Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Nkatenkwan (Groundnut Soup)
A silky, gingery peanut soup simmered with chicken and chilies, eaten with soft rice balls.
Ghanaian · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 50 min
~977 cal · 78g protein · 67g carbs · 44g fat · 7g fiber · 11g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Nkatenkwan is the rich groundnut (peanut) soup of Ghana's Ashanti heartland, built by simmering real ground peanuts into a broth with tomatoes, onion, ginger, and chili until it turns thick, russet, and savory. Peanuts arrived in West Africa from the Americas centuries ago and were absorbed so completely that groundnut soup is now among the most emblematic dishes of the region.
In Ashanti tradition the soup is a dish of hospitality and occasion, most classically ladled over , pounded and worked into a smooth, elastic mound that you pinch off and dip. It appears at Sunday meals, funerals, and festivals, where a good pot of nkatenkwan signals a household that feeds its guests well.
Despite its richness the soup is balanced by heat and acidity, and it is meant to be eaten slowly and communally, tearing the with the right hand, dipping, and swallowing without chewing, in the way generations of Ghanaian cooks have taught at the family table.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, 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
2 lbs chicken thighs, bone-in
1 cup natural peanut butter
3 tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 large yellow onion
2-inch piece fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic
1, left whole pepper
3 cups, cooked soft cooked jasmine rice (for omo tuo rice balls)
Instructions
1
Season the chicken (or mushrooms and sweet potato) and simmer in 5 cups water with half the onion for 15 minutes.
2
Blend the tomatoes, remaining onion, ginger, and garlic; add to the pot with the tomato paste.
3
Whisk the peanut butter with a ladle of hot broth until pourable, then stir it in. Drop in the whole Scotch bonnet.
4
Simmer gently 30 minutes, stirring so the bottom never catches, until the soup is silky and the oil beads on top. Remove the pepper before it bursts (unless you dare).
5
Mash the soft hot rice in a bowl and form into balls. Serve the soup around them.
Ashanti Sunday-table tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Ashanti. Fufu is made rather than cooked. Boiled cassava and plantain go into a wooden mortar and are pounded in a two-person rhythm, one striking and one turning the mass between blows, until it is smooth and elastic enough to swallow in pieces. The soup is what carries the flavour; the fufu is the vehicle, and it is not chewed.
🗺️
Ghana. Ghana's fermented staples are not interchangeable. Banku is corn dough with cassava dough worked into it, kenkey is corn dough alone, wrapped in husks or leaves and steamed, and Ga kenkey is noticeably more sour than the Fante version. Shito, the black chilli condiment set beside them, carries dried fish and shrimp as well as heat.
🌍
Africa. The structure repeats across most of the continent: one starch and one sauce. A grain or root is cooked stiff, torn or rolled by hand, and used to carry a stew of leaves, groundnut, okra or fish, usually from a shared bowl and with the right hand. UNESCO listings have followed that logic, inscribing couscous in 2020 as a shared Maghreb tradition and Ivorian attieke in 2024.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Ghana
Red RedBlack-eyed peas stewed in red palm oil beside caramelized fried plantains, named twice for its two shades of red.
Hausa Koko and KooseA spiced fermented millet porridge with koose, crisp black-eyed pea fritters, Ghana's classic Ghanaian breakfast.
WaakyeRice and beans cooked with sorghum leaves that tint it reddish-brown, the everyday one-pot lunch of Ghana.
Browse all Ghana recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Blender, Whisk.
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 Ghana meal
AsaanaDrink
Nkate CakeDessert
Jollof RiceLunch
Similar dishes from around the world
Ohn No Khauk Swe (Coconut Chicken Noodles)Myanmar
MolokhiaEgypt
Sancocho de GallinaPanama
Pindasoep met Tom TomSuriname
Ajiaco SantafereñoColombia
Samlor Korko (Khmer Stirring Soup)Cambodia
Cuisine
Diet
Gluten-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Gluten-Free Ghanaian Recipes
Dairy-Free Ghanaian Recipes
Gluten-Free Dinners from Around the World
Dairy-Free Dinners from Around the World
Egg-Free Dinners from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Nkatenkwan (Groundnut Soup)?
A silky, gingery peanut soup simmered with chicken and chilies, eaten with soft rice balls.
Where does Nkatenkwan (Groundnut Soup) come from?
Nkatenkwan (Groundnut Soup) is a Ghanaian dish from Ashanti, Ghana.
Can Nkatenkwan (Groundnut Soup) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Nkatenkwan (Groundnut Soup) 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 Nkatenkwan (Groundnut Soup) 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 Nkatenkwan (Groundnut Soup) take to make?
About 70 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 50 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.