Lemon + Apricot
A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 1,098 recipes, and they share 247 flavor molecules: the top 13% of all ingredient pairs.
Do lemon and apricot go together?
Yes. 1,098 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 247 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 13% of every ingredient pair we score.
Why they work
More than half of lemon's flavor molecules (247 of 358) also occur in apricot. Among the shared key aromas are 2-nonenal (fatty, green) and decanal (soap, orange peel).
What each one brings
lemon
The herbal side. Herbal notes make up 17% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 10% for apricot. It carries 111 molecules apricot doesn't have.
apricot
The fruit. Fruity notes make up 23% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 12% for lemon. It carries 135 molecules lemon doesn't have.
Add a third ingredient
- Cardamom: the best fit for both, top 1% of pairs with lemon, top 7% with apricot.
- Orange: top 1% of pairs with lemon, top 7% with apricot.
- Saffron: top 1% of pairs with lemon, top 8% with apricot.
- Peach: top 12% of pairs with lemon, top 1% with apricot.
Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.
Recipes with lemon and apricot
Spread across courses: desserts lead with 47 of the 98 recipes with a course label, then mains (27).
Can you swap one for the other?
Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: lemon has 111 molecules apricot doesn't, and apricot has 135 that lemon doesn't. Treat them as partners, not stand-ins. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
All 247 shared molecules
See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 111 only in lemon and the 135 only in apricot.
Lemon and apricot questions
Do lemon and apricot go together?
A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 1,098 recipes, and they share 247 flavor molecules: the top 13% of all ingredient pairs.
Why do lemon and apricot taste good together?
More than half of lemon's flavor molecules (247 of 358) also occur in apricot. Among the shared key aromas are 2-nonenal (fatty, green) and decanal (soap, orange peel).
What goes with lemon and apricot?
Cardamom is the best third ingredient: top 1% of pairs with lemon and top 7% with apricot. Orange and saffron also fit both.
What can you make with lemon and apricot?
Spread across courses: desserts lead with 47 of the 98 recipes with a course label, then mains (27). Common dishes include Apricot Wine, Apricot Bavarian Cream, Apricot Blue Cheese Torte, Apricot Compote.
Can I use apricot instead of lemon?
Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: lemon has 111 molecules apricot doesn't, and apricot has 135 that lemon doesn't. Treat them as partners, not stand-ins. 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: Lemon vs Apricot. https://compkitchen.com/compare/lemon-vs-apricot. Accessed 2026-11-04.
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_lemon_vs_apricot_2026,
title = {Compound similarity analysis: Lemon vs Apricot},
author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/lemon-vs-apricot},
note = {Accessed: 2026-11-04}
}
Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.