Name: Cheesy Baked Rice Recipe
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/4 stick), plus extra for coating the baking dish; 6 scallions, ends trimmed and white and light green parts thinly sliced; 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped; 3 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt; 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 1 3/4 cups long-grain rice; 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth; 1 cup heavy cream; 1 1/2 cups shredded extra-sharp white cheddar cheese

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).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Rice + chickentop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,769 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Garlic + chickentop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,850 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, garlic, pepper, rice, chicken, cream):

Thymefits better
Parsleyfits better
Turmericfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, garlic, pepper, rice, chicken, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Cheesy Baked Rice Recipe