Why it works: Sweet potato and agave share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 10 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 6Ingredients
Contains: wheat, soy, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: noodles
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the sweet potato noodles and cook 4 to 5 minutes until tender. Drain, rinse under cold water, and set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk the soy sauce, agave nectar or honey, and half of the sesame oil until combined.
Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook 4 to 5 minutes, stirring, until cooked through to 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part.
Push the chicken to one side. Add the remaining sesame oil, garlic, red bell pepper, and carrots. Stir-fry 3 minutes until the vegetables begin to soften.
Add the spinach and cook about 1 minute, tossing, until just wilted.
Add the noodles and the soy mixture to the skillet. Toss 1 to 2 minutes until heated through and evenly coated. Serve warm.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Sweet potato + agavetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together10 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Sesame + canola oiltop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together201 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl pentanoate (yeast, fruit).
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Pepper + carrottop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sesame + chickentop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together939 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Sweet potato + carrottop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together302 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sweet potato, sesame, sauce, agave, canola oil, chicken, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Spinachbetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sweet potato, sesame, sauce, agave, canola oil, chicken, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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