Name: Vegan Portobello Stroganoff
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 8 ounces vegan sour cream (such as Tofutti®); 1/2 cup water; 3 tablespoons dried minced onion; 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour; 2 teaspoons vegan no-beef bouillon; 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder; 1/4 teaspoon dried basil; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1/2 cup dry red wine; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 2 large portobello mushroom caps, stems and gills removed; cooking spray; 1/4 cup water, or as needed (optional)

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 29,058 recipes mention both. 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + basiltop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together4,805 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Basil + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together5,294 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned 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

Flavor stand-ins for the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, onion, flour, beef, garlic, pepper, red wine):

Thymebetter flavor fit
Rosemarybetter flavor fit
Cuminbetter flavor fit
Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, onion, flour, beef, garlic, pepper, red 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).

Vegan Portobello Stroganoff