Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Poulet Bicyclette
Lean free-range chicken parboiled with aromatics, then marinated in tomato, ginger and chili and grilled over charcoal until smoky.
Burkinabè · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 55 min
~726 cal · 87g protein · 10g carbs · 34g fat · 2g fiber · 4g sugars · 8g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Poulet bicyclette, bicycle chicken, gets its affectionate name from the sight of vendors ferrying live birds to market on the backs of their bicycles. These are lean, tough, free-ranging village chickens, and Burkinabè cooks tame them with a two-step method that has become the pride of the maquis, the open-air grill bars of Ouagadougou.
The bird is first simmered with onion, garlic, ginger and bay until the firm meat gives way, then coated in a bright marinade of blended tomato, ginger, garlic, paprika, chili and lime and finished over charcoal so the skin crisps and picks up smoke. The parboiling is the trick: it keeps the naturally muscular meat succulent instead of dry.
Eaten with the hands, often with a fiery chili sauce and a cold drink, it is the food of evening gatherings and street corners across Burkina Faso.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- 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
1 (about 3 lb) whole chicken, cut in pieces
1 onion, quartered
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
2 tomatoes, blended
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 habanero or red chili, minced
1 lime, juiced
4 tbsp
2 bay leaves
Instructions
1
Simmer the chicken with the quartered onion, half the garlic, half the ginger, the bay leaves and salt in water to cover for about 30 minutes, until tender.
✎ Chef’s note
The parboil is what keeps a lean village bird juicy. Grilling it raw would leave the firm meat dry and stringy.
2
Blend the tomatoes with the remaining garlic and ginger, the paprika, chili, lime juice, oil and salt into a marinade.
3
Drain the chicken, coat it well in the marinade, and leave it to sit for at least 30 minutes.
4
Grill over medium charcoal, turning and basting, for 10 to 15 minutes a side until browned and cooked through.
5
Rest 5 minutes and serve with a fresh chili sauce, rice or salad.
Ouagadougou maquis grill cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Ouagadougou. Riz gras belongs to the same family as jollof and Senegalese ceebu jen, and Benin, Ivory Coast, Togo and Guinea all make their own, so it is not Burkinabe alone. In the city it is celebration food, cooked in a wide pot for a crowd rather than for a single household.
🗺️
Burkina Faso. To is the Sahelian dough, millet or sorghum flour worked into a firm mound and eaten with sauce, and it is the same food as Mali's and Togo's akoume under another name. It is a landlocked country of short rains, which is why the grains that tolerate drought, millet, sorghum and fonio, do the heavy work rather than rice or maize.
🌍
Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
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.
MassaLittle fermented millet fritters, crisp and tangy, sold hot with a spicy or sweet topping in Burkina Faso.
Tô with Okra SauceA smooth, firm millet paste eaten with a slippery okra and tomato sauce, the daily staple lunch of Burkina Faso.
Browse all Burkina Faso recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue, Blender.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
Make it a Burkina Faso meal
Zoom KoomDrink
Gapal (Millet and Milk Dessert)Dessert
Babenda (Greens, Grain and Groundnut Pot)Lunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Poulet Bicyclette?
Lean free-range chicken parboiled with aromatics, then marinated in tomato, ginger and chili and grilled over charcoal until smoky.
Where does Poulet Bicyclette come from?
Poulet Bicyclette is a Burkinabè dish from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Can Poulet Bicyclette be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Poulet Bicyclette 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 Poulet Bicyclette 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 Poulet Bicyclette take to make?
About 80 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 55 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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