Name: Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 pounds orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes; 1/2 teaspoon ground dried chipotle pepper; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided; 1 onion, diced; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 1 red bell pepper, diced; 1 jalapeno pepper, sliced; 2 tablespoons ancho chile powder, or to taste; 1 tablespoon ground cumin; 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano; 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes; 1 cup water, or more as needed; 1 tablespoon cornmeal; 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste; 1 teaspoon white sugar; 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder; 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained; 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste; 1/2 cup sour cream, for garnish (optional); 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish (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).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Garlic + jalapenotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,700 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Orange + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,987 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

Swap the jalapeno

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, sweet potato, pepper, olive, onion, clove, garlic):

Thymefits better
Cuminfits better
Rosemaryfits better
Jalapenothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, sweet potato, pepper, olive, onion, clove, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Chocolate	1 oz (28g) semisweet	155
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Black Bean	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	114
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili