Name: Savory Spinach with Tomatoes
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive or canola oil; 1 medium onion, chopped; 1 clove garlic, minced or pressed; 2 tomatoes, chopped; 1 package frozen spinach leaves or 2 bunches fresh; 1/2 teaspoon salt

Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Savory Spinach with Tomatoes

Time5 minutes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 package frozen spinach leaves or 2 bunches fresh
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Fry the onion, garlic, and tomato in the oil.
Add the clean spinach and salt, and stir together.
Cover and simmer for 5 minutes, until just tender.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

200Calories

3 gProtein

14 gFat

17 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
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.

Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Olive + spinachtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Tomato + spinachtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,350 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Onion + spinachtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,336 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 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

Spinach: Forms the bulk of the dish and wilts into a tender, moist green base.
Tomatoes: Add moisture and acidity that help build the sauce as they cook down.
Onion: Softens and sweetens as it fries, forming the flavour base of the dish.
Olive or canola oil: Carries the aromatics and conducts heat for frying, adding richness.

The step that matters

Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Spinach cooks quickly and turns from tender to limp and watery if overcooked. Covering traps steam so it wilts evenly, and pulling it once it is just tender keeps its texture and colour.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, tomato, spinach):

Garlicfits better
Cuminfits better
Capersfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, tomato, spinach. 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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Savory Spinach with Tomatoes