Name: Hawaiian-Style Meatballs
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Yield: 10 appetizer servings
Ingredients: 2 pounds lean ground beef; 1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped; 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 tablespoon brown sugar; 1/2 teaspoon onion powder; 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 cup apricot preserves or jam; 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Hawaiian-Style Meatballs

10 appetizer servings

Prep15 min

Cook20 min

Ingredients

2 pounds lean ground beef
1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup apricot preserves or jam
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

376Calories

29 gProtein

15 gFat

29 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Apricot	1 medium (35g)	17
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Water Chestnut	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Water chestnut + oniontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together205 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Water chestnut + garlictop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together91 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Garlic + apple cider vinegartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together344 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the apricot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, water chestnut, sauce, sugar, onion, garlic, apple cider vinegar):

Avocadofits better
Limefits better
Coconutfits better
Apricotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, water chestnut, sauce, sugar, onion, garlic, apple cider vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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