Name: Stacked Fajita Vegetable Enchilada Casserole
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 45 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 1/2 zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices; 1 cup red bell pepper slices; 1 onion, cut into 1/4-inch slices and separated into rings; 1 cup water; 1 teaspoon vegetable oil; 1 (1.27 ounce) packet dry fajita seasoning; 1/2 cup all-purpose flour; 1/2 cup nutritional yeast; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder; 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder; 2 cups water; 1/4 cup margarine; 2 (10 ounce) cans red enchilada sauce; 5 (9 inch) whole-wheat tortillas, torn into 1-inch pieces; 1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice; 3 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained; 1 tablespoon sliced black olives (optional); 1/4 avocado - peeled, pitted and diced (optional); 2 tablespoons chopped tomato (optional); 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and thinly sliced (optional); 2 tablespoons chopped onion (optional); 2 tablespoons prepared salsa (optional); 2 tablespoons sour cream (optional)

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 ↓

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).
Garlic + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,053 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Wheat + ricetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together423 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, flour, garlic, mustard, sauce, wheat, rice):

Broccolifits better
Spinachfits better
Shallotfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, flour, garlic, mustard, sauce, wheat, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Avocado	1 medium (150g)	240
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Tortilla	1 medium flour (45g)	140
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Black Bean	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	114
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Enchilada	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0

Stacked Fajita Vegetable Enchilada Casserole