Name: Homemade BBQ Sauce
Ingredients: 1/2 onion, finely chopped; 1 tsp chopped fresh garlic; 1 tbsp oil; 3/4 cup HEINZ Tomato Ketchup; 1 tsp prepared mustard; 1 tsp dried thyme; 1 tbsp vinegar; 1/4 cup chopped celery leaves.

Why it works: Onion and garlic 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 ↓

Homemade BBQ Sauce

Time5 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the onion and garlic in the oil until softened.
Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

205Calories

3 gProtein

14 gFat

18 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3

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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Thyme + celerytop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,193 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Onion: Softened in oil, it adds savory sweetness and aroma as the base of the sauce.
Garlic: Gently cooked in oil, it adds pungent aroma that mellows as it softens.
Heinz tomato ketchup: Forms the main body of the sauce, providing tomato sweetness, acidity and thickness.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances its sweetness.
Prepared mustard: Adds sharpness and a little emulsifying body to the sauce.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, ketchup, mustard, thyme, vinegar, celery):

Horseradishfits better
Shallotfits better
Chivefits better
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, ketchup, mustard, thyme, vinegar, celery. 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.