Name: Slow-Cooker Curried Chicken Salad
Yield: Serves 6.
Ingredients: 3 lb. skinless, bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat; Salt, to taste, plus 1/2 tsp.; Freshly ground pepper, to taste; 2 Tbs. olive oil; 1/2 yellow onion, chopped; 2 Tbs. curry powder; 1/3 cup dry white wine; 2 tsp. white wine vinegar; 1/3 cup chicken stock; 6 Tbs. mayonnaise; 1 Tbs. sour cream or plain yogurt; 2 tart green apples, peeled, cored and finely diced; 2 celery stalks, finely diced; 1 head butter lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces; 1 cup pecan pieces, toasted; 2 green onions, sliced; 2 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Why it works: Olive and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,779 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. 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.

Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,779 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
White wine + appletop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together372 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Chicken + olivetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,888 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).
Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

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

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, olive, onion, white wine, vinegar, cream):

Avocadofits better
Plumfits better
Grapefits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, olive, onion, white wine, vinegar, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Green Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Pecan	1 half (4g)	20
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery Stalks	1 stalk (40g)	6
Lettuce	1 cup shredded (36g)	5
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Slow-Cooker Curried Chicken Salad