Name: Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe
Ingredients: 300g extra-lean minced beef; 400g chopped tomatoes; 300g dried spaghetti; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 2 garlic gloves, crushed or finely chopped; 2 tablespoons tomato purée; 2 teaspoons dried mixed herbs; 1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped; 3 handfuls mushrooms (cup or button), sliced; 1 carrot, finely chopped; 1 courgette, chopped; 150ml reduced-salt vegetable or chicken stock; 1 pinch ground black pepper

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).
Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,172 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
Beef + chickentop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,148 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Extra-lean minced beef: Provides the meaty base and savoury flavour of the sauce as it browns.
Chopped tomatoes: Form the liquid body of the sauce and add acidity and fruity flavour.
Tomato purée: Concentrates tomato flavour and deepens the colour and richness of the sauce.
Dried spaghetti: Forms the starchy base that the thick sauce clings to.
Onion: Adds sweetness and aromatic depth as it softens in the pan.
Mushrooms: Add savoury umami flavour and a tender, meaty texture to the sauce.

The step that matters

Browning the minced beef. Cooking the beef in small batches lets it brown rather than steam. Browning builds deep savoury flavours through the Maillard reaction, which a crowded, watery pan cannot produce.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, tomato, onion, garlic, pepper, mushroom, chicken):

Potatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Spinachfits better
Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, tomato, onion, garlic, pepper, mushroom, chicken. 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4

Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe