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Chicken Pita and Yogurt Casserole

"A zesty chicken pita and yogurt casserole, that does not require baking in the oven. A refreshing main dish for warm days."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pita bread and chickpea work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 21 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep15 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat, tree nuts (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. Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Rub the bone-in chicken breast halves all over with the vegetable oil and a pinch of salt, then place them in a baking dish.

  2. Roast the chicken for about 20 minutes, until the thickest part near the bone reaches 165°F (74°C) on an instant-read thermometer. Let it rest 5 minutes.

  3. While the chicken roasts, stir the minced garlic and a pinch of salt into the plain yogurt in a bowl.

  4. Toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, shaking often, until golden. Set aside.

  5. Tear the pita rounds into bite-size pieces and spread them in a greased 9-inch (23 cm) baking dish. If using, drain the chickpeas and scatter them over the pita.

  6. Pull the chicken meat off the bones and cut or shred it into bite-size pieces.

  7. Spoon half the garlic yogurt over the pita, then layer the chicken on top and spread the remaining yogurt over it.

  8. Bake the casserole at 375°F (190°C) for 10 minutes to warm through, then sprinkle with the toasted pine nuts and serve.

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. Pita bread + chickpeatop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together21 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Garlic + chickpeatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together812 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

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

  4. Chickpea + pinetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together19 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Yogurt + chickpeatop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the chickpea

The recipe marks chickpea as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, yogurt, garlic, pita bread, pine, nuts):

  1. Peanutabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Chickpeathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, yogurt, garlic, pita bread, pine, nuts. 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).