Tomato + Butter
A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 6,918 recipes, and they share 131 flavor molecules: the top 22% of all ingredient pairs.
Do tomato and butter go together?
Yes. 6,918 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 131 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 22% of every ingredient pair we score.
Why they work
More than half of butter's flavor molecules (131 of 196) also occur in tomato. Among the shared key aromas are 3-hexenal (apple, fruity) and trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
What each one brings
tomato
The herbal side. Herbal notes make up 8% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 2% for butter. It carries 379 molecules butter doesn't have.
butter
The fruit. Fruity notes make up 24% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 15% for tomato. It carries 65 molecules tomato doesn't have.
Add a third ingredient
- Olive: the best fit for both, top 1% of pairs with tomato, top 15% with butter.
- Mushroom: top 7% of pairs with tomato, top 7% with butter.
- Bread: top 10% of pairs with tomato, top 7% with butter.
- Beans: top 1% of pairs with tomato, top 19% with butter.
Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.
Recipes with tomato and butter
Almost always mains: 898 of the 1,020 recipes with a course label are mains (from a sample of 3,000 recipes that use both).
Can you swap one for the other?
Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: tomato has 379 molecules butter doesn't, and butter has 65 that tomato 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 131 shared molecules
See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 379 only in tomato and the 65 only in butter.
Tomato and butter questions
Do tomato and butter go together?
A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 6,918 recipes, and they share 131 flavor molecules: the top 22% of all ingredient pairs.
Why do tomato and butter taste good together?
More than half of butter's flavor molecules (131 of 196) also occur in tomato. Among the shared key aromas are 3-hexenal (apple, fruity) and trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
What goes with tomato and butter?
Olive is the best third ingredient: top 1% of pairs with tomato and top 15% with butter. Mushroom and bread also fit both.
What can you make with tomato and butter?
Almost always mains: 898 of the 1,020 recipes with a course label are mains (from a sample of 3,000 recipes that use both). Common dishes include Lamb Chops with Tomato Olive Butter, Sausage, Tomato and Butter Bean Bake Recipe, Tomato Soup, Tomato Sauce.
Can I use butter instead of tomato?
Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: tomato has 379 molecules butter doesn't, and butter has 65 that tomato 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: Tomato vs Butter. https://compkitchen.com/compare/tomato-vs-butter. Accessed 2026-11-04.
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_tomato_vs_butter_2026,
title = {Compound similarity analysis: Tomato vs Butter},
author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/tomato-vs-butter},
note = {Accessed: 2026-11-04}
}
Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.