Name: Vegetarian Butternut Squash Chipotle Chili with Avocado
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 medium red onion, chopped; 2 red bell peppers, chopped (or equivalent jarred roasted red peppers); 1 small butternut squash (less than 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and chopped; 4 garlic cloves, minced; 2 tablespoons olive oil; ground sea salt; 1 tablespoon chili powder; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/2+ tablespoon chopped chipotle in adobo* (start with 1/2 tablespoon and add more to taste, I thought mine was just right with 1 tablespoon); 1 bay leaf; 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 14-ounces canned diced tomatoes, including the liquid**; 4 cups cooked black beans or 2 cans, rinsed and drained; 2 cups OR one 14 oz. can vegetable broth; 2 Avocados from Mexico, diced; cilantro (optional, for garnish); 3 corn tortillas for crispy tortilla strips***

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. 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.

Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Cumin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,103 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Butternut squash + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together119 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 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 onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butternut squash, garlic, clove, olive, cumin, cinnamon):

Kalefits better
Spinachfits better
Eggplantfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butternut squash, garlic, clove, olive, cumin, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Avocado	1 medium (150g)	240
Corn Tortilla	1 medium flour (45g)	140
Tortilla	1 medium flour (45g)	140
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Black Bean	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	114
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Red Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Pumpkin	not in our table	0

Vegetarian Butternut Squash Chipotle Chili with Avocado