Burkinabé
Riz gras, soumbala, and an open fire — the Mossi plate.
Riz Gras
Burkina Faso's national dish — rice slow-cooked one-pot with onions, tomatoes, and meat (typically beef, lamb, or chicken) in a generous amount of oil. The dish gets its name 'fat rice' from the large quantity of oil used; the rice absorbs the tomato-meat-oil broth, becoming intensely flavored. Reflects French colonial influence in technique with traditional African ingredients. Source: Wikipedia (Burkinabe cuisine); Travel Food Atlas; Remitly.
View page →Burkina Faso is the landlocked Sahelian country at the heart of the Mossi plateau, the Bobo and Dioula west, and the Peul-Tuareg-Songhai north. Its kitchen is the savanna and Sahel — millet, sorghum, peanut, and the deep fermented umami of soumbala (locust bean), which Burkinabé cooks use the way other cuisines use stock cubes or fish sauce. The signature is Riz Gras — the 'fat-rice', parboiled rice cooked in a tomato-palm-oil base with beef, onion, cabbage, carrot, and scotch bonnet; the Ouagadougou Sunday meal and the Francophone West African cousin of jollof. Tô is the millet or sorghum pâte that anchors the everyday meal, dipped in baobab-leaf or peanut sauce. Babenda — sorrel-and-amaranth greens cooked with millet, peanut, smoked fish, and soumbala — is the Mossi heartland family meal. Tigadeguena (peanut stew, lamb version), poulet bicyclette ('bicycle chicken' — the lean, gamy free-range bird), and the brochette-grilling maquis night-out culture round out the table.
The Palate
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Parboiled rice cooked in a tomato and palm-oil base with beef, onion, cabbage, carrot, and scotch bonnet into a deep orange-red one-pot. Oil-glossy and savory.
Why start here · Burkina Faso's signature 'fat-rice' and the Ouagadougou Sunday meal. The Francophone West African jollof cousin.
Sorrel and amaranth leaves cooked with millet, peanut, smoked fish, and soumbala (fermented locust bean) into a dark-green, earthy, lightly-funky stew.
Why start here · The Mossi heartland comfort food. The clearest taste of the Burkinabé soumbala-and-greens tradition.
Free-range, leaner, gamier village chicken (so-named because it 'ran free like a bicycle'), grilled with onion, garlic, ginger, and peanut-spice rub. Smoke-perfumed, fatty-skinned.
Why start here · The Ouaga restaurant signature. The dish a returning Burkinabé asks for first.
The Pantry
See all 40 ingredients›
Proteins
Dairy & Fats
Sauces & Condiments
On the Map
Where this cuisine is found
Regional Styles
Mossi Plateau (Ouagadougou, Koudougou)
The Mossi heartland and the capital. Riz gras, babenda greens, poulet bicyclette, and the strongest soumbala tradition.
Southwest (Bobo-Dioulasso, Banfora)
The Bobo and Dioula southwest. Tigadeguena peanut stew, brochettes, and the strongest cross-border Mandinka tradition.
Sahel North (Dori, Gorom-Gorom)
The Peul, Tuareg, and Songhai Sahel. Millet pâtes and galettes, dairy traditions, and the most pastoral cuisine.
How They Cook
Techniques that define this cuisine
