Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Bermuda Cassava Pie
Bermuda's essential Christmas dish: a sweet, spiced cake of grated cassava enclosing a savoury layer of chicken, baked slowly and basted with stock until set.
Bermudian · advanced · serves 12
prep 40 min · cook 150 min
~813 cal · 34g protein · 93g carbs · 32g fat · 3g fiber · 25g sugars · 17g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
pie is as essential to a Bermudian Christmas as the turkey itself, an unusual and beloved dish that layers a sweet, spiced cake around a savoury filling of chicken. Families make large quantities each December and eat it hot, cold, and fried in slices right through Christmas week, often tucking some into the freezer to bring out again at Easter.
To the uninitiated it is a strange marriage of sweet and savoury, but it is exactly the combination the Bermudian palate loves for a celebration, much like the island's hot cross bun with a fish cake inside. Grated is beaten with butter, eggs, sugar, and warm spices into a batter, half of it pressed into the pan, the cooked chicken laid over with a ladle of its , and the rest of the batter spread on top. Pork was once layered in with the chicken, though many cooks now leave it out.
The pie bakes low and slow for hours, basted with so it stays moist, and is done when a knife comes out clean. Making it from scratch once meant scraping and grating the roots by hand, a job families still remember.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 12
5 lbs grated , drained of excess liquid
3 lbs cooked chicken, deboned and chopped
3/4 lb butter, softened
6 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
2 cups reserved chicken
1 1/2 tbsp salt
2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cloves
Instructions
1
Simmer the chicken in seasoned water until it falls off the bone, then cool, debone, and chop, straining and reserving the stock.
✎ Chef’s note
A few carrots and celery in the poaching water make a richer stock, which is what keeps the pie moist as it bakes.
2
Cream the softened butter with the sugar and spices until fluffy, then beat in the eggs until well blended.
3
In a very large bowl, work the cassava into the butter mixture with your hands until it comes together into a thick, moist batter.
4
Grease a large deep pan and press half the cassava batter over the bottom and up the sides.
5
Spread the chicken evenly over the batter, ladle over some of the warm stock to moisten, then cover with the remaining batter and mark the top with a fork.
6
Bake at 325F for two to two and a half hours, basting with stock now and then, until set and golden and a knife comes out clean. Rest before slicing.
Hamilton Christmas tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Hamilton. Hamilton is a pastel Atlantic capital known for a dark fish chowder finished at the table with black rum and sherry peppers. Bermudian cooking mixes British, Portuguese, and Caribbean habits, in codfish breakfasts and cassava pie at Christmas.
🗺️
Bermuda. Bermuda's cuisine is Atlantic and British-Caribbean, fish chowder laced with rum and sherry pepper, the traditional Sunday codfish breakfast, and moist banana bread. Seafood and island baking define the table.
🌍
North America. The most consequential technique on this continent is nixtamalisation, cooking maize with lime or wood ash. It loosens the skins, makes the dough that becomes tortillas and tamales, and frees up niacin the body cannot otherwise absorb, which is why maize spread around the world without the technique and took pellagra with it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Bermuda
Codfish and PotatoesBermuda's traditional Sunday plate: salt cod and potatoes with egg, avocado, banana, and a tomato or egg sauce.
Bermuda Banana BreadA dense, moist banana loaf, lightly spiced and buttery, that Bermudians bake for breakfast and afternoon tea alike.
Bermuda Fish SandwichA generous fried fish fillet piled with slaw and tartar sauce on sweet raisin bread, Bermuda's iconic weekend lunch.
Browse all Bermuda recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a Bermuda meal
Rum SwizzleDrink
Bermuda Rum CakeDessert
Bermuda Fish SandwichLunch
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Cuisine
Diet
Themes
Frequently asked questions
What is Bermuda Cassava Pie?
Bermuda's essential Christmas dish: a sweet, spiced cake of grated cassava enclosing a savoury layer of chicken, baked slowly and basted with stock until set.
Where does Bermuda Cassava Pie come from?
Bermuda Cassava Pie is a Bermudian dish from Hamilton, Bermuda.
Can Bermuda Cassava Pie be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Bermuda Cassava Pie recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Bermuda Cassava Pie safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Bermuda Cassava Pie take to make?
About 190 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 150 minutes cooking), serving 12.
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