African Peanut Stew
African Peanut Stew-Creamy ,Quick and easy groundnut Stew.
In the West, Groundnuts are almost invariably eaten as snack, mixed into salads, or transformed into peanut butter paste. However, in Africa, this nut has been an important source of food for centuries –and it is used in a number of different ways-throughout the continent depending on the region-a little goes a long way. The most common use is to flavor sauces, soups or add thickness any meal.
In West Africa, It is used to make this hearty stew – a rich stew with a tempting combination of flavors – garlic, ginger, herbs and of course a little bit of spice. The good thing about this recipe is that it is open to so many variations based on your preferences, availability of ingredients and time. You can never go wrong with this soup.
Here, I used Peanut butter paste. You can use any variety depending on what you have on hand- go for 100% Peanut butter for an intensified peanut flavor without the added sugar. It does make a difference.
Don’t sweat it though, I must admit that I sometimes use whatever brand I have on hand.
If you have time just make your own peanut butter by grinding roasted peanuts in a food processor or coffee grinder. That’s how this stew is made in Africa
Traditionally ground soup or stew is made with peanuts, tomatoes, onions with or without protein depending ones preference. You may use less oil or omit completely for a healthier stew – just omit the tomato sauce.
Serve with any starchy side rice, plantains, potatoes and or vegetables
Enjoy it!
Ingredients
- ¼ cup oil
- 2- 3 pounds chicken legs or thighs
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 fresh tomatoes
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves
- ½ teaspoon ginger chopped
- 3 tablespoons parsley
- ½ cup Peanut butter or peanut paste
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon optional
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Season chicken with your favorite seasoning – I used creole or just use, salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Blend tomatoes, ½ of the onions, garlic, parsley, and ginger. Set aside
- In a large pot or saucepan heat oil over medium heat, then add the chicken and brown on both sides about 5-10 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside. You may skip this step and proceed with the next.
- Add remaining onions, if desired , to the saucepan, stir for about 2 minutes then add tomato sauce(mixture of blend tomatoes and spices) and paprika
- Pour the tomato mixture into the saucepan -bring to a boil and let it simmer stirring frequently to prevent any burns- about 5 minutes.
- Next, add the peanut butter, chicken and 2 cups of water or chicken stock, season with, chicken bouillon, salt and cayenne pepper. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes or more
- Adjust the soup thickness with water/chicken stock if necessary and let simmer to desired thickness
- Drip a little soup from your stirring spoon. If you are satisfied with the thickness of your soup, serve it with rice.
Nutrition Information:
We didn’t change much. A little more tomato than called for (four roma). We put a 12oz can of peanuts in the food processor with about two tablespoons of oil, made a paste, and then added the chicken stock. It was a little thick, which was good for Kenyan chapati (how we ate it), but over rice it probably needs another cup of chicken stock. Really good!
Great. Thanks for the feedback.
Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe! Now im wondering if there are more youve shared. I did add a tiny bit of crushed coriander but it was great without too. Thank you again!
Great! Glad to hear it worked out well.
EXCELLENT!
How do you recommend the rice be made with this stew?
It should be cooked separately.
This turned out delicious. Kept to the recipe. Had it with rice. Will print and save to make again for my boyfriend when he visits. Thank you
Am so thrilled to hear this .Thanks so much.
I’m making this right now, been searching for a peanut butter chicken recipe all my life, hope this is THE ONE.
This is a dumb question…Can I use Kraft peanut butter for this recipe? It’s the only thing I have. Will it have an effect on the taste?
Yes you can. It would work out well.
Hi Imma. Im a bit confused
Are steroids 4 & 5 repeated?
Really delicious, made it with whole chicken legs and it made the chicken so nice and flavorful. I really love how versatile it is too, I have many future ideas to play with this recipe!
I have had this traditional from a former Togolese friend Victor and his Fon wife as Fufu with the soup. I actually got the fufu right after a few tries(don’t buy the stuff in the box, buy real yams, get a pestle and mortar and feel the pain, or you could just get a stick blender : > )
It’s all part of a great experience from a great and culturally rich peoples) A couple of cool variations I made were (A) I added Okra that I blanched in organic vinegar, which took the slimy aspect of it away and it complimented the texture of the soup. I also added braised lamb and cubed some sweet potatoes and added them. The meat was falling apart when it was done,but you want the soup to have a clear pumpkin color with no debris from the ingredients.
(B) in this version I added the same organic vinegar blanched Okra, but I added braised and seasoned lamb.
(C) this final version is just pretty much lamb and goat added with Okra and the cubed sweet potatoes. You have to braise the meats first with the seasoning that you want which will help the flavor profile of the soup. You do not want to over do it because the soup has an awesome base flavor all on its own.
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Hi Sedrick. Those additions sound scrumptious and I’m glad you made it your own! Happy eating!
As a child my mother would always add hard boiled eggs ……
You can definitely do that if you choose too!
My daughter took one bite and said, “This recipe goes on the keep list!”. It is delicious! My daughter is allergic to peanuts, so I used ‘Wow Butter’ which is the closest thing that we’ve found to peanut butter. I couldn’t tell that it wasn’t peanut butter. I used chicken flavored Knorr pods for the bullion. So delicious! Comforting, rich, bold, interesting…I am a committed Afican Bites user. Thank you! I look forward to trying more of your recipe.
My daughter took one bite and said, “This recipe goes on the keep list!”. It is delicious! My daughter is allergic to peanuts, so I used ‘Wow Butter’ which is the closest thing that we’ve found to peanut butter. I couldn’t tell that it wasn’t peanut butter. I used chicken flavored Knorr pods for the bullion. So delicious! Comforting, rich, bold, interesting…I am a committed Afican Bites user. Thank you!
Delicious! I used this recipe to make this with Mediterranean style chicken (Sheesh Tawook), and it was delicious. I saw a previous comment wherein the person made it with lamb, so I’m going to give that a try next time. Thanks for a great recipe!
Could this work with ground lamb meat? What modifications would you recommend, if any?
Hi Ck, I haven’t tried this with ground lamb meat , so can’t give you exact measurements or instructions. If I were to try it out I would shape into meatballs , panfry before adding to the stew.
I tried it with chicken wings and it turned out great. I like spicy stews so I added a chili pepper and a part of a jalapeno pepper to the blend with the tomatoes, onion, etc. I kept the seasoning for the chicken basic and light by just using salt and pepper. My husband and I both loved it. Compliments for a great recipe and an even more wonderful website!
YES! Lamb meat is perfect for this Peanut Butter Stew. In fact my mother always made it with lamb, rarely chicken.
Good luck!
Amazing recipe!! My girlfriend loves peanut stew I we usually get it from some African restaurants around however I wanted to attempt to make it from scratch. This recipe was great actually my gf said it’s the best she’s ever tasted. I used shredded chicken breast instead of chicken thighs. Added some cumin as well. And we like spicy food so added more cayenne pepper than called for. Such a versatile dish will make it again.
Thank you for sharing those tips. Glad you guys love it.
I made this tonight to freeze for my maternity leave. It is very good but a very mild flavor. Just checking to make sure that it’s supposed to be very mildly spiced before I freeze it.
Hi Whitney,
Yes it is. It’s not too spicy. Congratulations on your pregnancy ; may your new baby bring you abundant happiness!
Great recipe. The only things I’ll do differently the next time is to cook my chicken longer before I add it to the mixture. I’ll also double the ingredients because it didn’t produce enough soup/stew. My husband really enjoyed the dish. I look forward to making it again!
Thanks or the feedback! So happy to hear it worked out well .
Fantastic recipe! One of those dishes where the serving size is 4-6, but somehow there isn’t much left over after dinner for two..
Great!Thanks for the feedback
Hi there,
In your Instructions, step 4, you add tomato sauce and paprika, but tomato sauce isn’t listed in your Ingredients. Can you please let us know how much tomato sauce to use? Thanks so much.
Hi Mitch! The tomato sauce is the tomato blend(tomatoes, onions..). No extra tomato sauce is needed. Let me know how this works for you. Recipe updated to make it clearer . Thanks
I cooked a vegetarian version of this, with zucchini, carrot, parsley and mushrooms instead of the chicken, and it came out extremely good! It’s probably one of my favourite dishes now 🙂
Yay! Thanks for taking the time to let me know!