African Beef Stew – a popular mouth-watering stew and a traditional West African Stew that is often prepared in most homes, in a number of different ways. A must-have for Christmas gatherings and in everyday meal.
This is a popular and traditional West African Stew that is often prepared in most homes, in a number of different ways in countries like Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana – by varying the quantity of tomatoes, onions and spices.
Quite a lot of oil is used to cook the stew – often used to fry the tomatoes for a period of time to reduce the amount of acidity present in tomatoes. You know what? A good West African stew is flavorful and is rarely acidic.
You may remove some of the excess oil at the end before serving.
Rice and stew was once considered the quintessential West African Christmas meal. Of course, no Christmas table would be complete without it and an array of sumptuous dishes. Oh, how times have changed!
This tantalizing beef stew has evolved into an everyday meal, cooked with different cuts of meat and seafood and always present on restaurant menus. But to most people Christmas would never be complete without stew.
Here is my take on this mouth-watering African beef stew. Feel free to add vegetables such as carrots, green beans or green pepper. In Nigeria, it’s most often paired with African yam – fried or boiled. Rice and fried plantains are another good side dish option for this African beef stew.
Enjoy!
Watch How to Make It
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Tips and Notes:
- You can also let the meat simmer for about 3 hours for a fall-off-the-bones tender texture.
- You may replace canned tomatoes with fresh tomatoes but make sure you fry the sauce until it has completely dried before adding liquid. You might have to add more oil and watch out for burns.
- You can leave out the roma tomaotes; it works fine without.
- If you don’t have beef cubes on hand, you may replace it with bone-in beef meat.
- As suggested by one of the comments below, if you’re cutting back on the fat (oil), you can “cook off the water in the tomatoes by boiling the tomatoes until all the water is gone. Once the water cooks off, add some oil (olive oil works well) to fry the tomatoes.”
- Substitute Maggi powder with chicken bouillon.
Recipe was first published on Feb 2014 and has been updated with new photos, tips and notes and a video.
African Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 1-2 pound stew beef , cut in small pieces
- 1/2 -1 cup oil (Canola, Vegetable or Corn) , adjust as needed
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 4 roma tomatoes , they are less acidic
- 4 peeled garlic cloves
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- 3-4 tablespoon celery leaves
- ½ -1 scotch bonnet pepper , optional
- 1-2 basil leaves
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 1 canned tomatoes sauce , 14 ounce
- ½ teaspoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1-2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon Maggie powder or beef bouillon powder
- 1-2 green onion , sliced
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Boil beef with salt, pepper and some chopped onions in a medium pot until tender. It will take approximately 30 minutes or more, depending the cut of beef and how you like your beef cooked. I sometimes use the pressure cooker to shorten the process. Reserve the stock for later use.
- Add 1 cup oil to the pot/pan and brown the beef for about 5-10 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- In a blender, blend the onions, tomatoes, garlic, parsley, celery, thyme, basil and scotch bonnet pepper
- Gently pour the blend of puree ingredients, and tomatoes puree in the saucepan, add curry powder, white pepper , smoked paprika and bouillon powder bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.
- Then return browned beef and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes.
- Stir the pot frequently to prevent the sauce from sticking to the pot. -Occasionally adding beef stock or water as needed to prevent burns
- Finally add green onions. Adjust seasonings, sauce consistency with water/stock and salt.
- Serve warm with desired side dish.
Tips & Notes:
- Feel free to add vegetables such as carrots, green beans or green pepper
- You may remove some of the excess oil at the end before serving.
Nutrition Information:
Kimberly says
This looks beautiful! I’m going to try it. You mentioned it can be made with other meats? Would I follow the same recipe if I made this with chicken?
Meshach says
I like it but I have nobody to make it for me
Marcy says
Hello
Can this be made in a slow cooker? If so what are the steps?
Thanks
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Marcy
I haven’t tried it in a slow cooker yet. So can’t provide you exact times and procedure.
Bridget says
Hello Dear, where do you reside? If U.S.A, let me know, so that I will be coming to your house to carry food.
siewe says
where is that our cameroun type of Christmas rice and stew sister .this days I don’t understan this spicy .pls give me that our 1990 stew version
Cynthia Khaled says
I made the stew and it was wonderful,servred it with rice
imma africanbites says
Glad it turned out great for you, Cynthia!
tinuke says
Hi, can you clarify serving amount? Maybe in cups or ladles. Thank you
Lala says
I made this dish over the weekend and it tasted great. Thank you!
imma africanbites says
Thank you for letting me know, Lala! Glad it turned out great for you. 🙂
Morakinyo Olugbile says
I tried the African Beef Stew yesterday for dinner. Only issue i had was finding white pepper but other wise the dish came out excellent. Thank You for Sharing these great recipes!
ImmaculateBites says
My pleasure, so happy to hear it worked out well for you.
Olubukola says
This is very healthy more of herbs thanjs for sharing
imma africanbites says
Thank you for dropping by!
Jim says
Excellent instant pot recipe. You may need to use corn starch mixed with water or chicken stock to thicken the sauce.
F L says
Actually, that is not required for thickness
Aasylvia says
I tried it and everybody loved it, Thank you
imma africanbites says
Yaaay! Glad it was a hit. Thanks for letting me know.
cletus fotibu says
Hello Imma. This looks finger licking good. I can’t wait to try it.
Jayant says
Hey, going to try this out. Have had a really nice beef dish which was cooked using tinned tomatoes from Nigeria – really nice smoky flavour. Just one complaint – there are at least three ingredients added in the process that are not mentioned in the ingredient list – smoked paprika, basil and green onions. Please do fix this as it completely throws people like me who work with a recipe until we have an understanding or feel for the dish. Thanks!
Jayant says
Thank you!. Made it but ratcheted up the heat by going with six scotch bonnets. Reaaly delicious, fiery stew with a lovely tangy tomato base. Had it with crusty bread.
Jayant says
P.S. i also used much less oil – perhaps 1/2 cup at the most and it worked well so maybe you can cut that oil amount down. Also, I used olive oil.
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! Will do. Thanks Jayant
Tom says
I have a friend coming to America from Ghana is this something he will enjoy.
I’m trying to learn how to cook African foods he will enjoy.
ImmaculateBites says
For sure! I think he will love it !!!
Rahman Ahmed says
Hello!
Just to clarify, is 1 canned tomato sauce the same as ketchup?
Thanks
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Rahman! No canned tomato sauce is puree tomatoes- with no extra embellishments. Ketchup would not be suitable in this recipe since it has sugar, vinegar in it.
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks for pointing this out . It’s been updated .