Name: Arroz Con Pollo II
Ingredients: 12 choice chicken pieces (about 2-1/2 pounds); 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 1/2 cup chopped onion; 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1/4 teaspoon paprika; 1 1/2 cups chicken broth; 1/2 cup drained canned tomatoes, crushed; 1 cup uncooked rice; 1/4 cup chopped pimientos; 1 cup cooked green peas (optional)

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,769 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,065 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken pieces: Provide the main protein, and browning them builds savory flavor in the pan.
Rice: Absorbs the broth as it cooks, setting the dish's final texture.
Chicken broth: Supplies the cooking liquid that the rice absorbs, flavoring the grains as they cook.
Onion: Softens and sweetens as it cooks, adding aromatic base flavor.
Green bell pepper: Softens during cooking, adding mild sweetness and vegetable flavor.
Canned tomatoes: Add acidity and moisture, contributing color and tangy depth to the sauce.

The step that matters

Cook the vegetables until soft but not brown. Gently softening the onion, pepper and garlic builds sweetness without bitter scorched flavors. Browning them too far can taste harsh and darken the dish.

Swap the peas

The recipe marks peas as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, onion, pepper, clove, garlic, tomato, rice):

Chickpeafits better
Beansfits better
Black-eyed peafits better
Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, pepper, clove, garlic, tomato, rice. 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
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Pea	1/2 cup (72g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Green Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Arroz Con Pollo II