Name: Cilantro Chicken with Peanuts
Ingredients: 2 tsp roasted peanut oil; 1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces; 1 oz honey-roasted peanuts (¼ cup); 1 to 2 dried red chili peppers, crushed; 1 tbsp soy sauce; 1 tsp toasted sesame oil; 2 tsp rice vinegar; 1½ cups fresh cilantro leaves; 4 cups finely shredded napa cabbage or 2 cups hot cooked rice

Why it works: Peanut oil and chicken work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 265 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: peanut, soy, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

2 tsp roasted peanut oil
1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 oz honey-roasted peanuts (¼ cup)
1 to 2 dried red chili peppers, crushed
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp rice vinegar
1½ cups fresh cilantro leaves
4 cups finely shredded napa cabbage or 2 cups hot cooked rice

Directions

Prepare

Heat roasted peanut oil in a 10‑inch heavy skillet over medium‑high heat.
Add chicken and cook and stir for 2 minutes.

Cook

Add peanuts and crushed pepper, then cook and stir 3 minutes more or until chicken is just cooked through.
Add soy sauce, sesame oil, and vinegar, then cook and stir 2 minutes more.
Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

Serve

Spoon over cabbage or rice.
Serve immediately.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Peanut oil + chickentop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together265 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
Peanut + sesametop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together349 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
Chicken + ricetop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together4,569 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Peanut oil + sesametop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together220 recipes

Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).
Peanut + ricetop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together592 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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.
Honey-roasted peanuts: Add crunch and sweetness that contrast with the savory sauce.
Soy sauce: Adds salty, savory depth that seasons the chicken and pan juices.
Rice vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavors and balances the sweetness.
Fresh cilantro leaves: Adds fresh, herbal aroma when stirred in off the heat.

The step that matters

Cook the chicken until just cooked through. Chicken breast is lean and dries out and toughens quickly once overcooked, so it should be removed as soon as it is opaque throughout.

“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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Cilantro Chicken with Peanuts