Name: Black Bean Lasagna
Ingredients: 2 cup spaghetti sauce of choice; 1 1/2 cup cooked am black turtle beans; 4 whole grain lasagna noodles; -- (cooked); 2 cup ricotta cheese; -or- low fat cottage cheese; 3/4 lbs mozzarella cheese, grated; 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese; 1/2 tsp onion powder; 1/2 tsp garlic powder; 1/2 tsp italian seasoning

Why it works: Cottage cheese and mozzarella cheese share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 96 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. 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.

Cottage cheese + mozzarella cheesetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together96 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Mozzarella cheese + parmesan cheesetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,093 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Cottage cheese + parmesan cheesetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together213 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Beans + garlictop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,935 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked black turtle beans: Adds body and protein-rich filling that holds its shape between the layers.
Lasagna noodles: Form the structure of the layers and hold the filling together.
Ricotta cheese: Adds creamy moisture and richness that keeps the layers tender when baked.
Mozzarella cheese: Melts into stretchy, cohesive layers and browns on top.
Parmesan cheese: Adds savory, salty flavor and browns to a crisp top layer.
Spaghetti sauce: Supplies moisture and acidity that softens the noodles as they bake.

The step that matters

Spoon a small amount of sauce into the bottom of the dish. A thin layer of sauce under the noodles keeps them from sticking and scorching on the bottom of the dish while they bake.

“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
Ricotta Cheese	1/2 cup (124g) part-skim	174
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Cottage Cheese	1/2 cup (113g) 2%	98
Mozzarella Cheese	1 oz (28g)	85
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Sauce	not in our table	0
Bean	not in our table	0
Lasagna	not in our table	0

Black Bean Lasagna