Name: Chicken Fajitas with Guacamole
Ingredients: 1 avocado, pitted and peeled; 2 Tbs. lime or lemon juice; 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro; 1 green onion, chopped; 1 serrano chili, seeded and minced; 1 garlic clove, minced; 8 to 12 corn or flour tortillas; 2 Tbs. canola or safflower oil; 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips; 1 yellow onion, halved and sliced; 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced; 1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced; 1 jalapeño or Anaheim chili, seeded, if desired, and finely chopped; 2 tsp. chopped fresh oregano; 1/2 tsp. ground cumin; 2 garlic cloves, minced; 2 Tbs. plus 3/4 cup tomato salsa; 1/2 cup water; 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped; Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Why it works: Avocado and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,117 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. 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.

Avocado + limetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,117 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Lime + corntop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together773 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Avocado + oniontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,653 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (avocado, lime, onion, garlic, corn, safflower, chicken):

Cuminfits better
Corianderfits better
Oreganofits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against avocado, lime, onion, garlic, corn, safflower, chicken. 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
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Tortilla	1 medium flour (45g)	140
Canola	1 tbsp (14g)	124
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Plum	1 medium (66g)	30
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
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
Safflower	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Chicken Fajitas with Guacamole