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Pasta with Spinach Pesto Sauce

"A healthy, low-fat alternative to high-fat pesto sauce. Can also be made with basil or cilantro."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 13 ingredients
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Pasta with Spinach Pesto Sauce

Why it works: Spinach and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,435 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Pasta with Spinach Pesto Sauce

4 -6 servings
Prep30 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

751Calories
70 gProtein
22 gFat
75 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pasta1 cup cooked (140g)220
Chicken100g cooked165
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Tofu100g firm76
Red Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Shiitake1/2 cup (73g)34
Mushrooms1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Spinach1 cup raw (30g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4

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.

  1. Spinach + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  4. Spinach + mushroomtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together778 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Parmesan cheese + mushroomtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,199 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

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

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spinach, tofu, garlic, chicken, parmesan cheese, pepper, mushroom):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits about as well
  3. Lemonthe original
  4. Coconutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, tofu, garlic, chicken, parmesan cheese, pepper, mushroom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.