🥔 SIDE
Shito (Ghanaian Black Pepper Sauce)
Onion, ginger, garlic and tomato fried down in plenty of oil with dried chili, dried fish and dried shrimp until almost black, a fiery, savoury relish eaten a spoonful at a time with kenkey, rice and waakye.
Ghanaian (Ga) · medium · serves 16
prep 15 min · cook 60 min
~228 cal · 2g protein · 3g carbs · 23g fat · 1g fiber · 2g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Shito, from the Ga word for pepper, is the black pepper sauce of Ghana, and there is hardly a Ghanaian meal it does not sit beside. It began as a Ga relish around Accra and is now spooned onto kenkey with fried fish, onto waakye and plain rice, beside banku and , onto bread, and even over fried rice in Ghana's Chinese restaurants.
It is made by frying a purée of onion, ginger, garlic and tomato in a generous amount of oil, then adding ground dried chili, dried fish and dried shrimp and frying it all slowly, stirring, until it turns dark brown to almost black and the oil rises to the top. The long frying is what makes it keep: covered with its layer of oil it lasts for weeks.
It is eaten as a relish, a spoonful or two with the meal, and every family has its own balance of heat, fish and shrimp.
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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 16
- 400 ml (1 2/3 cups) vegetable oil
- 2 onions, roughly chopped
- 7 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- 4 to 6 tbsp ground dried hot chili, to taste
- 60 g ground dried fish (such as smoked herring or anchovy)
- 60 g ground dried shrimp
- to taste salt, the dried fish and shrimp are often salty already
Instructions
- 1Blend the onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes to a smooth purée with a splash of the oil.
- 2Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium heat, add the purée (it will spit) and fry for 15 minutes, stirring often, until the moisture has cooked off and it starts to colour.
- 3Stir in the tomato paste and fry for 5 minutes more.
- 4Lower the heat, add the chili, dried fish and dried shrimp and fry slowly for 40 minutes, stirring often and scraping the bottom, until the sauce is dark brown to almost black and the oil has risen to the top.✎ Chef’s noteKeep the heat low and stir: the ground fish and chili scorch easily, and burnt shito turns bitter.
- 5Taste and add salt if needed. Leave to cool completely, then spoon into clean jars with a layer of oil on top. Serve a spoonful at a time with kenkey, rice, waakye or banku.
Ga tradition, Greater Accra.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Greater Accra. Red-red is a Ga dish and the name is doing the work: black-eyed peas stewed until they take the deep colour of red palm oil, set against plantain fried in the same oil until the sugars catch at the edges. Gari, dried grated cassava, gets scattered over the top for texture.
🗺️
Ghana. Most eating out happens in a chop bar, the informal southern eating house where chop is Ghanaian pidgin for eat. A few dishes are cooked in quantity each morning, fufu, banku, konkonte or rice balls, each with the soup that belongs to it, and they are served in local earthenware bowls to be eaten on the spot.
🌍
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 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: Pot or saucepan, Blender.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Shito (Ghanaian Black Pepper Sauce)?
Onion, ginger, garlic and tomato fried down in plenty of oil with dried chili, dried fish and dried shrimp until almost black, a fiery, savoury relish eaten a spoonful at a time with kenkey, rice and waakye.
Where does Shito (Ghanaian Black Pepper Sauce) come from?
Shito (Ghanaian Black Pepper Sauce) is a Ghanaian (Ga) dish from Greater Accra, Ghana.
Can Shito (Ghanaian Black Pepper Sauce) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Shito (Ghanaian Black Pepper Sauce) 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 Shito (Ghanaian Black Pepper Sauce) 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 Shito (Ghanaian Black Pepper Sauce) take to make?
About 75 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 60 minutes cooking), serving 16.
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