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Chicken with Orange, Spinach and Cherry Tomatoes

Baked chicken breast halves with orange peel, dill, spinach, and cherry tomatoes.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and spinach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,435 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Chicken with Orange, Spinach and Cherry Tomatoes

Serves 4
Oven400°F
Total25 min

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

  2. Place a large baking sheet in the oven to heat.

  3. Mix dill, orange peel, garlic, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.

  4. Combine tomatoes, oil, and 1 teaspoon of the dill mixture in a small bowl.

  5. Add chicken to the remaining dill mixture in the medium bowl and toss to coat.

  6. Cut four sheets of foil each about 20 inches long.

Assemble packets

  1. Arrange 1 cup of spinach on one sheet of foil.

  2. Place a quarter of the sliced chicken mixture atop the spinach.

  3. Spoon a quarter of the tomato mixture atop the chicken.

  4. Fold the foil over, enclosing contents completely and crimping edges tightly to seal.

  5. Repeat with the remaining three foil sheets, forming four packets total.

Bake and serve

  1. Arrange the foil packets in a single layer on the heated baking sheet.

  2. Bake until the chicken is just cooked through, about 15 minutes.

  3. Transfer to plates; let stand 5 minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

470Calories
36 gProtein
18 gFat
44 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Cherry1 cup (138g)87
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Spinach1 cup raw (30g)7
Dill5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried4
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 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.

  1. Garlic + spinachtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Olive + spinachtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Dill + spinachtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together115 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  5. Garlic + cherry tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together12 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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 turns firm and opaque as it cooks through.
Fresh spinach
Wilts within the sealed packet, adding tender greens and moisture to the dish.
Cherry tomatoes
Release juices inside the packet, moistening the chicken as it steams.
Olive oil
Carries fat-soluble flavors from the dill and orange and helps keep the chicken moist.
Orange peel
Adds citrus aroma and fragrant oils that perfume the chicken.
Garlic
Contributes pungent aroma that mellows and sweetens as it cooks.

The step that matters

Seal the foil packets tightly. Sealing traps steam so the chicken cooks gently in its own juices and the spinach wilts evenly. A loose seal lets steam escape, which can leave the chicken dry or unevenly cooked.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (dill, garlic, cherry tomato, olive, chicken, spinach):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against dill, garlic, cherry tomato, olive, chicken, spinach. 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.

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