Name: Baked Beef and Lima Deluxe
Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef; 1 medium white onion, chopped; 15 ounce can tomato sauce with tomato bits; 1/2-cup brown sugar; 1-1/2 teaspoons salt; ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 2 large cans green lima beans, drained; 2 slices bacon, cut in fourths

Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Baked Beef and Lima Deluxe

Oven350

Time90 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1 medium white onion, chopped
15 ounce can tomato sauce with tomato bits
1/2-cup brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large cans green lima beans, drained
2 slices bacon, cut in fourths

Directions

Prepare

Cook ground beef and onion in skillet until beef is browned.
Meanwhile, combine tomato sauce, brown sugar, salt and pepper in casserole.

Assemble and bake

Stir in ground beef and lima beans.
Top with bacon strips.
Bake in 350 oven for 90 minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

522Calories

39 gProtein

19 gFat

49 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Lima Bean	1/2 cup (85g) cooked	108
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	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.

Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,448 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together131 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

Ground beef: Provides the savory, meaty base of the casserole once browned.
Tomato sauce: Supplies moisture and acidity that combine with the sugar to form the sauce.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and molasses flavor that balances the tomato's acidity.
Green lima beans: Add starchy body and texture, soaking up the sauce as they bake.
Bacon: Renders fat over the top and adds smoky flavor and browning.

The step that matters

Brown the ground beef fully. Browning creates Maillard flavor compounds in the meat. Skipping it leaves the beef greyish and bland, and the sauce will taste flat after baking.

Swap the lima beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, tomato, sauce, sugar, pepper):

Beansfits better
Sesamefits better
Black-eyed peafits better
Lima beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, tomato, sauce, sugar, 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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Baked Beef and Lima Deluxe