Skip to main content
Epicurious
Cookbooks

Jollof Rice

1.9

(4)

Photo of Nigerian Jollof Rice
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell

This is the dish that first got me into cooking. Talking about it got me my first job in a kitchen, and together with the help of friends, local restaurants, and family it’s the recipe we have worked on the most for this book, because we all know how good it should be. If I could only eat one thing in the world it would probably be my grandma’s jollof. She would regularly cook a big pot with care and patience and insist that everyone took home a small container of it. Cooking the rice and storing it for the following day or to give to friends to take away is part of a sharing culture that surrounds jollof—just remember to return the Tupperware!

Cooks' Note

To 2 1/2 cups of cooking sauce; the ratio is 1:2 of rice to cooking sauce. Red palm oil, a staple of West African cooking, is available at Amazon.com.

See Related Recipes and Cooking Tips

Read More
Smothered Italian Sausage
This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.
Smothered Italian Sausage
This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.
Smoky Tofu Shakshuka
This vegan version of the classic North African scramble uses soft silken tofu instead of eggs without any sacrifice of flavor.
Fufu
Fufu is a dish that has been passed down through many generations and is seen as a symbol of Ghanaian identity and heritage. Making fufu traditionally is a very laborious task; this recipe mimics some of that hard work but with a few home-cook hacks that make for a far easier time.
Charred Vegetable Ragù
This sauce is slightly magical. The texture cloaks pasta much like a traditional meat sauce does, and the flavors are deep and rich, but it’s actually vegan!
Rotisserie Chicken Congee
Leftover rotisserie chicken finds new purpose in this endlessly comforting dish.
Sofrito Bolognese
An ex-boyfriend’s mom—who emigrated from Colombia—made the best meat sauce—she would fry sofrito for the base and simply add cooked ground beef, sazón, and jarred tomato sauce. My version is a bit more bougie—it calls for caramelized tomato paste and white wine—but the result is just as good.
Dulce de Leche
Make this versatile caramel at home with our slow-simmered method using milk and sugar—or take one of two sweetened condensed milk shortcuts.