Name: Paella Valenciana
Yield: Makes 8 generous servings
Ingredients: 1 3/4 cups dried lima beans (broad beans), soaked overnight in 10 cups water and drained; 6 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided use; 1 rabbit (about 2 pounds or 900 g); 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil; 1 large chicken (about 4 pounds 8 ounces or 2 kg), cut into 8 pieces; 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper; 4 ripe tomatoes, peeled and puréed; 1 3/4 cups chopped onions; 2 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic; 2 3/4 cups green beans (preferably flat romano beans); 2 1/2 to 3 quarts (2 1/2 to 3 liters) water, plus more as needed; 1 rosemary sprig; 2 generous pinches saffron; 4 cups Bomba rice

Why it works: Lima beans and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 156 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. 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.

Lima beans + beanstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together156 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,713 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + olivetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,470 recipes

Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,242 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

Swap the lima beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, rabbit, olive, chicken, pepper, tomato, onion):

Chickpeafits better
Lentilsfits better
Black-eyed peafits about as well
Lima beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, rabbit, olive, chicken, pepper, tomato, onion. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Lima Beans	1/2 cup (85g) cooked	108
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Rosemary	1 tsp dried (1.2g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Broad Bean	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Rabbit	not in our table	0
Bean	not in our table	0
Saffron	not in our table	0

Paella Valenciana