Name: Oregano-Marinated Grilled Chicken with Charred Lemons Recipe
Cook time: 14 h
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients: 5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 2 medium lemons); 5 tablespoons dry white wine; 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 1/4 cup packed fresh oregano (leaves and tender stems only); 2 tablespoons packed fresh thyme leaves; 1/2 medium yellow onion , peeled and halved again; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 2 (4- to 5-pound) whole chickens; Kosher salt; Freshly ground black pepper; 4 skewers; 3 medium lemons; 2 tablespoons olive oil; Kosher salt; Freshly ground black pepper

Why it works: Oregano and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 791 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.

Oregano + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together791 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,973 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lemon + oreganotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together784 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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 (lemon, white wine, olive, oregano, thyme, pepper, chicken):

Tomatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Spinachfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, white wine, olive, oregano, thyme, pepper, chicken. 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
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Oregano-Marinated Grilled Chicken with Charred Lemons Recipe