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Spaghetti with Crab, Cherry Tomatoes & Basil

Punchy fresh flavours in a good-for-you-dish are often what you need for a midweek boost. This pasta dish has it all

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Spaghetti with Crab, Cherry Tomatoes & Basil

Why it works: Olive and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,665 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Spaghetti with Crab, Cherry Tomatoes & Basil

Serves 3
Prep10 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

346Calories
28 gProtein
14 gFat
32 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
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Shrimp100g cooked99
Cherry1 cup (138g)87
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Capers1 tbsp (9g) drained2
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Meatnot in our table0

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.

  1. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  2. Olive + caperstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,688 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Lemon + caperstop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Garlic + caperstop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together834 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Garlic + cherry tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together12 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

Swap the cherry tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, garlic, clove, lemon, crab, meat, capers):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Cherry tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, garlic, clove, lemon, crab, meat, capers. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.