Skip to main content
Dessert

Apple Nachos with Peanut Butter Caramel Sauce

Apple slices served like nachos, topped with peanut butter caramel sauce and optional sunflower seeds and cinnamon.

Jump to recipe ↓
Apple Nachos with Peanut Butter Caramel Sauce

Why it works: Peanut and sunflower share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 90 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Apple Nachos with Peanut Butter Caramel Sauce

Serves 2
Timeabout 1 minute

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel sauce

  1. In a small saucepan, combine all of the ingredients for the peanut butter caramel sauce and turn the heat to medium.

  2. As the ingredients warm, whisk well until the mixture becomes smooth.

  3. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce heat and whisk continuously for about 1 minute or until it starts to thicken.

  4. Remove sauce from heat and set aside.

Assemble and serve

  1. On a medium-sized plate, lay your apple slices in a single layer around the outside edges of the plate.

  2. Layer another small layer on top, over the inside edges, and continue until all apple slices are used.

  3. Place Greek yogurt in the center of the apple slices for dipping.

  4. Drizzle 60 mL (¼ cup) of peanut butter caramel sauce over the apple slices.

  5. Optional: Top with sunflower seeds, sprinkle with cinnamon, and enjoy.

Store

  1. In an airtight container or mason jar, pour the remaining peanut butter caramel sauce and store in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

591Calories
30 gProtein
29 gFat
58 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 11 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sunflower Seed1 oz (28g) hulled165
Peanut1 oz (28g)161
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Maple Syrup1 tbsp (20ml)52
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Syrupnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0
Saucenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Health Canada. Recipe from Canada's Food Guide.

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. Peanut + sunflowertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together90 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Vanilla + appletop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,501 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Peanut + vanillatop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Vanilla + sunflowertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together192 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Apple + sunflowertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together111 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Peanut butter
Provides the body, nutty flavour and thick texture of the caramel sauce.
Maple syrup
Adds sweetness and helps the sauce thicken and turn glossy as it cooks.
Apples
Supply the crisp, juicy base that carries the sauce and yogurt.
Greek yogurt
Adds creamy tang and moisture for dipping, balancing the sweet sauce.

The step that matters

Whisk the sauce until it thickens after boiling. Whisking keeps the peanut butter and syrup blended so the sauce stays smooth and does not scorch on the bottom. It thickens as it reduces briefly at a boil, and it firms further as it cools, so remove it from heat once it starts to thicken.

Swap the peanut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (maple syrup, vanilla, apple, yogurt, butter, sauce, sunflower):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Cashew nutfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against maple syrup, vanilla, apple, yogurt, butter, sauce, sunflower. 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.

You might also like