Tomato + Cranberry
A proven pairing. Cooks put them together in 66 recipes, and they share 276 flavor molecules: the top 8% of all ingredient pairs.
Do tomato and cranberry go together?
Yes. 66 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 276 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 8% of every ingredient pair we score.
Why they work
Almost everything cranberry carries, tomato has too: 276 of cranberry's 334 flavor molecules also occur in tomato. Among the shared key aromas are trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green) and 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
What each one brings
tomato
The woody side. Woody notes make up 6% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 2% for cranberry. It carries 234 molecules cranberry doesn't have.
cranberry
The tartness. Sour notes make up 17% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 14% for tomato. It carries 58 molecules tomato doesn't have.
Add a third ingredient
- Beans: the best fit for both, top 1% of pairs with tomato, top 6% with cranberry.
- Olive: top 1% of pairs with tomato, top 7% with cranberry.
- Cherry: top 4% of pairs with tomato, top 5% with cranberry.
- Capsicum: top 1% of pairs with tomato, top 9% with cranberry.
Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.
Recipes with tomato and cranberry
Almost always mains: 5 of the 5 recipes with a course label are mains.
Can you swap one for the other?
Only partly. Most of cranberry's flavor molecules (276 of 334) are also found in tomato, but tomato has 234 that cranberry lacks. Cranberry gives you part of tomato's character without most of its woody side. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
All 276 shared molecules
See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 234 only in tomato and the 58 only in cranberry.
Tomato and cranberry questions
Do tomato and cranberry go together?
A proven pairing. Cooks put them together in 66 recipes, and they share 276 flavor molecules: the top 8% of all ingredient pairs.
Why do tomato and cranberry taste good together?
Almost everything cranberry carries, tomato has too: 276 of cranberry's 334 flavor molecules also occur in tomato. Among the shared key aromas are trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green) and 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
What goes with tomato and cranberry?
Beans is the best third ingredient: top 1% of pairs with tomato and top 6% with cranberry. Olive and cherry also fit both.
What can you make with tomato and cranberry?
Almost always mains: 5 of the 5 recipes with a course label are mains. Common dishes include Turkey Cutlets with Avocado-Cranberry Salsa, Cachupa (Cape Verdean Corn Stew), Eight-Bean Chili, Fall Bean Stew.
Can I use cranberry instead of tomato?
Only partly. Most of cranberry's flavor molecules (276 of 334) are also found in tomato, but tomato has 234 that cranberry lacks. Cranberry gives you part of tomato's character without most of its woody 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: Tomato vs Cranberry. https://compkitchen.com/compare/tomato-vs-cranberry. Accessed 2026-11-04.
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_tomato_vs_cranberry_2026,
title = {Compound similarity analysis: Tomato vs Cranberry},
author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/tomato-vs-cranberry},
note = {Accessed: 2026-11-04}
}
Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.