Name: Chicken Bacon Broccoli Alfredo Spaghetti
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 225 g (8 oz ) spaghetti; 1 tablespoon oil; 2 chicken breasts (400 g / 14 oz ), chopped; ½ teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoons pepper; 2 garlic cloves; 2 cups (200 g / 7 oz) broccoli florets; 2 cups (500 ml / 1.1 pints ) milk; 1 cup (125 g / 4.5 oz) grated parmesan cheese; ¼ cup (25 g / 1 oz) chopped parsley; 4 strips of streaky bacon

Why it works: Garlic and broccoli match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,072 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. 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.

Garlic + broccolitop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,072 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Broccoli + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together653 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Spaghetti: Starchy pasta that the drained sauce clings to and fills out the dish.
Chicken breasts: Provides the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks through.
Milk: Forms the creamy liquid base of the sauce, which thickens gently as it simmers.
Parmesan cheese: Melts into the sauce, adding savoury depth, body and a salty finish.
Bacon: Adds smoky, salty flavour and fat that carries savour through the sauce.
Broccoli florets: Adds tender texture and a fresh, slightly bitter note against the rich sauce.

The step that matters

Adding the cheese. Parmesan can turn grainy or clump if the sauce is boiling hard when it goes in. Stir it in gently over moderate heat so the proteins and fat melt smoothly into the milk instead of separating.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, garlic, broccoli, milk, parmesan cheese, parsley):

Basilfits better
Thymefits better
Celeryfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, garlic, broccoli, milk, parmesan cheese, parsley. 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
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Chicken Bacon Broccoli Alfredo Spaghetti