Name: Warm Lemon & Thyme Chicken Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts , cut into strips; zest and juice of 1 lemon; 1 tsp dried or a few sprigs of fresh thyme; 3 tbsp oil; 150g bag of mixed salad leaves or 2 heads of Little Gem, pulled apart; 1 small red onion , halved and thinly sliced; squeeze of garlic paste or 1 garlic clove , crushed; handful pitted black olives , halved

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 ↓

Warm Lemon & Thyme Chicken Salad

Serves 4

Prep10 min

Cook10 min

Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts , cut into strips
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp dried or a few sprigs of fresh thyme
3 tbsp oil
150g bag of mixed salad leaves or 2 heads of Little Gem, pulled apart
1 small red onion , halved and thinly sliced
squeeze of garlic paste or 1 garlic clove , crushed
handful pitted black olives , halved

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

359Calories

33 gProtein

18 gFat

17 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
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Salad	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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,973 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Thyme + olivetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,948 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
Thyme + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,608 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 lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, thyme, onion, garlic, olive):

Avocadofits better
Limefits about as well
Lemonthe original
Coconutfits less well

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

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