Why it works: Onion and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,808 recipes mention both. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓
The recipe
6 servingsIngredients
Contains: milk, wheat (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.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Bake the puff pastry shells on a baking sheet for about 20 minutes, or until puffed and golden, then set aside to cool slightly.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring, until softened.
Stir in the cream of chicken soup, milk, frozen peas and carrots, and cubed cooked chicken. Simmer over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring often, until the peas and carrots are tender and the filling is hot.
Check that the chicken is heated through to 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part, then spoon the hot filling into the warm pastry shells and serve.
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.
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Onion + chickentop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,808 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Peas + carrottop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,994 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Onion + carrottop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together21,599 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Milk + chickentop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,387 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Peas + chickentop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,528 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, cream, milk, carrot, chicken):
- Peanutbetter flavor fit
- Beansabout as good a flavor fit
- Sesameabout as good a flavor fit
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, cream, milk, carrot, chicken. 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).
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