Name: Spinach Fried Rice
Ingredients: 1/2 lb spinach 225g; 2 cups uncooked rice 450g; 1 tblsp Vegetable Oil or margarine 15ml; 1/2 Sweet Pepper (chopped finely); 3 cups water for cooking rice 750ml (1-1/2 pts) 750mls; 1 medium sized onion (finely chopped); 1 tsp salt 5ml

Why it works: Spinach and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,400 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Spinach Fried Rice

Serves 6

Time10-15 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 lb spinach 225g
2 cups uncooked rice 450g
1 tblsp Vegetable Oil or margarine 15ml
1/2 Sweet Pepper (chopped finely)
3 cups water for cooking rice 750ml (1-1/2 pts) 750mls
1 medium sized onion (finely chopped)
1 tsp salt 5ml

Directions

Prepare the spinach

Wash leaves. Boil spinach in 1 cup water for about 10 minutes. Remove leaves from water and chop finely. Save the water for making sauces, stew or cooking rice.

Cook the rice

Heat pot and add fat. Put in washed rice and stir fry until rice is lightly brown.
Add 3 cups salted water and let cook until almost dried for 10-15 minutes.
Before it is completely dry, add tomatoes, sweet pepper, onion and spinach.
Stir to combine all ingredients. Cover pot and let soak for about 10 minutes or until rice grains are tender.

Serve

Serve hot with any meat dish. Serves 6. Use as part of main course. If rice grains are not tender, sprinkle with 1/2 cup water.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

484Calories

7 gProtein

26 gFat

58 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

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.

Spinach + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,400 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Spinach + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,336 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Spinach + ricetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together518 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,433 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Rice: Forms the bulk of the dish and absorbs the cooking water, becoming tender and separate.
Vegetable oil: Fat for frying the rice, helping the grains brown lightly and carrying flavour.
Spinach: Adds leafy flavour, colour and soft texture once boiled and chopped.
Onion: Adds aroma and mild sweetness as it cooks into the rice.
Sweet pepper: Adds mild sweetness, colour and a little texture to the rice.

The step that matters

Adding the vegetables before the rice is completely dry. Some remaining moisture lets the vegetables soften and flavour the rice while it finishes cooking. Adding them too late leaves the vegetables raw and the rice dry, while adding them too early makes the rice soggy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spinach, rice, pepper):

Okrafits better
Lettucefits better
Asparagusfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, rice, 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.

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Spinach Fried Rice