Plant-based dishes from across the continent. African cuisine has a rich tradition of meatless cooking.
A focused set of dishes for this craving, occasion, or cooking style.
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Open any dish below for ingredients, story, timing, serving notes, and pairings.
Crunchy groundnut crackers made by extracting the oil from peanut paste, then shaping and deep-frying the remaining cake. A b...
Black-eyed peas blended into a smooth paste with palm oil and spices, then wrapped in banana leaves and steamed into a savour...
A thick, stiff cassava flour porridge that serves as the staple base for most Central African meals. Smooth, stretchy, and pe...
A Chadian peanut-okra stew with greens, tomato, sweet potato, and a creamy sauce made for boule or rice.
Egypt's iconic street food — layers of rice, lentils, macaroni, and chickpeas topped with a spiced tomato sauce, garlicky vin...
A colorful bean, corn, okra, and tomato stew cooked with palm oil and chile in an Equatoguinean home-style frame.
Thick Swazi maize porridge served with cool tangy emasi, the simple pairing that makes the plate complete.
Tender Swazi pumpkin leaves simmered with tomato, onion, and crushed groundnuts until earthy, nutty, and soft.
Kenyan firm maize ugali served with sukuma wiki, collard greens quickly cooked with onion, tomato, garlic, and oil.
Lesotho's everyday plate of firm maize papa served with moroho, leafy greens cooked with onion, tomato, oil, and salt.
Nigerien dambou, steamed millet or couscous grains mixed with moringa leaves, onion, chile, oil, and crushed peanuts.
São Tomé cacao hot chocolate made with dark chocolate or cacao mass, milk or water, cinnamon, vanilla, sugar, and a pinch of...
Sudanese ful medames, slow-cooked fava beans mashed with cumin, lemon, garlic, onion, chile, and sesame oil.
Tunisian lablabi, garlic-cumin chickpea broth ladled over torn bread with harissa, olive oil, lemon, capers, and optional egg...
Sahrawi mint tea, strong gunpowder green tea with fresh mint and sugar, poured from height and served in three rounds.
Diamond-shaped semolina pastries filled with fragrant date paste and deep-fried until golden, then dipped in warm honey syrup...
Beninese soft white cheese grilled until golden and served with a spicy piment sauce. A unique West African cheese snack with...
Traditional wild spinach greens cooked with tomatoes, onions, and peanut powder — a nutritious everyday dish that connects Ba...
A nourishing porridge of millet flour and leafy greens simmered with dawadawa for umami depth. A staple of everyday Burkinabé...
Burundi's cassava flour porridge — smooth, stretchy, and the daily staple that anchors every meal.
A smooth, firm millet or sorghum porridge shaped for scooping up Chadian sauces and stews.
A warm Chadian millet porridge sweetened with sugar and finished with milk, vanilla, and lemon zest.
Comorian coconut flatbread made with yeast, coconut milk, and sesame, cooked on a hot pan until soft and golden.
Comorian coconut rice pilaf infused with cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon — fragrant and creamy.
Ground pumpkin seeds steamed in banana leaves with tomatoes, onions, and spices, creating a rich and fragrant vegetarian parc...
Djibouti's spongy fermented crepe made with sorghum and wheat flour — served with honey, ghee, or savory stews.
Slow-cooked fava beans mashed with garlic, lemon, and cumin, drizzled with olive oil and served with warm pita. Egypt's belov...
Warm mashed fava beans finished with olive oil, lemon, cumin, chile, tomato, and berbere for an Eritrean breakfast bowl.
Silky Eritrean chickpea-flour shiro simmered with onion, garlic, berbere, tomato, and oil until spoonable over injera.
A tangy Swazi fermented maize porridge, served softly spoonable or thinned into a refreshing sour drink.
A tangy Ethiopian teff flatbread fermented for two to three days, finished with absit, and cooked on one side until full of e...
Ghanaian ripe plantain cubes marinated with ginger, garlic, chile, cloves, nutmeg, and salt, then fried until caramelized.
Light steamed fonio shaped into a soft mound for Guinean sauces, especially leaf sauce or peanut sauce.
Long-grain rice folded with toasted cashews, onion, and light aromatics as a Guinea-Bissau-inspired side.
Ivorian fried ripe plantain served hot with onion-tomato piment, a street-food plate that works as snack or side.
Basotho sour sorghum porridge made by fermenting a sorghum slurry overnight, then cooking it smooth for breakfast.
Basotho bean, sorghum, and pumpkin stew simmered slowly until thick, earthy, and gently sweet.
Libyan asida, a smooth wheat-flour mound served warm with a well of melted butter, date syrup, or honey.
Malagasy sweet rice-flour breakfast cakes, fermented lightly, cooked in round molds, and served warm with coffee or tea.
Northern Malawian cassava-flour staple cooked into a sticky, elastic mound and served with fish or vegetable relish.
Malawian mandasi, lightly sweet fried dough made with coconut milk, yeast, cardamom, and a proper rise before frying.
Malian toh, a firm millet or sorghum paste stirred smooth and shaped into a mound for sauces.
Mauritanian-style lakh, soft millet couscous served with sweet fermented milk, yogurt, coconut, and warm spice.
Mauritian dholl puri, thin yellow-split-pea flatbread folded around butter bean curry, rougaille, chutney, and achard.
Mauritian gateau piment, crisp chilli fritters made from soaked yellow split peas, herbs, cumin, and green chile.
Moroccan msemen, flaky square griddle flatbread laminated with oil, butter, and fine semolina.
Mozambican matapa, pounded cassava leaves simmered with ground peanuts, coconut milk, garlic, piri-piri, and shrimp.
Namibian oshifima, a smooth stiff porridge made from mahangu or pearl millet flour and served as the base for stews and grill...
Tuwo masara, a smooth firm maize swallow from Niger and the wider Hausa region, shaped for dipping into soups and stews.
Rwandan isombe, pounded cassava leaves simmered with peanut butter, palm oil, eggplant, spinach, onion, garlic, and pepper.
São Toméan angú de banana, green bananas or breadfruit boiled soft, mashed smooth, and finished with palm oil and salt.
Seychellois sweet ladob, ripe plantains and sweet potatoes simmered in coconut milk with vanilla, nutmeg, sugar, and salt.
Sierra Leonean banana akara, sweet rice-flour fritters made with ripe banana, sugar, nutmeg, and hot oil.
Somali canjeero, a lightly fermented one-sided pancake with a soft, spongy surface and gentle tang.
South African chakalaka, a spicy vegetable relish with carrots, peppers, tomato, baked beans, curry powder, onion, garlic, an...
South Sudanese asida, a smooth dome of sorghum, millet, or maize flour served with stew in the center.
Sudanese-style basbousa, a syrup-soaked semolina cake with yoghurt, butter, almonds, coconut, and rose water.
Tanzanian chipsi mayai, a street-food omelette built around crisp fries, eggs, onion, tomato, and chile.
Togolese akoumé, a firm corn-flour dough shaped into a smooth mound and served with rich sauces.
Ugandan matoke, steamed green cooking bananas mashed into tomato, onion, garlic, and pepper sauce.
Ugandan rolex, a hot chapati rolled around an egg omelette with onion, tomato, cabbage, and pepper.
Sahrawi vegetable couscous steamed with onion, carrot, turnip, squash, chickpeas, olive oil, and light broth.
Zambian chikanda, African polony made from wild orchid tuber powder, ground peanuts, baking soda, chile, and salt.
Zambian nshima with ifisashi, firm maize porridge served with leafy greens cooked in tomato-onion peanut sauce.
Zimbabwean mapopo candy, green papaya simmered in sugar syrup with lemon, then dried until jewel-like and lightly crystallized.
Zimbabwean sadza with muriwo, thick maize sadza served with leafy greens cooked in onion, tomato, garlic, and oil.
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