Guinea's unofficial national dish (originating in Senegal's Casamance region) — chicken marinated in lemon, mustard, garlic, and Scotch bonnet, then grilled or seared, finished in a deeply-caramelized onion sauce. The dish requires roughly one large onion per person; long-cooked onions are the soul of yassa. Served over white rice.
Yassa originates in the Casamance region of Senegal but has been adopted as Guinea's unofficial national dish. The Mandinka/Wolof culinary tradition emphasizes the deep caramelization of onions and the acidic lemon-mustard marinade.
Take a piece of poulet yassa — chicken in a mountain of deeply-caramelized golden-brown onions, glistening with mustard-lemon sauce. Bite: the chicken is fall-apart tender, infused with the marinade's bright acidity; the onions are sweet, jammy, almost melted; the lemon's brightness lifts everything; the mustard's gentle bite; the scotch bonnet's slow build. The 30+ minutes of slow-cooking the onions is everything — this is what makes yassa yassa. With rice underneath absorbing the sauce, this is the universal West African Sunday celebration meal.
Slow-caramelizing onions develops natural sugars into deep umami sweetness — undercooked onions ruin the dish. Long marinade tenderizes the chicken and the acid breaks down proteins. Cooking the marinade in the sauce intensifies its flavor.
Variations
Yassa de poisson (fish yassa). Yassa de viande (beef). Yassa de mouton (lamb). Vegetarian with eggplant. The Senegalese, Guinean, Gambian, and Mauritanian versions differ slightly.
On the Palate
Where Poulet Yassa sits in the Guinean flavor cloud
Caramelize the onions low and slow for 30-40 min until they're deeply golden and jammy — this is the soul of yassa, and rushing them leaves the whole dish sharp and thin instead of sweet and deep.
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
12 steps · 40 min active + 1 hour 20 min waiting
- 14 min
Cut 1.5 kg chicken into 8 pieces.
- 24 min
Make marinade: combine juice of 4 lemons + 3 tbsp Dijon mustard + 8 minced garlic + 1-2 chopped scotch bonnets + 1 tbsp grated ginger + 1/4 cup oil + 2 tsp salt + 1 tsp pepper + 1 bouillon cube + 1 tbsp thyme.
- 3240 min
Slice 6 large onions thinly. Combine half of the onions with the marinade and chicken in a non-reactive bowl. Marinate 4 hours (or overnight for deeper flavor).
- 42 min
Remove chicken from marinade (reserve everything else). Pat dry.
- 59 min
In a large pan, heat 2 tbsp oil. Sear chicken pieces 4-5 min per side until golden. Remove; reserve.
Watch outSear the chicken just to golden on each side; it finishes cooking later in the sauce.
- 64 min
In the same pan, add 2 tbsp more oil. Add ALL the sliced onions (marinated + remaining fresh).
- 735 min
Cook the onions over medium-low heat 30-40 min, stirring occasionally, until deeply golden-caramelized. This is the soul of yassa.
Watch outThe onions are ready when they collapse into a soft, deeply golden jam — not just wilted.
- 84 min
Add the reserved marinade + 200 ml chicken stock + 2 bay leaves.
- 927 min
Return chicken to pan. Simmer covered 25 min until fully cooked and tender.
Watch outSimmer covered until the chicken is fully tender and has soaked up the onion-mustard sauce.
- 1011 min
Optional: add olives or carrots in the last 10 min.
- 112 min
Stir in 2 tbsp parsley + 1 tbsp extra lemon juice.
- 124 min
Serve over white rice (or jollof rice), with extra mustard or piri-piri on the side. Drink with bissap or beer.
