Name: Deviled Chicken Thighs
Yield: makes 4 servings
Ingredients: 8 chicken thighs or a mixture of thighs and drumsticks, about 2 pounds; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1/3 cup Dijon mustard; 1/3 cup minced shallot, onion, or scallion; 1/4 teaspoon cayenne or Tabasco sauce, or to taste; Minced fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Why it works: Mustard and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 859 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Deviled Chicken Thighs

makes 4 servings

Ingredients

8 chicken thighs or a mixture of thighs and drumsticks, about 2 pounds
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/3 cup minced shallot, onion, or scallion
1/4 teaspoon cayenne or Tabasco sauce, or to taste
Minced fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

232Calories

33 gProtein

4 gFat

15 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By epicurious. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Mustard + shallottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together859 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Mustard + parsleytop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,588 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, mustard, shallot, sauce):

Capersfits better
Tarragonfits better
Thymefits about as well
Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, mustard, shallot, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.