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Korean Spicy Chicken Tenders with Sweet Apple

"This is my mom's and I think it's genius. Chicken is so tender and spicy flavor of korean red pepper paste with fresh big chunks of apple, celery, and bell pepper is just so wholesome and hearty..Serve with a bowl of steamed white rice, tortilla, pita bread, or sandwich bread."

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Why it works: Apple and chicken match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and 854 recipes mention both. Both carry gamma-undecalactone, which smells peach, sweet. The science ↓

The recipe

2 servings
Prep20 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Cut the chicken tenderloins into chunks if needed, then season them with the lemon pepper and ground black pepper.

  2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring, for about 4 minutes until golden and cooked through to 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part. Remove the chicken and set it aside.

  3. In the same skillet, add the onion, celery, green bell pepper and apple. Cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes until the vegetables start to soften.

  4. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly, until fragrant.

  5. Stir in the gochujang, white sugar and dry white wine. Simmer for about 2 minutes, scraping up any browned bits from the pan, until the sauce thickens slightly.

  6. Return the chicken to the skillet and toss to coat in the sauce. Cook for about 1 minute until heated through and glossy, then serve hot.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Apple + chickentop 15% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together854 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).

  2. Celery + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together16,001 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Apple + white winetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together357 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Onion + chickentop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,808 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Olive + chickentop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together10,796 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the gochujang

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, apple, celery, pepper, onion, chicken, white wine):

  1. Thymebetter flavor fit
  2. Garlicbetter flavor fit
  3. Rosemarybetter flavor fit
  4. Gochujangthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, apple, celery, pepper, onion, chicken, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).