Name: Crockpot Chicken and Wild Rice
Ingredients: 4 skinned and boned chicken breasts (about 2 lb); 1 cup chopped onion; 1 cup chopped celery; 5 garlic cloves, pressed; 2 (6-oz) packages uncooked long grain and wild rice mix (like Uncle Ben's); 2 (14-oz) cans chicken broth with roasted garlic; 2 (10¾-oz) cans cream of mushroom soup; 1 (8-oz) package fresh mushrooms, sliced; 1 (8-oz) can sliced water chestnuts, drained; 1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted; 2 tbsp butter

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,172 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
Garlic + wild ricetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together100 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Celery + wild ricetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together98 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Celery + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,668 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken breasts: Provides the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks.
Long grain and wild rice mix: Supplies the starch that absorbs the liquid and sets the dish's chewy, hearty texture.
Chicken broth: Provides the cooking liquid that hydrates the rice and keeps the dish moist.
Cream of mushroom soup: Thickens the cooking liquid and adds a creamy, binding sauce around the rice.
Chopped walnuts: Adds fat, toasty flavour and a crunchy contrast to the soft rice.
Sliced water chestnuts: Stays crisp through long cooking, adding a crunchy texture.

The step that matters

Cover and cook on low until the liquid is absorbed. Rice grains need enough liquid and steady, gentle heat to hydrate and soften their starch. Lifting the lid lets heat and moisture escape, slowing cooking and leaving the rice unevenly done.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, onion, celery, garlic, wild rice, cream, mushroom):

Thymefits better
Cuminfits better
Tarragonfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, onion, celery, garlic, wild rice, cream, mushroom. 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
Wild Rice	1 cup cooked (164g)	166
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Mushrooms	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Soup	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Chestnut	not in our table	0

Crockpot Chicken and Wild Rice