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Pairing

Wine + Basil

443wineonly 95shared 279basilonly Wine · 538 Basil · 374
Circle size = number of flavor molecules on record. Overlap = molecules they share.

936 recipes mention both · top 8% of pairs

CompKitchen is a free flavor-pairing site: it compares the aroma molecules two foods share and how often cooks put them together. No account needed.

Overlap, weighted to rarer moleculesmoderate
Mentioned together936 recipes
Ranktop 8% of pairs
Try them in the pairing tool Wine Basil

Do wine and basil go together?

Many recipes mention both. 936 recipes in our collection mention both, and they share 95 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 8% of a large random sample of ingredient pairs.

Add a third ingredient

  • Rosemary: the best fit for both, top 4% of pairs with wine, top 1% with basil.
  • Thyme: top 4% of pairs with wine, top 1% with basil.
  • Tomato: top 4% of pairs with wine, top 2% with basil.
  • Oregano: top 9% of pairs with wine, top 1% with basil.

Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.

Recipes with wine and basil

Almost always mains: 178 of the 209 recipes with a course label are mains.

Basil Bean DipBasil Garlic VinegarCalamari in Red Wine and Tomato SauceChicken saltimbocca with basil mashPork Chops with Basil and MarsalaTo Roast Venison 17 versions

Some of these have the ingredient list only, without the method. Where we have the original source, the recipe page links to it.

The count of 936 includes every recipe our index matched to both foods, some through an alternative or a related ingredient. This list is shorter because it shows only recipes whose ingredient lines name both. Open a few to see how they are used.

Search recipes with both →

Can you swap one for the other?

No. Wine and basil are different kinds of food, so neither stands in for the other, whatever molecules they share. Treat them as partners, not stand-ins. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.

See the scienceshared molecules, aroma labels and where this pair ranks

What they have in common

They overlap on 95 flavor molecules: 25% of basil's 374. Among the shared key aromas are 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise) and terpineol (pine, woody). Shared chemistry is a reason to try a pair, not a promise that it works on the plate.

All 95 shared molecules

See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 443 only in wine and the 279 only in basil.

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Wine and basil questions

Do wine and basil go together?

936 recipes in our collection mention both, and they share 95 flavor molecules, which puts them in the top 8% of random ingredient pairs.

What do wine and basil have in common?

They overlap on 95 flavor molecules: 25% of basil's 374. Among the shared key aromas are 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise) and terpineol (pine, woody). Shared chemistry is a reason to try a pair, not a promise that it works on the plate.

What goes with wine and basil?

Rosemary is the best third ingredient: top 4% of pairs with wine and top 1% with basil. Thyme and tomato also fit both.

What can you make with wine and basil?

Almost always mains: 178 of the 209 recipes with a course label are mains. Common dishes include Basil Bean Dip, Basil Garlic Vinegar, Calamari in Red Wine and Tomato Sauce, Chicken saltimbocca with basil mash.

Can I use basil instead of wine?

No. Wine and basil are different kinds of food, so neither stands in for the other, whatever molecules they share. Treat them as partners, not stand-ins. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.

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Compare other ingredients

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Two ingredients gives the full side-by-side breakdown; add a third to see a similarity matrix across all of them (up to 6).

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
Plain text
CompKitchen (2026). Compound similarity analysis: Wine vs Basil. https://compkitchen.com/compare/wine-vs-basil. Accessed 2026-11-15.
BibTeX
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_wine_vs_basil_2026,
  title  = {Compound similarity analysis: Wine vs Basil},
  author = {{CompKitchen}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/wine-vs-basil},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-11-15}
}

Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719458 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.