Name: Pesto Primavera Tortellini with Chicken
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 cloves garlic, halved; 1 cup torn fresh basil, lightly packed; 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese; 1/4 cup pine nuts; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/3 cup olive oil; 2 medium zucchini, coarsely chopped; 12 ounces asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces; 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh button mushrooms; 1 medium red bell pepper, trimmed and chopped; 3/4 cup coarsely chopped red onion; 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided; 2 medium skinless, boneless chicken breast halves; 2 (9 ounce) packages refrigerated cheese-filled tortellini; 2 cups red grape tomatoes, halved; Ground black pepper to taste; Chopped fresh basil; Grated Parmesan cheese

Why it works: Basil and pine match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 332 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. 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.

Basil + pinetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together332 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Basil + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,823 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Basil + olivetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,063 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Garlic + basiltop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,805 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, garlic, basil, parmesan cheese, pine, lemon, olive):

Chickpeafits better
Cashew nutfits better
Lentilsfits better
Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, garlic, basil, parmesan cheese, pine, lemon, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pine Nut	1 oz (28g)	191
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Red Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Asparagus	6 spears (90g)	27
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Pesto Primavera Tortellini with Chicken