Name: Slow Carb Spaghetti and Meatballs
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 1 h
Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients: For the Meatballs:; 1 large spaghetti squash; 1 lb. Italian sausage; ½ lb. lean ground beef; 1 cup drained cannellini beans (white); 2 small red onions, roughly chopped and separated; 3 large carrots, roughly chopped and separated; 9 cloves garlic, peeled and separated; ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper; 2 Tb. pre-minced sun-dried tomatoes, jarred; 2 eggs; For the Marinara:; Reserved onion, carrots and garlic from above; ½ cup chopped parsley, separated; ¼ cup chopped basil; 2- 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes; 1-14 oz. can tomato sauce; 1 ½ Tb. balsamic vinegar; 3 Tb. olive oil, separated; Salt and Pepper

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).
Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,713 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Beans + carrottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,443 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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 (beef, beans, onion, carrot, garlic, pepper, tomato):

Cuminfits better
Celeryfits better
Oreganofits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, beans, onion, carrot, garlic, pepper, tomato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Pork	100g cooked	242
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Meatball	not in our table	0
Pumpkin	not in our table	0
Cannellini Bean	not in our table	0

Slow Carb Spaghetti and Meatballs