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Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

A seasonal dish for autumn! Warm your insides with this cheesy dish that’s perfect for the whole family!

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Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

Why it works: Butternut squash and pasta share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 46 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

Serves 4
Prep30 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1522Calories
81 gProtein
57 gFat
167 gCarbs

Counts 15 of 17 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 15 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Pasta1 cup cooked (140g)220
Chicken100g cooked165
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Mozzarella Cheese1 oz (28g)85
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Pumpkinnot in our table0
Seednot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Butternut squash + pastatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together46 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Butternut squash + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together116 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Olive + pastatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butternut squash, olive, pepper, nutmeg, pasta, butter, clove):

  1. Kalefits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butternut squash, olive, pepper, nutmeg, pasta, butter, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.