Skip to main content
Main

Calabaza Con Pollo

A Tex‑Mex chicken and squash stew cooked with cumin, garlic, onion, tomato sauce, bell pepper, and water.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Calabaza Con Pollo

Time25–35 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Brown the chicken in oil until cooked through.

  2. Drain excess oil and stir in the diced squash.

  3. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well.

  4. Cook for 25–35 minutes over low heat.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

399Calories
35 gProtein
18 gFat
24 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 11 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Pumpkinnot in our table0
Seednot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

  1. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Cumin + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Cumin + tomatotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,272 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Cumin + clovetop 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

Chicken
Provides the main protein, which firms and sets as it cooks through.
Mexican squash
Adds bulk and soft texture as it simmers into the stew.
Tomato sauce
Supplies liquid and acidity that give the stew its body and tang.
Onion
Builds sweetness and savoury depth as it softens in the stew.
Cumin seed
Adds warm, earthy aroma that flavours the stew.

The step that matters

Brown the chicken until cooked through. Browning creates flavour through the Maillard reaction, while cooking the chicken fully ensures it is safe to eat before the stew is finished.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, cumin, garlic, pepper, onion, tomato):

  1. Oreganofits better
  2. Corianderfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, cumin, garlic, pepper, onion, tomato. 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesChicken BrothChicken Broth257 recipesChicken SoupChicken Soup156 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipes