Spicy Jollof Rice
For the longest time, whenever I made jollof rice, I always got a sticky, clumpy rice consistency. Then one day, I discovered the best way to make jollof rice that wasn’t clumpy but rather fluffy. It simply involved cooking it in blended peppers and towards the end, putting it in the oven. What do I mean??? See below:
Ingredients:
3 cups of white parboiled long- grain rice
2 bay leaves
3 Knorr cubes
1 large red bell pepper
2-3 scotch bonnet peppers
2 tbsps tomato paste
1 m onion
1 m tomato
1 clove garlic
Ginger (about the size of a clove of garlic)
*If you’re cooking more than 3 cups, double the pepper, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and add 1/2 an onion*
1. Halve the red bell pepper, onion and tomato and then cut into quarters. Blend mixture (add the tomato paste). Add 1-2 cups of water to mixture and blend further till liquefied (this will be a watery mix).
2. Heat pot on stove over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup oil of your choice (I used canola). Add blended peppers and seasonings, stir. Slice some onion into mixture (optional). Let boil for 15 minutes on low heat.
3. Add rice, continue to cook on low heat for 35 minutes. It should be be almost cooked at this point, if not let cook until rice is soft enough for you.
4. Heat oven to 325° F. Put pot in oven for another 15 minutes (this makes it fluffy).
5. Remove, let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
Before it goes in the oven, it might be somewhat mushy, but not to worry, as soon as it comes out of the oven, it’ll be nice and fluffy.
Also, don’t get flustered if the rice at the bottom of the pot burns, most if not all great tasting jollof rice burns at the bottom just a tad.
This is typically eaten with fried plantain or moi-moi (steamed bean cake) along with meat of your choice.
Enjoy…
Spicy Jollof Rice,
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78 Responses to "Spicy Jollof Rice"
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I used your oven tip and my jollof rice came out perfect when I made it last.
Question – My hubby and I will be hosting some friends from a group soon, and I was wondering that if I prepared the jollof rice the night before – how should I reheat it for the next day? Rather than having to put each individual served plate into the microwave – is it okay to put the pot back into the oven to reheat the next day? Do you think this may tamper with the texture or do you reckon I should just warm it on the cooker on low flame? Please advise me with reheating lots of moin-moin as well – does reheating it on the pot change its texture or os it okay?
Thanks a lot for your input and God Bless xxx
Hey Fran!
Yay, glad the tip worked out for you! To reheat the jollof rice for a group, I would reheat it in the oven at like 250 degrees or use the ‘warm’ setting. You’d have to leave it in a good while longer for the heat to really penetrate all of the rice, say anywhere from 30 minutes and up. If you reheat in the oven, you won’t need to add water to it and it’ll still be fluffy like when you first made it.
Warming on the stove on low heat is also fine, but you’d have to add a bit of water and that might *slightly (not anything so noticeable)* alter the taste. I recommend reheating in the oven.
For the moi moi, if it’s in the leaves, I would recommend reheating in a steamer, with water at the bottom and the moi moi in a separate perforated pot on top of the pot containing water. Add a good amount of water in the bottom pot and let it boil over medium heat, so the steam can penetrate the moi moi and reheat it that way without affecting taste/texture.
If you don’t have a steamer, you can use the method in the moi moi recipe (http://www.avartsycooking.com/2010/01/make-moi-moi-steamed-bean-pudding/), start from #7, but use enough foil so that it goes all the way up the sides of the pot so water doesn’t enter the moi moi, add some water to the bottom before the foil and let the water boil over low heat. Once the water starts boiling, the steam should penetrate the foil and help steam the moi moi. If you cooked the moi moi in a pan like in the recipe link, you can use the same method. I don’t recommend reheating moi moi in the oven, as it might dry it out and who likes dry moi moi, ew, lol
Hope this helps, if not, let me know so I can clarify.
You’re very welcome! God bless you & yours too!
Thank you so much!
Really appreciate xxx
You’re very welcome, glad to be of help! :)
I made this Sunday and it was sooooooooo good. My family is from the Carribbean so it was a nice switch from Sunday rice and peas. I have Nigerian friends and co workers and I did them proud. Please keep the recipes coming. I’m going to make Egusi soup next :-)
Hi Maria!
Yay! Glad the recipe worked out! If you loved the jollof rice, you should also love the egusi soup ;) let me know how it goes!
Will sure do…thanks!
Hello Yetunde, i just want to say very very big thank you for posting these recipies. I live in London and i have always wanted to know how to make Nigerian foods really well and the first recipe i tried was your egusi and spinach one and it went down like a bomb with my partner. I am going to try the jollof rice recipe for Sunday Lunch, but what i will really learn to love to cook perfectly are Peppersoup and jollof rice (both of which i have never ever made before) and i also want to perfect my Ogbono soup and cook it in such a way that it is really slippery without adding okro to it as that is the only way i ever get it to be very slippery. Oh, and another thing, i ABSOLUTELY HATE GARLIC! is there an option to that vile (in my personal opinion) thing please?
Hi Olufunmi!
Aww, you’re very welcome! I’m glad the first recipe you tried went down well :) Peppersoup has been on my list for a while now, so I’ll be getting to it soon (I hope!). Wait, did I just read you’ve never made jollof rice before? Huh??? Omg, you’re missing, you totally need to try it ASAP!
With regards to the Ogbono, I’ve never added okra to mine and the level of ‘drawiness’ works fine for me. However, I do know that when cooking okra soup, some folks add ‘kaun’ to make it draw more, so you could try that with ogbono. You should be able to find it in specialty stores that cater to mostly African foods. Unfortunately, I don’t know the English name, but if you don’t know what it is, it’s a grayish looking stone that’s grated or broken into bits and added to the soup.
GARLIC!!! Lol, you said it’s vile, haha… it has health benefits ya know ;) I can’t think of a garlic substitute, quite honestly. I would have said garlic powder, but hey, that’s still garlic no? Ginger maybe? Not quite, because they taste quite different. If you really, really, really can’t stand garlic, you can just leave it out, you won’t notice it’s not there since you don’t eat it anyway.
Hope to see you around more!!!
Yetunde, once again, thank you for the time, energy and patience you take in posting various recipes. God bless you o. I tried the jollof rice recipe and it was really nice too though it was a bit clumpy, it wasn’t until the next day that i got the rice to separate themselves (lol). Yes i have bought and tried powdered garlic and i have been able to manage the tiniest pinch ever invented by man and i found i could live with it so i now use the littlest pinch in my cookings and maybe with time i will develop a liking (there can never be any love though) for “garlic” (i shudder from even typing the word….lol).
I tried most of your recipes over Christmas and i can pat myself on the back and say that i am getting the hang of proper ‘Naija’ cooking o.
Yetunde, have you ever made edika ikong? If so will you post the recipe please as i want to make it my next ‘Naija’ food experiment. I am just going to try it all by myself before feeding it to anyone else. Most of the recipes i came across online are all just very convoluted and not all together trustworthy. I’ll also like to know how to make goat/shaki/gizzard/fuku(lungs)/everything peppersoup the Nigerian way. Can you please post a recipe for this too if you will?
Looking forward to some if not all these recipes my Oliver Twist is asking more for…lol
Cheers
Hey lady!
You’re very welcome! For the jollof rice, once its cooked and all liquid has dried out, turn the heat off and leave the pot tightly covered either on the stove or in a warm oven (preferably the oven) and the remainder heat should help it fluff up or separate by itself before serving.
Yup, Edikaikong recipe will be up in the next few weeks, so stay tuned ;) I also have Peppersoup on my list, so expect that soon as well! Oh, and yay for the garlic love :D
Lol, no Oliver Twist, request as many recipes as you’d like, I don’t mind :)
I just discovered ur site 2day n tried jollof rice,I could not believe dat I prepared it myself.A very big thanks 2 u ma
Hey Sam!
Yay! Glad the recipe was successful! You’re very welcome :) I’m still in my twenties sha o, so no need for the ‘ma’ lol
Yetunde
This is stella from Atlanta. Thank you so much for all the recipe, it really work. You did a very good job. God will continue strenghten you. God bless.
Hi Stella!
You’re very welcome! Glad you’re enjoying the recipes :)
Amen and Amen! Thank you!
Oh my god I tried the recipe out and my rice came out mushy.lol I think I used the wrong rice. I used jasmine rice instead. And I didnt have a pot that goes in the oven. This time I went to the african store and bought parboiled rice. It should work this times since the parboiled rice is much stronger. Should I wash the parboiled rice off before using? Even though my rice was mushy it still had a nice flavor.lol
Hey Courtney!
Oh no! Parboiled rice is the best for jollof rice. I tend to wash the rice only if its for plain rice or fried rice. I don’t wash for jollof rice.
It should turn out better with the parboiled rice. Good luck and let me know how it goes! :)
Ok I made it today and it turned out great. I guess I used the wrong rice. But everyone was highly upset with me because it was very spicy.lol maybe next time ill just add one scotch bonnet chili instead of three. Thanx :)
Yay!! Glad it turned out great. Three is not even spicy, one would be like super mild, mild, lol
Well, at least it turned out great, so now you just have to gauge the heat level ;)
hi, what are Bay leaves please? Thanks
Bay leaves are an aromatic/scented leaf. You can get them fresh or dried, but I think the aroma is stronger in the dried version. It’s often used in cooking soups/stews and rice and moreso, used for its aroma than taste.
It’s scent that I can describe as herbal, but a pleasant herbal, like certain kinds of herb tea.
I love, love bay leaves! If you do a google image search, you should see what they look like.
Hope that helps!
Hello Yetty, trust you are doing very well.
You are really amazing with your culinary experiences and passing it on. Welldone and God bless.
I would love to prepare this spicy Jollof rice for my family tomorrow -Sunday and will love to ask what time of pot would go into the oven. I used an aluminium pot.
Also, I observed you did not use any meat stock for the rice and was also wondering if the sauce will really cook the rice.
Please help clarify.
Hey!
I am doing well, just busy, busy, busy! Aww, thank you so much, I appreciate it! I’ve never really paid much attention to pot types, but I typically only use non-stick pots, which, I believe are also anondized aluminium.
So, your aluminium pot should work. Now, stainless steel is the one type of pot I don’t like!
I rarely, if ever, use any kind of stock for cooking rice. The sauce should work just fine, just be sure to water it down so its not too thick and gauge the seasonings accordingly and you should be fine.
Let me know how it goes! Hope to see you around more! :)
Very well then and thank you very much for your swift response.
Last thing, would the pot be covered or opened in the oven?
Do you have recipe for grilled Fish?
You’re welcome! I usually leave the pot uncovered, I don’t see a need to cover it.
Nope, not for grilled fish, but there is one for baked whole tilapia: http://www.avartsycooking.com/2009/06/whole-tilapia-jollof-rice/
Hope that helps in the interim!
Hi Yetunde,
Spot on! That’s all i can say. You are really good. God bless you.
Hey Amaka!
Thank you!! :)
hello Yetunde,
i rreally love ur cookin,pls i need the recipe for peper soup asap, thanks
Hey Eguono!
Thank you! It’s been requested like a thousand times, lol. I’ve added it to my list and will bump it up asap!
Wow I just want to say thank thank you a thousand times over, this is the first website I have found where all the instructions are laid out step by step. I have been working at cooking Nigerian food for about 4 years now, I am not the bomb at the very least but this website of yours will definitely move me closer there. I just want to let you know how much I appreciate this. I am not really creative when it comes to food so being able to come to your website and see this is just awesome. I thank you and my husband’s stomach ( lol) thanks you. God bless and may he continue to give you the strength to continue.
Hey lady!
Wow, and THANK YOU!! You are so very welcome and I hope you’re able to get a lot of information from the site and surprise your husband! If you ever have questions on any of the recipes, please don’t hesitate to ask! That prayer was so needed this evening, I got ambitious and cooked two dishes to blog about, I was so exhausted, but kept trucking, so I’m sure your prayer had a hand in that. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.
Hey Yetunde… Glad I found your site.. Plan to cook a lot of your recipes…
About the Jollof rice, no need to bake though to get it to be perfect… All you have to do is the following
- fry the tomato paste, bell pepers, onions
- Season the tomato mix to your taste
- Add your meat stock, add rice (add just enough water to cover the rice barely)
- Bring to a boil, as soon as it boils, turn the heat of the stove down to the lowest, and close the pot tight….
The steam will cook the rice, and not the heat from the stove really…. comes out perfect all the time, be sure to use parboiled rice… Hopefully this helps you avoid the extra step of baking.
About your pies… I’m about to bake some this weekend… can’t wait.. I want to eat fish roll so bad… lol…. + my nigerian cooking is not perfect yet.. so i’m hoping some of your recipes will give me the perfection I need… God bless you for taking your time to document these things sha.
Hi Judith!
Thank you o, I try :) I’m well aware you don’t need to make jollof rice in the oven, it’s just something I like to do sometimes! Did you mean the chicken pies? Those are the really good! Fish roll recipe will be either end of this month or October. Cooking is practice to know what works for you and repetition to perfect it, so over time, you’ll be on your way to pro status ;)
Let me know how you like the pies!
I was going to use your pie crust recipe to make fish roll… At first I used 3 cups flour to 2.5 sticks butter (I know I should have followed the original recipe.. I figured too much butter won’t hurt) ….. Didnt turn out right… so I tossed it… then used 3 cups flour to 2 sticks butter (original recipe)…. Crust turned out really good. The filling however…. Hmmmm…. lol… Let’s just say American sardines are not supposed to be used in fish roll… lol.. the sardines tasted like the smoked titus fish that they sell in naija markets… The soft one that bites its tail… lol… I’ll wait for your recipe abeg I cannot shout… lol..
Maybe I should just do your chicken pie, so I can enjoy that crust…
Pie crust? What recipe is that? Do you mean the dough? Lol, sardines ke? Oh no, that wouldn’t work. Yup, do the chicken pie for now and enjoy the entire thing while waiting for the fish pie recipe ;)
Yeah, I meant the dough… lol…
Lol, yeah I figured ;)
mine came out too good!! love love love it!
thanks for posting this :)
Hey Mary!
Aww, yay! Glad to know! You’re welcome :)
hello. thanks for this wonderful site. my sister told me yesterday to check this website(we both love cooking and exhange recipes). ii have not even gone far but my mouth is watering…….. am making the jollof rice now but not sure of the quantity of water to cook the rice,is the just the one that is added to the blender? and pls can i wash my rice or is it going to spoil the cooking. thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank you.
Hey Asmee!
Aww, that’s so flattering to know, a big thank you to both of you! While you’re blending, you want to add enough water so the blended mixture is already a bit watery from the onset instead of having to add more water once you’ve added the blended mix to the pot. So, in answer to your question, yes it shoud really only be the water added to the blended and cooked on low heat. However, if the liquid dries out before the rice is soft enough, obviously you’d have to add some more water.
When making jollof rice, I typically don’t wash the rice, I just add it straight to the pot. You could just do a light rinse, but I don’t think it’s a necessary step.
Hope that helps! Let me know how it turns out!
Your method of cooking jollof rice worked out really well for me. Tasted just like the caterer that makes rice for people’s occassions’ rice. I am so glad I came accross this recipe. Thank you Yetty!
Hey you!
Yay! Glad it worked out for you.
You’re most welcome :)
Can you please let me know if this gives you that “party rice taste”? I make a mean Jollof rice but i’m always missing that party rice taste. Last time i got it, i had to let the food burn slightly. please let me know.
Thanks
Hey Lynn!
I have a tip here for getting that party taste with jollof rice.
Hope that helps!
Hi,
For a long time I’ve tried to make ogbono myself, but couldn’t find the guts, so I just make do of missing it.
After coming across your site, now I can try the stuffs my mom makes.. My ogbono came out right too” thanks loads you too much… Now I don’t need to be calling my sister for tips, she no go feel like hero anymore lol… Do U have white soup on your list?
Gandoski! (Your name is something!)
Aww, I’m glad the Ogbono came out right for you, I love knowing information like that. You should cook for your sister sometime and show off your skills ;) Yup, a couple of people requested White Soup, so yes, it is on my list!
Hope to see more comments from you :)
Hello I want to cook the jollof rice again but where I’m going we don’t have any type of pot that goes in the oven. I was wondering if I can cook this in a small pan in the oven? Should I cook it a little while its still watery and transfer it to a pan then cover it with foil. How should I go about doing this?
Hey you!
If it’s a big enough pan, then I’d say go for it, but if it’s not large enough, it might for obvious reasons, not contain the rice as rice swells. Yes, you can cook it a little whilst there’s still water and before all that completely dries out, you can transfer into a pan, (uncovered or covered with foil) to finish cooking.
Most pots should be oven safe, the handles might just be hotter than when on a stove. The pot I typically use for Jollof rice, I’ve had for a while, so I don’t recall if it’s a particular type that is meant to go in the oven, but I haven’t had issues with that.
Conversely, again, if you have a large enough pot, you can cook it partially in that and purchase one of those aluminum foil containers and finish cooking in that. Hope that helps and let me know how it goes!
I can slice some tomatoe into this recipe also along with some slice onion?
Hey Courtney!
If you’d like to, I don’t see why not. I don’t add sliced tomatoes myself, but occasionally, I add sliced onions.
HI PLS I WANT TO MAKE SOMTIN SPECIAL FOR MY HUBBY DIS WEEKEND, YOUR ADVICE PLS AND INGREDIENTS
Hey Peace!
Aww, how nice of you! I’d recommend Frejon, as it’s wonderfully different. If he’s not into beans or coconut milk, I’d recommend Afang soup and pounded yam.
Hope that helps! Keep me posted as to which you make and how he likes it!
Hi, I just came across your website today and your recipes look absolutely amazing. I am making the Peppered Gizzards and this recipe of Spicy Jollof Rice tomorrow night for my boyfriend. I had a quick question, I was wondering if I would have to parboil jasmine rice before making it with this recipe and if so, how do i go about it? It only takes about 20 mins to cook all together if i follow the instructions on the bag of rice, so would it be ok to just skip the parboiling and add the uncooked rice to the stew mixture and let it cook then or what exactly should I do about this, I am so confused lol
Hey Cleopatra!
Thank you! I would not recommend Jasmine rice for Jollof rice. It will more than likely give a different texture/consistency, perhaps sticky and not fluffy as jollof rice should really be. Jollof rice, as with most Nigerian rice dishes use parboiled long grain rice, which usually has an off white/pale yellow color.
If you are pressed for time and absolutely need to use the Jasmine rice, there is no need to parboil it, just add it to the blended peppers.
Hope that helps! Keep me posted on the outcome!
Also, when do you add the 2 bay leaves to the rice? I just noticed that step is missing from the directions but bay leaf is on the ingredients list
This was an oversight on my part, recipes back when this was posted were not as detailed as now! However, the bay leaves should be added about the same time you add the rice, so it boils together and the flavor of the bay leaves is infused into the rice and blended peppers.
Thank you so much for the response! I tried the jollof rice with a mix of jasmine rice and long grain rice and it worked out fine! What i did was, stir fry my uncooked rice in a little vegetable oil, just to brown it a little and that process stops or keeps it from being sticky and makes it fluffier like parboiled rice. I didnt have enough money to go out and buy more rice when I already had some, so I had to improvise lol and it turned out perfect and I did the same with the bay leaves, kinda just used my head there lol but all in all, thank you for a great recipe, the jollof rice came out awesome and so did the peppered gizzard, my boyfriend loved it, thank you!! :)
Hey!
Glad it came out well and even more importantly, you made it work for you! Even more importantly, your boyfriend loved it! ;))
Lol, thank you!! You’re awesome :)
Thank YOU! :))
OMG what a lovely jollof rice i just made!!!!!
God bless you!!!!
i love jollof rice!! my husband is nigerian and i made a better jollof rice than him :)) we live in london and i am an european, and if my rice turned out this good…. let me tell you – you are good :)) all your recipes look great and the pictures help a lot. i will be trying another ones i’m sure
thank you very much
Hey Roxana!
Aww, yay for you! Especially for making it better than he does! Thank you and thank you, I sincerely appreciate all the kind words! Flattery will get you everywhere :)
You’re most welcome!
First time I made jollof and it was perfect !! Thanks for the recipe!! Try and see if you can put it on allrecipes.com !
Hey Gochi!
Glad it came out nice the first time! You’re welcome :)
Hiiii :D
(From Denmark)
Used to live in Naija :)
I’m just curios, I’m making the jollof rice today, and wanted to know about the knorr cubes.
What do I do with them?
Crunch it or pour water over it? :D
Hey Amalie!
Hi from Chicago! :) You’ll just crumble the Knorr cubes into the pot if the cubes are soft enough. If they’re not soft enough to be crumbled, you can just drop it into the pot as it’ll dissolve (just be sure to stir it so you don’t have chunks in the finished dish) or put the cubes in a small bowl and spoon a few tablespoons of hot water over it to melt it a bit.
Hope that helps!
Thankuuu!!
I made it yesterday actually.
It was a hit!!
Never thought making jollof rice would be so easy!
Having guests over tomorrow from Zambia , aaand we r making it again :D
Favorite dish ever!! :)
Love ur recipes and thanks for the quick response . Appreciate it :)
Have a great weekend :)
You’re most welcome! Enjoy with your guests!
Just finished making this! By far the best recipe for jollof I have seen yet. Thank you so much, I no longer have to worry about what it’ll look like at the end :)
Hey there,
Yay, glad it worked out for you! ;)
I want to add corned beef in my rice. At what point do I add corned beef or any sorts of meats?
Hey Sandie!
To add corned beef, I’d recommend adding to during the last 15 minutes or so of cooking, when there is still a small amount of liquid. Stir in the corned beef and let the rice finish cooking. Let stand a few minutes after cooking before serving.
To add other kinds of meat, you could add already boiled meats at the beginning of cooking the rice, when there is still a substantial amount of water or if you were adding fried/baked meats, you could add it at the same stage you’d add the corned beef.
Hope that helps <3
Quick question… Some add chicken stock to the cooking tomato and blended pepper mix. How much stock is adequate for the rice? I know it adds flavour but does it affect how fluffy the jollof will turn out? Because sometimes my rice ends up being sticky. Do you use stock?
Hey Ren!
If you’re adding Knorr or Maggi cubes, there’ll usually be no need to add stock of any kind. However, if the blended peppers are a bit thick, instead of watering it down with water, chicken stock can be used, just be sure to reduce the amount of cubes you use. If you’re starting out with a blended pepper mix that is adequately watered down, you can start in small increments, so add 1/2 a cup of stock, taste and adjust as you see fit. If you’re daring enough, you could add the stock while blending the peppers, instead of adding water to blend it.
Provided the blended mix isn’t too watery or too thick, the rice should turn out fine. If your rice is coming out sticky, it could be that the blended mix is a tad too thick. If it comes out mushy, it was perhaps too watery and the rice was done cooking before the liquid dried out.
You don’t have to use stock, I don’t use it, just do what you’re comfortable with. If it’s something you want to try, then by all means, go for it, just start out with a small batch of jollof rice, so you can determine if it’s something you’ll continue to do going forward.
Good luck and keep me posted on what you decide!
Thanks Yetunde!
Decided not to use the stock and pretty much tested my jollof rice a number of times lol. My blended mix was thicker than necessary and I finally got it right! Thanks a lot! Also, the suggestion of adding stock instead of water while blending peppers sounds interesting. I am definitely trying that! Thank you so much for the help :)
You’re most welcome! Always, always glad to be of help whenever possible :)
Hi, your recipies have been superb so far! Thanks for taking the time out to help we novice chefs lol.
Quick question… You didnt mention anything about washing the rice first like one would before boiling white rice, what do u suggest?
Thanks
Hey Sam!
Aww, thanks :) Ahh, we’re all learning. I think it’s an optional step, I might rinse it once or twice, but for jollof rice, I usually don’t do that step. It’s up to you.
Hope that helps!