🍢 SNACK
Kelewele (Ghanaian Spiced Fried Plantain)
Cubes of ripe plantain tossed in fresh ginger, onion, chili and warm spice, then fried until caramelized at the edges and eaten hot with roasted peanuts.
Ghanaian · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 20 min · plus 20 min hands-off time
~547 cal · 12g protein · 67g carbs · 30g fat · 8g fiber · 29g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Kelewele is Ghana's favourite night-time street snack. After dark, vendors in Accra set up their pans of hot oil at the roadside and fry ripe in small batches, selling it hot in paper or small bags, often with a handful of roasted peanuts to eat alongside.
What turns fried into kelewele is the seasoning. The is cut into cubes or chunks and coated in a wet paste of fresh ginger, onion and hot pepper, with warm spices that change from cook to cook: cloves, nutmeg, anise seed, sometimes garlic or a little cinnamon. The riper the , the sweeter it is, and the sugar against the spice in the hot oil.
It is eaten on its own as a snack, or as a side beside red red (bean stew), jollof rice or grilled meat. Neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire has its own fried , alloco, but the ginger-spiced marinade is what makes kelewele Ghanaian.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and 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
- 4 very ripe (yellow with plenty of black spots)
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 1/2 small onion, grated or blended
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed, optional
- 1/2 pepper or 1 tsp cayenne pepper, blended, or cayenne
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp anise seed, optional
- 1/2 tsp salt
- about 2 cups vegetable oil, for frying
- 1 cup roasted peanuts, to serve
Instructions
- 1Trim the ends of the plantains, slit the skin along the length and peel. Cut the flesh into cubes of about 2 cm (3/4 inch).
- 2Mix the ginger, onion, garlic if using, pepper or cayenne, cloves, nutmeg, anise seed and salt into a wet paste, adding a splash of water if it is too thick to coat.
- 3Toss the plantain gently in the paste until every piece is coated and leave to marinate for 20 to 30 minutes.
- 4Heat about 2.5 cm (1 inch) of oil in a deep frying pan to 175C (350F). Fry the plantain in batches, without crowding, for 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until deep golden brown and caramelized at the edges.✎ Chef’s noteKeep the oil at a steady medium heat. Too hot and the sugary plantain blackens before the inside softens; too cool and it soaks up oil.
- 5Lift out with a slotted spoon onto paper towels and serve hot, with roasted peanuts on the side.
Accra street-food tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Greater Accra. Kenkey takes days rather than minutes. Corn dough is left to sour, half of it is then cooked into a stiff paste and worked back through the raw half, and the balls are wrapped in corn husks and boiled for hours, which builds the sharpness that stands up to grilled tilapia and shito.
🗺️
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. 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 Ghana
Nkatenkwan (Groundnut Soup)A silky, gingery peanut soup simmered with chicken and chilies, eaten with soft rice balls.
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.
Browse all Ghana recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan.
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 Ghana meal
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Nkate CakeDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Kelewele (Ghanaian Spiced Fried Plantain)?
Cubes of ripe plantain tossed in fresh ginger, onion, chili and warm spice, then fried until caramelized at the edges and eaten hot with roasted peanuts.
Where does Kelewele (Ghanaian Spiced Fried Plantain) come from?
Kelewele (Ghanaian Spiced Fried Plantain) is a Ghanaian dish from Greater Accra, Ghana.
Can Kelewele (Ghanaian Spiced Fried Plantain) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kelewele (Ghanaian Spiced Fried Plantain) 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 Kelewele (Ghanaian Spiced Fried Plantain) 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 Kelewele (Ghanaian Spiced Fried Plantain) take to make?
About 55 min in all: 15 minutes prep and 20 minutes cooking, plus 20 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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