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Balsamic Chicken with White Beans and Spinach

"This amazing skillet dish brings the flavors of Tuscany right into your own home. Ready in just 35 minutes, it's simple and delicious."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and spinach are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,146 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep10 min
Cook25 min

Ingredients

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Pat the chicken breast halves dry. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.

  2. Add the chicken and cook about 5 to 6 minutes per side, until browned on both sides. Transfer to a plate.

  3. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds until fragrant.

  4. Pour in the balsamic vinegar, scraping up any browned bits from the pan, and simmer for about 2 minutes until slightly reduced.

  5. Stir in the condensed golden mushroom soup until smooth. Return the chicken and any juices to the skillet.

  6. Cover and simmer on low for about 8 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and reaches 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part.

  7. Stir in the rinsed and drained white kidney beans and cook for about 3 minutes until heated through.

  8. Add the baby spinach a handful at a time, stirring until just wilted. Serve the chicken with the beans and sauce spooned over top.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Chicken + spinachtop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,146 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Chicken + mushroomtop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  3. Garlic + spinachtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).

  4. Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together23,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Chicken + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together10,839 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the kidney beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, chicken, garlic, vinegar, mushroom, spinach):

  1. Sesamebetter flavor fit
  2. Peanutbetter flavor fit
  3. Chickpeabetter flavor fit
  4. Kidney beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, chicken, garlic, vinegar, mushroom, spinach. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).