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brassica green & herbal sulfury & pungent Vegan Gluten-free Dairy-free Nut-free Kosher Halal

Broccoli

Broccoli is a brassica with 300 known flavor compounds. The most distinctive molecule is erucin. It pairs most strongly with olive, sharing 245 flavor compounds. Broccoli appears in 5,664 recipes, most commonly in indian cuisine.

Scientific name: Brassica oleracea var. italica
edible green plant in the cabbage family
Wikidata Q47722 (CC0)
Broccoli — ingredient reference image
300
Flavor Compounds
8
Top Pairings of 856 scored

Flavor Science

Flavor Profile Breakdown

300 compounds

How Broccoli's 300 known compounds break down by aroma category. Percentages are of compounds with a known label.

sour 50 · 16.7%
other 42 · 14.0%
floral 34 · 11.3%
fruity 27 · 9.0%
green 23 · 7.7%
sulfurous 23 · 7.7%
roasted 17 · 5.7%
herbal 16 · 5.3%
spicy 14 · 4.7%
savory 4 · 1.3%

Most Used In

Indian (91) Creole (77) World (57) European (34) British (31)

Flavor Compounds

59 of 300 are distinctive to broccoli — they appear in under 10% of foods. The remainder are the background most foods share.

Ordered by measured impact in broccoli — concentration against odour threshold where both are published, then by how distinctive the molecule is across the graph. Molecules measured here but not established as odorants sit below those that are.

Molecules volatile enough to reach the nose.
methyl jasmonate cadaverine erucin hexanoic acid ethyl ester 2-phenylethyl alcohol methyl thiocyanate hexen-1-ol 2,4-heptadienal 1,2-dimethoxybenzene 2-octanol benzyl isothiocyanate 2-penten-1-ol benzothiazole allyl isothiocyanate 2-hexenal 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol acetophenone malic acid trans,trans-2,4-heptadienal pyridine linolenic acid dimethyl sulfide isobutyric acid dimethyl trisulfide syringic acid methyl salicylate beta-caryophyllene hexyl acetate 4-hydroxybenzoic acid 3-octanol +141 more nonacosane citric acid catechin stearic acid progoitrin tangeretin resveratrol rutin (-)-epigallocatechin gallocatechin (-)-epicatechin isoquercitrin dl-phenylalanine nervonic acid lutein isorhamnetin isoliquiritigenin thiamine hydrochloride taxifolin daidzein squalene genistein quercetin luteolin myricetin phloretin zeaxanthin aconitic acid stigmasterol naringenin z-3-hexen-1-ol acetate isothiocyanates methyl 2-methoxybenzoate diethyl sulfide caffeine α-tocopherol retinol dl-methionine 2-(e)-hexen-1-ol 2-(z)-hexen-1-ol sulphides sulforaphane trans-2-penten-1-ol (2r)-2-isothiocyanatobutane (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol glucoraphanin 4-hydroxyglucobrassicin sinigrin gluconasturtiin 1-hexacosanol 2,3,5-trithiahexane cis-cinnamic acid taurine calcium lactate hypoxanthine (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (-)-epicatechin gallate creatine 4-hydroxyproline chlorophyll b

Most Abundant Molecules

2 of 300 quantified

Ranked by median concentration across published studies. Only 2 of Broccoli's 300 compounds have a measured concentration in the literature — the rest are confirmed present but not yet quantified. Bars are log-scaled.

1 methyl jasmonate 1.0 g/kg
2 cadaverine 119.4 mg/kg

Best Pairings for Broccoli

Ranked by how often cooks actually use them together, across 453,403 recipes — the familiar answer first. Each pairing still carries its molecular score and shared-compound count; only the ORDER differs. Counts cover every characterised molecule the two ingredients have in common, not only the aroma-active ones, so they can exceed an ingredient’s aroma-compound count. For the chemistry-first view — where the surprising pairings live — see the molecular network below, the side-by-side comparison, or the Pairing Tool.

Molecular Neighborhood

Broccoli and its 10 closest compound-sharing relatives. Spoke thickness = shared compounds; circle size = that ingredient's own compound count. Drag to rearrange, scroll to zoom, click to open.

Molecular neighborhood diagram of broccoli — top 10 ingredients ranked by shared volatile compounds
1
Olive plant
245 shared compounds
65%
2
Onion vegetable
233 shared compounds
65%
3
Garlic herb
232 shared compounds
80%
4
Carrot vegetable root
253 shared compounds
66%
5
Potato vegetable tuber
258 shared compounds
69%
6
Chicken meat
140 shared compounds
47%
7
Capsicum vegetable fruit
252 shared compounds
63%
8
Tomato vegetable fruit
259 shared compounds
62%

Compare Broccoli side-by-side

Broccoli vs Olive Broccoli vs Onion Broccoli vs Garlic Broccoli vs Carrot Broccoli vs Potato Broccoli vs Chicken

Recipes with Broccoli

View all →
Cabbage

Cabbage

broccoli
1 ingr. View →
Oshima, K

Oshima, K

broccoli
1 ingr. · 71 steps View →
Pepper Hash

Pepper Hash

broccoli
1 ingr. · 3 steps View →
German

German

broccoli pork
2 ingr. View →
Cabbage, Stuffed

Cabbage, Stuffed

broccoli
1 ingr. View →
Cauliflower Jelly

Cauliflower Jelly

broccoli
1 ingr. View →
Research basis

Broccoli is supported by 1,515 peer-reviewed papers

Drawn from PubMed + Europe PMC + food-science journals. Click any title to read the full abstract on the original source.
Show all 1,515 papers →