Name: Quick Chicken Noodles
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: 1 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil; 4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs , diced; 1 garlic clove, crushed or sliced; 1 red pepper , thinly sliced; small bunch spring onion , sliced; 100g or 3 good handfuls beansprouts; 2 x 150g packs straight-to-wok noodles; 3 tbsp oyster sauce

Why it works: Garlic and onion 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 ↓

Quick Chicken Noodles

Serves 2

Prep10 min

Cook5 min

Ingredients

1 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs , diced
1 garlic clove, crushed or sliced
1 red pepper , thinly sliced
small bunch spring onion , sliced
100g or 3 good handfuls beansprouts
2 x 150g packs straight-to-wok noodles
3 tbsp oyster sauce

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

593Calories

48 gProtein

34 gFat

25 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Sunflower	1 oz (28g) hulled	165
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Oyster	6 medium (84g)	81
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Sauce	not in our table	0

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

By bbcgoodfood. 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.

Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Chicken + garlictop 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).
Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Sunflower + garlictop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together651 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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 (sunflower, chicken, garlic, pepper, oyster, sauce):

Capsicumfits about as well
Tomatofits about as well
Spinachfits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sunflower, chicken, garlic, pepper, oyster, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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