Name: Cilantro-Lime Grilled Chicken with Strawberry-Jalapeño Salsa
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 8 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 2 whole FOR THE CHICKEN:; 2 Tablespoons Limes, Zested And Juiced; 1 teaspoon Olive Oil; ½ cups Honey; 1 pinch Fresh Cilantro Leaves, Finely Chopped; 1 pinch Kosher Salt; 4 whole Coarse Black Pepper; 2 cups Thinly Sliced, Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts; 1 whole FOR THE SALSA:; ¼ cups Diced Strawberries; 1-½ Tablespoon Jalapeño, Seeded And Finely Chopped; ½ whole Plus 1 Tablespoon Minced Red Onion; 1 pinch Finely Chopped Cilantro

Why it works: Lime and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,491 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. 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.

Lime + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,491 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lime + olivetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,621 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,779 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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).

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 (chicken, lime, olive, honey, pepper):

Capsicumfits better
Tomatofits better
Sweet potatofits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, lime, olive, honey, pepper. 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
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Strawberry	1 cup (152g)	49
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Cilantro-Lime Grilled Chicken with Strawberry-Jalapeño Salsa