Name: Spicy Korean Chicken
Ingredients: 12 chicken wings, cut in 2, tips discarded or boneless chicken; 1 large onion, sliced; 1 Green Bell Pepper, sliced; 1 cup carrots, cut in 1 inch diagonal slices or baby carrots, cut in half lengthwise; 5-6 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 pinch [[Black Pepper; 1 teaspoon sugar; 1/4 cup water; 4 tablespoons Red Pepper paste, (kochujang); 1 teaspoon crushed dry Red Pepper, (Korean kochugaru) (not the kind you put on pizza, found in oriental grocery stores)

Why it works: Pepper and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. 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.

Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,147 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken wings: Provide the main protein, with bone and skin adding moisture and rich flavor during simmering.
Red pepper paste (kochujang): Adds fermented savory heat, sweetness and a deep red color to the sauce.
Soy sauce: Supplies salty, savory depth that seasons the chicken and sauce.
Carrots: Add sweetness and a firm texture that softens as the dish simmers.
Onion: Releases sweetness as it cooks, rounding out the spicy sauce.

The step that matters

Cook until carrots reach desired tenderness. Carrots keep firming up in the sauce until they soften, so checking them late matters. Simmering too long can overcook the carrots and thicken the sauce too much.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, carrot, sauce, sugar):

Capsicumfits better
Tomatofits better
Parsnipfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, carrot, sauce, sugar. 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
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Water	not in our table	0
Pizza	not in our table	0

Spicy Korean Chicken