Name: Baked Chicken Breasts
Ingredients: 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts; Kosher salt; Freshly-ground black pepper; Olive oil; Finely-grated lemon zest

Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Baked Chicken Breasts

Oven400°F (200°C)

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Brush both sides of chicken with olive oil.
Sprinkle both sides liberally with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and finely grated lemon zest.
Place chicken on a 13x9-inch baking pan.

Bake and serve

Insert a probe thermometer into one of the chicken breasts and bake in the center of a 400°F (200°C) oven until internal temperature reaches 165°F (75°C).
Remove chicken to a plate and let rest 5 minutes.
Serve warm.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

302Calories

32 gProtein

17 gFat

5 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
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 Wikibooks Cookbook.

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.

Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,922 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Chicken + olivetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,888 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).
Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,263 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Chicken + lemontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,092 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken breasts: Provide the main protein, which turns firm and opaque as it cooks through.
Olive oil: Carries the seasoning and helps the surface brown and stay moist in the oven.
Lemon zest: Adds aromatic citrus oil to the surface of the chicken.

The step that matters

Bake until 165°F (75°C) internal temperature. Chicken is safe to eat when its thickest part reaches the target internal temperature, and the probe shows this without guessing. Pulling it early leaves the centre undercooked, while baking too long dries out the lean meat.