Name: Beef Broccoli Bake
Ingredients: 1 pound lean ground beef; 1/2 cup chopped onion; 2 cups cooked rice (cooked in beef broth); 1 10-ounce package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed, drained; 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese, divided; 3/4 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon crushed thyme leaves; 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce; 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Why it works: Thyme and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,585 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.

Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,585 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Thyme + tomatotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,370 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Onion + broccolitop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,294 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Broccoli + thymetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together294 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Rice + tomatotop 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

Lean ground beef: Provides the savory, meaty base that the rest of the casserole is built around.
Cooked rice: Adds bulk and soaks up the sauce, giving the casserole its body.
Frozen chopped broccoli: Contributes vegetable texture and moisture that softens during baking.
Cheddar cheese: Melts into the top layer, adding richness and golden browning.
Tomato sauce: Supplies moisture and acidity that season the filling and bind it together.

The step that matters

Drain the thawed broccoli well. Excess water from thawed frozen broccoli dilutes the sauce and makes the casserole soggy, so it should be drained before stirring it in.

Swap the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, rice, broccoli, cheddar cheese, pepper, tomato):

Garlicfits better
Cuminfits better
Celeryfits about as well
Thymethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, rice, broccoli, cheddar cheese, pepper, 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Beef Broccoli Bake