Name: Grilled Jalapeño-Lime Chicken
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 teaspoon grated lime peel; 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice; 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 pound boneless and skinless chicken breast halves; Nonfat cooking spray

Why it works: Lime and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,216 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

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.

Lime + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,216 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cumin + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lime + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,491 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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 breast: Provides the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks through.
Olive oil: Carries the lime, garlic and spices and helps them coat the chicken evenly.
Lime juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and slightly tenderizes the surface of the meat.
Garlic: Adds pungent aroma and savory depth to the marinade.
Jalapeño pepper: Adds heat and fresh, grassy pepper flavor to the marinade.

The step that matters

Cooking to 165ºF on the grill. Chicken must reach an internal temperature of 165ºF to be safe, and the thickest part can lag behind the surface. Checking the thickest part with a thermometer prevents undercooking, while overcooking dries the meat.

Swap the clove

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

Corianderfits better
Oreganofits better
Turmericfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, lime, pepper, cumin, garlic, chicken. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Grilled Jalapeño-Lime Chicken