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Chicken Chorizo on Quinoa with Peppers

"Delicious combination of chicken chorizo with quinoa. At my table the hotter the better!!! So don't be afraid to bring the hot sauce to the table to add some extra kick! Make a simple side dish to this recipe by combining your favorite jar of salsa with a cup or two of cooked, slightly cooled corn. Enjoy! :)"

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Why it works: Chicken and quinoa work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 143 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

6 servings
Prep35 min
Cook40 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

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

  1. Rinse the quinoa in a fine strainer under cold water. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat, add the diced half onion and cook 4 minutes until soft.

  2. Add the rinsed quinoa and stir 2 minutes to toast. Pour in the 6 cups chicken stock, season lightly with sea salt, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on low 15 minutes.

  3. Remove the pot from the heat, keep it covered for 5 minutes, then fluff the quinoa with a fork.

  4. Remove the chicken chorizo from its casings if needed and crumble it into a large skillet. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and cook over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes until it reaches 165°F (74°C) inside. Transfer to a plate.

  5. In the same skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion strips, red, yellow and poblano pepper strips, and cook 8 to 10 minutes until softened.

  6. Stir in the minced garlic, Spanish paprika and ground cumin and cook 1 minute. Add the 1 cup chicken stock and simmer 3 minutes, then season with sea salt and pepper to taste.

  7. Return the cooked chorizo to the skillet, stir to combine and heat through for 2 minutes.

  8. Spoon the quinoa onto plates and top with the chorizo and pepper mixture. Season the quinoa with extra sea salt to taste if needed.

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 + quinoatop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together143 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + cumintop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  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 cumin

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

  1. Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Parsleyabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Corianderabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Cuminthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, chicken, quinoa, olive, garlic, pepper. 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).