Name: Healthy Black Bean and Rice Salad
Ingredients: rice for salad:; 14 oz cans low sodium chicken broth; 1/2 tsp salt; 1 clove garlic , minced; 1 bay leaf, crushed; 2 tsp chili powder; 2 tsp cumin; 2 tsp thyme; 2 cup whit rice, uncooked; salad:; 1 small red pepper, diced; 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced; 1 oz fresh cilantro, chopped; 1 tsp prepared mustard; 1 tbsp red wine vinegar; 2 tbsp olive oil; 2 tsp chili powder; 2 tsp hot pepper sauce; 1 clove garlic , minced; 1 tsp ground black pepper; 1 tsp salt

Why it works: Garlic and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,082 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.

Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cumin + jalapenotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together688 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,108 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Cumin + thymetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together349 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Clove + cumintop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,306 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

White rice: Forms the bulk of the salad, absorbing the broth and seasonings as it bakes.
Chicken broth: Cooks the rice and carries the seasonings into each grain for flavor.
Olive oil: Coats the rice and vegetables, adding richness and helping the flavors spread.
Red wine vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the salad and balances the richness of the oil.
Black beans: Add body, protein-rich texture and earthy flavor to the salad.

The step that matters

Bake until the rice is cooked but still moist. Rice that bakes too long dries out and turns firm or chalky, while underbaked rice stays hard at the center. Checking near the end of the time keeps the grains tender and moist.

Swap the jalapeno

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, chicken, clove, garlic, cumin, thyme, pepper):

Oreganofits better
Turmericfits better
Marjoramfits better
Jalapenothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, chicken, clove, garlic, cumin, thyme, pepper. 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
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Salad	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0

Healthy Black Bean and Rice Salad