Name: Hawaiian Turkey Skillet Meal
Ingredients: 1 cup onion, cut into 1-inch cubes; 1/2 cup each green & red pepper, cut into 1-inch cubes; 1 tablespoon margarine; 2 cups cooked turkey, cut into 3/4-inch cubes; 1 can (15 1/2 ounces) pineapple chunks, drained, and juice reserved; 1/2 cup orange juice; 1 tablespoon lemon juice; 1 1/2 teaspoon corn starch; 1 teaspoon each lemon pepper and basil; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1 container (8 ounces) lemon yogurt; 4 servings cooked rice or egg noodles

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. 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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Lemon + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,823 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Pepper + basiltop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,294 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Pineapple + orangetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,664 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Turkey: Provides the main protein and bulk of the dish, already cooked and reheated here.
Corn starch: Thickens the pineapple and orange juice mixture into a glossy sauce when heated.
Lemon yogurt: Adds creaminess and tang, and is stirred in off the heat so it stays smooth.
Pineapple chunks: Contribute sweetness and juice that flavour the sauce.
Onion and pepper: Soften in margarine to form the flavour base of the skillet.

The step that matters

Stir the yogurt in off the heat. Yogurt is dairy and can curdle or split when boiled, so it is removed from heat before being stirred in. Returning the pan to the burner only gently heats the mixture through.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, turkey, pineapple, orange, lemon, corn, basil):

Capsicumfits better
Carrotfits better
Tomatofits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, turkey, pineapple, orange, lemon, corn, basil. 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
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Pineapple	1 cup chunks (165g)	82
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Hawaiian Turkey Skillet Meal