Name: Meal-in-a-Bowl Potato Salad
Ingredients: salad; 1 1/2 lbs small red new potatoes; -unpeeled; 1 green pepper, seeded and; -sliced crosswise into rings; 4 hard-boiled eggs; 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced and; -separated into rings; 1/2 cup pitted ripe black olives; -sliced in half crosswise; 1/4 cup parsley, minced; dressing; 1 1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt; 3 tbsp fresh, dill snipped; 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard; 1/2 tsp sugar; 1/4 tsp salt, optional; 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Why it works: Parsley and dill match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 669 recipes. Both carry p-mentha-1,3,8-triene, which smells camphor, herbal. 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.

Parsley + dilltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together669 recipes

Shared aroma: p-mentha-1,3,8-triene (camphor, herbal).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + dilltop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together423 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + dilltop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,630 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes: Provide the starchy base that holds the salad together and absorbs the dressing.
Hard-boiled eggs: Add richness and creamy texture from the yolks and firm whites.
Plain low-fat yogurt: Forms the creamy body of the dressing and adds gentle tang.
Olive oil: Adds fat and mouthfeel to the dressing and carries its flavors.
Dijon mustard: Adds sharp flavor and helps emulsify the dressing.
Black olives: Contribute salty, savory flavor and a firm bite.

The step that matters

Steaming the potatoes. Potatoes steamed past tender turn mushy and break apart when cut or tossed. Testing with a fork at the first sign of tenderness keeps the pieces intact and holds their shape in the salad.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pepper, egg, olive, parsley, yogurt, dill):

Chivefits better
Carrotfits better
Capsicumfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pepper, egg, olive, parsley, yogurt, dill. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Salad	not in our table	0

Meal-in-a-Bowl Potato Salad