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Ethiopian Recipes

22 recipes

Ethiopian cooking is built around injera, a spongy, slightly sour flatbread made from teff that acts as plate, spoon and staple. Meals are served on a large shared tray, with stews called wat ladled over the bread and eaten by hand. The base of most savory dishes is a long, slow cook of red onions, followed by niter kibbeh (spiced clarified butter) and berbere, a chili blend with fenugreek, ginger, korarima and other spices. The Orthodox Christian calendar has about 200 fasting days a year, which has produced a rich vegan repertoire of lentils, split peas, chickpeas, collard greens and cabbage. Meat dishes such as doro wat, kitfo and tibs are saved for holidays like Genna, Fasika and Meskel. Breakfast may be spicy fir-fir or chechebsa, while the day is often punctuated by the coffee ceremony, where beans are roasted, ground and brewed in a clay pot, then served in three rounds.

Staple ingredients

Breakfast

Salads

Main Dishes

Side Dishes

Breads

Snacks

Drinks

Sauces, Dips and Condiments

Common questions

What is Ethiopian food known for?

Injera with spicy stews called wat, such as doro wat and misir wat, plus kitfo, tibs, vegetable dishes and the coffee ceremony. Meals are shared from a single tray and eaten with the right hand.

What is the national dish of Ethiopia?

Doro wat, a spicy chicken stew with hard-boiled eggs served on injera, is widely seen as the national dish. It is cooked for holidays, weddings and important family meals.

Is Ethiopian food spicy?

Many dishes are, because of berbere and mitmita, but plenty are mild. Alicha stews use turmeric and ginger instead of chili, and fasting dishes can be adjusted easily.