🍢 SNACK
Coupé-Coupé (Gabonese Chopped Grilled Beef)
Beef grilled over hot coals, chopped small on the spot and tossed in a smoking pan with onion and chili powder, stuffed into fresh bread and eaten with your fingers.
Gabonese · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 30 min
~922 cal · 61g protein · 68g carbs · 42g fat · 5g fiber · 9g sugars · 13g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Coupé-coupé, "cut-cut", is Gabon's favourite street meat, sold from stalls in Libreville and across the country. The name describes what the vendor does: beef that has been cooked over the embers is chopped at speed into small pieces, thrown back into a smoking pan with onion and chili, and handed over while it is still sizzling.
Gabonese writers describe it as a dish that came from elsewhere in West Africa and became part of daily life. It is above all a morning food, eaten for breakfast with bread or packed into a sandwich, though stalls sell it through the day and it turns up at family gatherings too. Ndjolé, a town on the Ogooué river, is especially known for its coupé-coupé.
The seasoning is simple and strong: dried chili powder and onion, sometimes softened in the pan, sometimes left almost raw. Eat it standing up, with your fingers, as it is meant to be eaten.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally 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
- 750 g beef (rump or sirloin), in one or two thick pieces
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 to 2 tsp hot chili powder (pili-pili), to taste
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
- 2 baguettes
Instructions
- 1Light a charcoal grill or heat a ridged grill pan until very hot. Rub the beef with 1 tbsp of the oil, 1 tsp of the salt, the pepper and half the chili powder.
- 2Grill the beef for 15 to 20 minutes, turning it now and then, until it is well charred outside and cooked through. Rest it for 5 minutes, then chop it on a board into small pieces about 1.5 cm across.✎ Chef’s noteCoupé-coupé is cooked through, not pink. The char from the coals is where most of the flavour comes from, so do not hurry it.
- 3Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan until it smokes. Add the onions and toss for 2 minutes, leaving them with some bite.
- 4Add the chopped beef, the rest of the chili powder and salt, and toss everything over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes until sizzling and coated.
- 5Split the baguettes, pile in the hot meat and onions and eat straight away with your fingers.
Gabonese street food tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Libreville. Gabon is mostly forest and very thinly populated, so a good deal of the food comes straight out of it: smoked river fish, wild mango kernels ground into odika, and leaves gathered rather than farmed. Libreville sits on the estuary and adds the sea to all of that.
🗺️
Gabon. Almost nine tenths of Gabon is forest, and rivers rather than roads have long been the way through it, which shapes the cooking towards river fish, smoked and grilled, and towards leaves and roots close to hand. Bushmeat is a real part of that history and a legally and ecologically fraught one, which is worth stating rather than celebrating.
🌍
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 Gabon
Poulet NyembweGabon's national dish: chicken simmered in a rich, tangy sauce of palm-nut pulp with chili and greens.
Bouillie de BananeA smooth Gabonese plantain porridge, gently sweet and spiced, to start a rainforest morning.
Poisson BraiséWhole fish marinated and grilled over coals, served with fried plantain and a fresh tomato-onion relish, Libreville's classic lunch.
Browse all Gabon recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan, Grill or barbecue.
Storing it: Best made to order. Prep the fillings ahead and assemble just before eating so nothing turns soggy.
Make it a Gabon meal
Bananes au Four Croustillantes (Crisp Baked Bananas)Dessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Coupé-Coupé (Gabonese Chopped Grilled Beef)?
Beef grilled over hot coals, chopped small on the spot and tossed in a smoking pan with onion and chili powder, stuffed into fresh bread and eaten with your fingers.
Where does Coupé-Coupé (Gabonese Chopped Grilled Beef) come from?
Coupé-Coupé (Gabonese Chopped Grilled Beef) is a Gabonese dish from Libreville, Gabon.
Can Coupé-Coupé (Gabonese Chopped Grilled Beef) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Coupé-Coupé (Gabonese Chopped Grilled Beef) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Coupé-Coupé (Gabonese Chopped Grilled Beef) 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 still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), 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 Coupé-Coupé (Gabonese Chopped Grilled Beef) take to make?
About 45 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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