Name: Smashed Chickpea Salad
Ingredients: 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed; 2 tablespoons pitted, halved and very thinly sliced black olives; 1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley; Zest and juice from half a lemon (if you’ve got one of those sad, juiceless lemons, use both sides for juice); Couple good pinches of salt; A few grinds of black pepper; A few glugs of olive oil (the original is quite oily, like bread-soaking oily, I went a little lighter. Both ways are delicious)

Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Smashed Chickpea Salad

Ingredients

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons pitted, halved and very thinly sliced black olives
1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Zest and juice from half a lemon (if you’ve got one of those sad, juiceless lemons, use both sides for juice)
Couple good pinches of salt
A few grinds of black pepper
A few glugs of olive oil (the original is quite oily, like bread-soaking oily, I went a little lighter. Both ways are delicious)

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

320Calories

9 gProtein

16 gFat

38 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chickpea	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	134
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
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.

By smittenkitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Chickpea + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together314 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Chickpea + olivetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,015 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl butyrate (fruity, apple).
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chickpea, olive, parsley, lemon, pepper, bread):

Spinachfits better
Eggplantfits better
Tomatofits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chickpea, olive, parsley, lemon, pepper, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.