Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Massa
Little fermented millet fritters, crisp and tangy, sold hot with a spicy or sweet topping in Burkina Faso.
Burkinabè · medium · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 20 min
~342 cal · 9g protein · 68g carbs · 3g fat · 7g fiber · 6g sugars · 1g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Massa are small, fluffy fried cakes from Burkina Faso, made from a batter of (or rice), golden and crisp outside and soft within. Sold hot from roadside pans in Ouagadougou, they are a common breakfast and snack across the Sahel.
The gentle fermentation gives massa a subtle tang and lightness, and they can be eaten sweet, dusted with sugar, or savory, with a spicy sauce. Similar fried cakes appear across West Africa under many names, but the Burkinabè version is a fixture of the morning street scene.
Cheap, warm, and satisfying, massa are the kind of everyday treat that brightens a Sahelian morning. Buying a paper cone of them fresh from the fryer is a familiar ritual for workers and schoolchildren alike.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg-, 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 4
2 cups flour (or rice flour)
1 tsp yeast
2 tbsp sugar
as needed warm water
a pinch a pinch of salt
as needed oil for the pan
Instructions
1
Whisk the millet flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and warm water into a thick batter.
2
Ferment until bubbly and tangy.
3
Heat an oiled dimpled (aebleskiver) pan.
4
Fill the wells and cook until golden and set, turning once.
5
Serve hot with sugar or a spicy sauce.
Ouagadougou tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Ouagadougou. The Sahel decides the staples. Millet and sorghum are pounded and cooked into to, a stiff porridge eaten with a leaf or groundnut sauce, and meat is grilled and dusted with pepper at roadside stands. Rice and tomato are the urban layer laid over that older base.
🗺️
Burkina Faso. Riz gras is not Burkina Faso's alone. It sits in the same family as jollof and Senegalese ceebu jen and is eaten across Benin, Ivory Coast, Togo and Guinea, rice cooked in a tomato and oil base until it takes the colour. What is distinctly Burkinabe is zoom koom, the millet-flour welcome drink with ginger and tamarind, offered to a visitor before anything else.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Burkina Faso
Riz GrasBurkina Faso's "fat rice": rice simmered in a rich tomato-and-meat broth until every grain is stained red.
Tô with Okra SauceA smooth, firm millet paste eaten with a slippery okra and tomato sauce, the daily staple lunch of Burkina Faso.
Gapal (Millet and Milk Dessert)Fine millet blended with tangy yogurt, baobab and ginger into a thick, cool spooning dessert, a Fulani speciality.
Browse all Burkina Faso recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Whisk.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Burkina Faso meal
Zoom KoomDrink
Gapal (Millet and Milk Dessert)Dessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Massa?
Little fermented millet fritters, crisp and tangy, sold hot with a spicy or sweet topping in Burkina Faso.
Where does Massa come from?
Massa is a Burkinabè dish from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Can Massa be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Massa 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 Massa 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 Massa take to make?
About 35 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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