Name: Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Salad
Ingredients: 6 cups cooked rotini or fusilli pasta; 2 cups broccoli florettes; 1 cup mushrooms, sliced; 1 cup white onion, minced; 2 large carrots, grated; 1 cup black olives, pitted and sliced; 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil or cold-pressed essential oil; 1/3 cup lemon juice or red wine vinegar; 1 cup whole, sundries tomatoes; 3 whole cloves garlic (or more, to taste); 1 tbsp dried basil; 2 tsp dried oregano; sea salt and pepper to taste

Why it works: Pasta and broccoli match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 286 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. 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.

Pasta + broccolitop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together286 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Broccoli + lemontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together809 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Pasta + olivetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,227 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Broccoli + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,442 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

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

What each ingredient does

Rotini or fusilli pasta: Forms the bulk of the salad and carries the dressing between the other ingredients.
Extra virgin olive oil: Provides fat and moisture that coat the pasta and carry the dressing flavours.
Lemon juice or red wine vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.
Sun-dried tomatoes: Contribute concentrated savoury, tangy flavour and colour to the blended dressing.
Black olives: Add salty, savoury flavour and a firm texture to the salad.
Broccoli florettes: Add crisp-tender texture and fresh green colour to the salad.

The step that matters

Cooking the broccoli in the pasta pot. Adding broccoli only for the last minute or two lets it turn bright green and stay tender-crisp. Longer cooking softens it further and dulls its colour.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pasta, broccoli, mushroom, onion, carrot, olive, tomato):

Avocadofits better
Limefits better
Cherryfits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pasta, broccoli, mushroom, onion, carrot, olive, tomato. 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
Pasta	1 cup cooked (140g)	220
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Salad