Name: Chicken in Parmesan, Basil and Sun-dried Tomato Sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 4 Thin Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts (Mine Were Thin When I Bought Them, But You Could Pound Them Out); 1 Tablespoon Oil; 2 Tablespoons Minced Garlic; ½ Onion, Chopped; 1 Tablespoon Red Pepper Flakes; ½ cups Chicken Broth; 1 cup Heavy Cream; 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme; ½ cups Shredded Parmesan; ¼ cups Chopped Sun Dried Tomatoes; ¼ cups Fresh Basil, Thinly Sliced

Why it works: Thyme and basil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,768 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. 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.

Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,768 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Tomato + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,979 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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 onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, garlic, pepper, cream, thyme, tomato, basil):

Capsicumfits better
Spinachfits better
Potatofits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, garlic, pepper, cream, thyme, tomato, basil. 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
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1

Chicken in Parmesan, Basil and Sun-dried Tomato Sauce