Name: Chicken Chop Suey I
Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds skinned and boned chicken breasts; 2 tablespoons butter or margarine; 2 cups diagonally sliced celery; 2 cups sliced onions; 2 cups coarsely chopped fresh spinach; 1 16-ounce can fancy mixed Chinese vegetables, drained; 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch; 1 1/2 cups chicken broth; 1/4 cup soy sauce; Salt and ground black pepper to taste; 3 cups hot cooked rice

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. 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.

Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,769 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Celery + spinachtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together616 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Spinach + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,400 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken breasts: Provide the main protein, which turns firm and opaque as it cooks through.
Cornstarch: Thickens the chicken broth into a glossy sauce that clings to the vegetables.
Chicken broth: Forms the liquid base of the sauce and carries the seasoning through the dish.
Soy sauce: Adds salty, savory flavor and deepens the color of the sauce.
Celery: Stays crisp-tender after brief cooking, adding crunch and fresh texture.
Onions: Soften and turn sweet as they cook, building the base flavor of the dish.

The step that matters

Cook the vegetables only until tender crisp. Overcooking breaks down the cell walls of celery, onions and spinach, leaving them limp and watery and dulling their texture against the chicken.

Swap the spinach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, butter, celery, onion, sauce, pepper, rice):

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits better
Tomatofits better
Spinachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, celery, onion, sauce, pepper, 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
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Chicken Chop Suey I