Perfect Pairings & Recipes for
Chicken Wing

Unlock the perfect flavour pairings for chicken wing according to data science. Explore unique recipes and discover the hidden mathematics of flavour.
Chicken wing conjures the embrace of poultry and the bracing kiss of lamb. But look beneath its obvious umaminess and you'll discover a captivating symphony of softer notes, a whisper of iron, a hint of porcini, and subtle accents reminiscent of walnut, contributing remarkable depth. Understanding how these layered flavours work together is the secret to unlocking chicken wing's pairing potential.
To chart these harmonies, we analysed thousands of ingredients, each deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, pinpointing the notes that best complement this ingredient’s profile. Our analysis reveals, for example, how potato's tuberosus tones embrace chicken wing, and how beetroot's petrichor notes create a surprising synergy with its delicate meatiness.
Flavour Profile Of Chicken Wing Across 150 Dimensions Of Flavour
Flavour wheel chart showing the dominant flavour notes of Chicken wing: Poultry, Ovine, Iron, Porcini, Walnut, Allicin, Glutamic, Parsnip, Proteolytic, Charred, Oyster, Tomatoey, Mustard, Rosemary, Toasted, Bean, Mouldy, Asparagus, Fungus, Thyme, Sage, Spinach, Adipose, Bovine, Butyric, Bay leaf, Ginger, Gentian, Fishy, Porcine, Oleic, Rice, Olivey, Grassy, Sulfurous, Capsaicin
An ingredient's flavour stems from its core characteristics, such as carnal, maillard, or earthy, combined with layers of subtle flavour notes (outer bars). For a balanced dish, pair ingredients with a variety of core flavours, and choose complementary aroma notes for harmony.
The Flavour Code
To understand how flavour notes harmonise, we analysed more than 50,000 popular ingredient combinations. By exploring these pairings, we identified specific flavour notes that frequently occur together, indicating they share a harmonious relationship.
The Flavours That Harmonise With Poultry Notes
Strength of Association Between Flavours
The flavours most associated with poultry notes are: Leather, Petrichor, Rice, Chanterelle, Hickory, Potato, Peaty, Starch, Smoky, Corn, Sulfurous, Charred, Oxidized, Porcine, Onion.
Our analysis shows that the flavour of poultry is strongly associated with the flavour of petrichor. This suggests we should look for ingredients with a petrichor flavour, such as beetroot, when pairing with the chickeny notes of chicken wing.
The recipes below provide inspiration for pairing chicken wing with beetroot.
Harmonious Flavours Of Chicken Wing
Just as our analysis revealed that poultry and leather flavour accents combine harmoniously, we can identify the full profile of flavours that harmonise with each of the flavour notes present in chicken wing. For instance, the lamby notes of chicken wing are strongly associated with spinachy and green accents.
The aroma accents linked to the various aroma notes of chicken wing can be seen highlighted in the pink bars below.
Flavour Profile Of Chicken Wing And Its Complementary Flavour Notes
Flavour wheel chart showing the dominant flavour notes of Chicken wing: Poultry, Ovine, Iron, Porcini, Walnut, Allicin, Glutamic, Parsnip, Proteolytic, Charred, Oyster, Tomatoey, Mustard, Rosemary, Toasted, Bean, Mouldy, Asparagus, Fungus, Thyme, Sage, Spinach, Adipose, Bovine, Butyric, Bay leaf, Ginger, Gentian, Fishy, Porcine, Oleic, Rice, Olivey, Grassy, Sulfurous, Capsaicin
Matching Flavour Profiles
The flavour profile of potato offers many of the aroma notes complementary to chicken wing, including potato and starch accents. Because the flavour profile of potato has many of the of the features that are complementary to chicken wing, they are likely to pair very well together.
Prominent Flavour Notes Of Potato Are Represented By Longer Bars
Flavour wheel chart showing the dominant flavour notes of Potato: Potato, Starch, Petrichor, Asparagus, Porcini, Maltol, Seedy, Sotolon, Parsnip, Ovine, Tomatoey, Mustard, Flint, Corn, Rice, Burnt, Squash, Onion, Toasted
The chart above shows the unique profile of potato across 150 dimensions of flavour, while the recipes below offer inspiration for bringing these flavours together with chicken wing.
Recipes That Pair Chicken Wing With Potato
Linked Flavour Notes
Looking at the aromas that are most strongly associated with the various flavours of chicken wing, we can identify other ingredients that are likely to pair well.
Chicken Wing's Harmonious Flavours And Complementary Ingredients
Chicken wing's Strongest Flavours
Complementary Flavours
Ingredients with Complementary Flavours
Flavour groups:
Nectarous
Acidic
Herbal
Spice
Vegetal
Maillard
Earthy
Woody
Carnal
The left side of the chart above highlights the aroma notes of chicken wing, along with the complementary aromas associated with each note. While the right side shows some of the ingredients that share many of the accents complementary to chicken wing.
What To Drink With Chicken Wing
The rice notes in honjozo make it a perfect pairing with chicken wing. Likewise, the rice flavours in genmaicha tea create a match made in heaven. Explore a variety of ingredients below that beautifully complement the unique character of chicken wing below.
Which Fruit Go With Chicken Wing?
Choose fruit that cut through its meatiness or cut through its delicate meatiness. Pumpkin offers vibrant, clean counterpoints, its verdant freshness lifting the palate. Plum add a gentle, oniony brightness, while plum tomato introduces a sophisticated, anise-tinged elegance.
Alternatively, embrace fruit that harmonise with chicken wing's earthiness. The addition of rhubarb, with its subtle astringent notes, can complement the walnut beautifully. Granny Smith apple bridges earthiness and citrus zest, while sultana lends a mouth-drying sensation.
How Flavonomics Works
We've pioneered a unique, data-driven approach to decode the intricate art of flavour pairing. Our goal is to move beyond intuition and uncover the science of why certain ingredients harmonise beautifully. This rigorous methodology allows us to provide you with insightful and reliable pairing recommendations.
Our analysis begins with over 50,000 carefully selected recipes from acclaimed chefs like Galton Blackiston, Marcello Tully, and Pierre Lambinon. This premium dataset ensures our model distils genuine culinary excellence and creativity.
Each ingredient from these recipes is deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, creating a unique numerical "flavour fingerprint." This quantification allows us to apply advanced analytical methods to identify complex patterns between flavour notes.
We identify popular ingredient combinations that frequently appear in our recipe database. Regression analysis is then performed on these pairings to statistically validate and pinpoint truly harmonious flavours.
These insights drive our predictive model, which allows us to take any ingredient (e.g., Chicken wing), analyse its detailed flavour profile, and accurately reveal its complementary flavours and perfect ingredient partners.
Explore More
Discover more ingredient profiles and expand your culinary knowledge. Each ingredient page offers detailed analysis of flavour profiles, pairing insights, and culinary applications.
The content on our analysis blog is semi-automated. All of the words were manually written by a human, but the content is updated dynamically based on the data.