Tomato + Kidney beans
A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 821 recipes, and they share 65 flavor molecules: the top 12% of all ingredient pairs.
Do tomato and kidney beans go together?
Yes. 821 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 65 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 12% of every ingredient pair we score.
Why they work
More than half of kidney beans's flavor molecules (65 of 102) also occur in tomato. Among the shared key aromas are 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea) 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 kidney beans. It carries 445 molecules kidney beans doesn't have.
kidney beans
The floral side. Floral notes make up 20% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 11% for tomato. It carries 37 molecules tomato doesn't have.
Add a third ingredient
- Beans: the best fit for both, top 1% of pairs with tomato, top 1% with kidney beans.
- Lima beans: top 8% of pairs with tomato, top 1% with kidney beans.
- Green beans: top 5% of pairs with tomato, top 5% with kidney beans.
- Capsicum: top 1% of pairs with tomato, top 10% with kidney beans.
Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.
Recipes with tomato and kidney beans
Almost always mains: 144 of the 176 recipes with a course label are mains.
Can you swap one for the other?
Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: tomato has 445 molecules kidney beans doesn't, and kidney beans has 37 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 65 shared molecules
See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 445 only in tomato and the 37 only in kidney beans.
Tomato and kidney beans questions
Do tomato and kidney beans go together?
A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 821 recipes, and they share 65 flavor molecules: the top 12% of all ingredient pairs.
Why do tomato and kidney beans taste good together?
More than half of kidney beans's flavor molecules (65 of 102) also occur in tomato. Among the shared key aromas are 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea) and trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
What goes with tomato and kidney beans?
Beans is the best third ingredient: top 1% of pairs with tomato and top 1% with kidney beans. Lima beans and green beans also fit both.
What can you make with tomato and kidney beans?
Almost always mains: 144 of the 176 recipes with a course label are mains. Common dishes include Baked Stuffed Tomatoes, Chickpea and White Kidney Bean Dip, Persian Kidney Beans, Rajma (Sindhi Kidney Bean Curry).
Can I use kidney beans instead of tomato?
Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: tomato has 445 molecules kidney beans doesn't, and kidney beans has 37 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 Kidney Beans. https://compkitchen.com/compare/tomato-vs-kidney-beans. Accessed 2026-11-04.
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_tomato_vs_kidney_beans_2026,
title = {Compound similarity analysis: Tomato vs Kidney Beans},
author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/tomato-vs-kidney-beans},
note = {Accessed: 2026-11-04}
}
Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.