West African Food: 10 Essential West African Recipes

West African food comprises the culinary traditions and techniques of sixteen individual countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo, as well as the island territories of Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha.

Though preferences and traditions differ vastly between regions, there are many common threads. West African cuisine represents the intersection of indigenous ingredients, like cereal grains and okra, and those introduced through colonialism, slavery, and trade between European and Arab countries, like tomatoes, chili peppers, and corn.

West African foods rely heavily on a few essential staples, generally preferring to accent tomato- and onion-based stews with a sharp, tangy heat over the aromatic spices favored elsewhere in the North. Here are some of the most common ingredients you will find in any West African pantry:

1. 1. Cereal grains: Many cereal grains, like sorghum, millet, fonio, and couscous, originated in the African continent, and you can find them in various formats throughout West African cuisine, whether mashed, formed into patties, or served as a bed for stewed vegetables and proteins. Learn more about these different types of whole grains.
2. 2. Habanero peppers: One of many ingredients that traveled east from the Americas to West Africa, habaneros are Mexican in origin but came to Africa during the transatlantic slave trade. Today, habanero peppers are a common ingredient in West African dishes, providing heat and a bit of fruitiness.
3. 3. Kitchen pepper: You can find this premixed blend of spices across the African diaspora, and it typically includes allspice, clove, cinnamon, and cardamom. You can purchase the spice blend in most West African food stores or online. Use it in culinary historian Michael W. Twitty’s recipe for stewed okra, corn, and tomatoes.
4. 4. Maggi cubes: Invented in Switzerland in the late 1800s, these savory, umami-forward cubes are a popular, time-saving seasoning and stock base that you can add to soup and rice for robust flavor. These cubes supplant traditional thickening flavorings such as soumbala (the seeds of the néré tree), which can be time-consuming to prepare and difficult to acquire. One of the most common ways to use Maggi cubes is as bouillon cubes in stew or jollof rice in place of chicken stock. You can find the cubes at most supermarkets.
5. 5. Okra: Okra appears in many dishes across the African diaspora, whether deep-fried, in gumbo, or stewed with tomatoes, offering an earthy flavor and gelatinous texture. Native to either Eastern Africa or Southwest Asia, okra arrived in the southern United States with the slave trade. The name “okra” may come from the Igbo ókùrù; while the Bantu word for “okra”—“ki ngombo” or “gombo” for short—is the likely origin of the Creole word “gumbo.” Learn how to cook okra.
6. 6. Palm oil: For many West African homes, homemade red palm fruit oil (dendê oil) is the primary cooking oil, prized for its rich mouthfeel. This deep orange, unrefined product is different from the refined palm oil found in many processed foods and cosmetics.
7. 7. Plantains: Plantains are a staple carbohydrate in West Africa, versatile enough for sweet and savory applications. While thick-skinned plantains resemble bananas, their flesh is too starchy to consume raw. Instead, cooks treat plantains more like potatoes, frying them in oil or grilling them. Try this recipe for grilled plantains.
8. 8. Rice: This starchy ingredient is an essential staple of African cuisine, either as a side dish or a main course. Oryza glaberrima comes from sub-Saharan Africa, and the Jola people of southern Senegal have cultivated and harvested this rice variety for at least 1,000 years.
9. 9. Scotch bonnet peppers: These fiery-sweet chili peppers are ubiquitous in West Africa and the Caribbean, where cooks use them liberally in sauces and stews.
10. 10. Tomatoes: This vegetable shows up in many African dishes and in the Americas as the base of stews. Both West African jollof rice and the jambalaya found in the Southern United States feature a foundation of stewed tomatoes (or tomato paste) and spices.
11. 11. Yams: These starchy tuber root vegetables are an essential ingredient for West African cooks. They’re also an essential source of income for many farmers due to their cultural importance and high consumer demand. In the United States, some people refer to sweet potatoes as yams. Learn the difference between yams and sweet potatoes.

Explore the foundations of West African cuisine with these quintessential dishes.

1. 1. Bitter leaf soup: Bitter leaf soup is a dish in its own right and one of the more popular condiments to serve with foods like fufu. The key to bitter leaf soup is the ratio of bitter greens to any costarring ingredients, like sautéed onions and tomatoes, seafood, or assorted meats. Many recipes combine bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) with spinach or kale.
2. 2. Black-eyed pea fritters: Accara (also spelled Akara) are dense, chewy, deep-fried patties made with black-eyed peas, popular in many African countries. Black-eyed peas hold a special place in African cooking. In Senegal, cooking a pot of nyebe (the Wolof name for the legume) is a way of providing for others. Learn how to make black-eyed pea fritters with a recipe from food historian Michael W. Twitty.
3. 3. Dodo: In Nigeria, a dish called dodo combines deep-fried ripe plantain slices with pickled onions, jollof rice, or frejon (a soup containing coconut milk and beans).
4. 4. Egusi soup: Egusi soup is a hearty West African comfort food consisting of ground pumpkin seeds (egusi); various proteins like crayfish, meat, or fish; and leafy greens.
5. 5. Fufu: This West African staple (also known as foofoo, ugali, nsima, posho, and many other names) resembles a fluffy dough ball made from ingredients like pounded yam, sweet potato, cassava, taro, or maize. In regions where bananas are abundant, cooks make the dish with boiled, pounded plantains. Serve fufu with a flavorful soup, sauce, or stew.
6. 6. Jollof rice: Jollof rice is a traditional West African rice dish with roots in ancient Senegal. However, many in the West associate jollof rice with Nigerian and Ghanaian cuisine. Though individual components vary depending on location and personal preferences, this long-grain rice dish features a spiced tomato stew bolstered by aromatic vegetables and spices. Thieboudienne, a traditional jollof rice dish served with fish, is the national dish of Senegal, but is also found throughout Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, and The Gambia.
7. 7. Maafe: Maafe is a Senegalese peanut (groundnut) stew that combines a garlicky tomato base with peanut butter. Maafe typically features beef, lamb, or chicken.
8. 8. Suya: These spicy meat skewers—made from various meats rubbed with chili powder, ground ginger, garlic powder, and onion powder—are popular street food throughout West Africa.
9. 9. Waakye: A simple dish of cooked rice and beans, waakye is typical breakfast and lunch fare in Ghana. Sold by street vendors wrapped in plantain leaves or plastic bags, waakye can be incredibly simple or serve as the base for complex meat stews, soft-boiled eggs, and fresh chili peppers.
10. 10. Yassa: Yassa—a Senegalese braised dish—pairs proteins like chicken, fish, or guinea fowl with sautéed onions and Dijon mustard.

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