onion
Mostly mains: 477 of the 687 recipes with a course label are mains (from a sample of 3,000 recipes that use both).
Can you swap one for the other?
Only partly. Most of lime's flavor molecules (216 of 299) are also found in onion, but onion has 149 that lime lacks. Lime gives you part of onion's character without most of its sulfurous side. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
All 216 shared molecules
See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 83 only in lime and the 149 only in onion.
Lime and onion questions
Do lime and onion go together?
A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 4,263 recipes, and they share 216 flavor molecules: the top 13% of all ingredient pairs.
Why do lime and onion taste good together?
More than half of lime's flavor molecules (216 of 299) also occur in onion. Among the shared key aromas are decanal (soap, orange peel) and coumarin (sweet, hay).
What goes with lime and onion?
Avocado is the best third ingredient: top 1% of pairs with lime and top 5% with onion. Cumin and lemon grass also fit both.
What can you make with lime and onion?
Mostly mains: 477 of the 687 recipes with a course label are mains (from a sample of 3,000 recipes that use both). Common dishes include Appleby's Tequila Lime Chicken, Apricot Lime-Glazed Salmon, Avocado Lime Soup with Crème Fraiche and Roasted Pimientos, Beef Fajitas with Lime Sour Cream.
Can I use onion instead of lime?
Only partly. Most of lime's flavor molecules (216 of 299) are also found in onion, but onion has 149 that lime lacks. Lime gives you part of onion's character without most of its sulfurous 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: Lime vs Onion. https://compkitchen.com/compare/lime-vs-onion. Accessed 2026-11-04.
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_lime_vs_onion_2026,
title = {Compound similarity analysis: Lime vs Onion},
author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/lime-vs-onion},
note = {Accessed: 2026-11-04}
}
Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.