Name: Rice Cups with Guacamole and Salsa
Ingredients: 3 cup hot cooked rice; 2 oz cheddar cheese, shredded; 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1/4 tsp ground red pepper; 1 tsp salt, divided; vegetable cooking spray; 2 ripe avocados; 2 tbsp lime juice; 1/4 cup finely minced cilantro; 1/4 cup finely minced onion; 1/4 cup prepared salsa; 1/4 cup dairy sour cream; cilantro leaves

Why it works: Avocado and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,117 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. 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.

Avocado + limetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,117 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Cumin + limetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,216 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cheddar cheese + parmesan cheesetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together592 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Pepper + limetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,491 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cumin + avocadotop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together415 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Hot cooked rice: Forms the edible cup structure that holds the filling once pressed and baked.
Cheddar cheese: Melts during baking to bind the rice together and add savory richness.
Avocados: Provide the creamy, fatty base of the guacamole filling.
Lime juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and slows browning of the mashed avocado.
Sour cream: Adds tang and creaminess to the guacamole.

The step that matters

Press the rice firmly and evenly into the tins. Loose or uneven packing leaves gaps and weak spots, so the cups can crumble when removed from the pans. Firm, even pressing helps the rice hold its shape as it bakes and cools.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, cumin, pepper, avocado, lime):

Capsicumfits better
Tomatofits better
Spinachfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, cumin, pepper, avocado, lime. 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
Avocado	1 medium (150g)	240
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Dairy	not in our table	0

Rice Cups with Guacamole and Salsa