Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Waakye
Rice and beans cooked with sorghum leaves that tint it reddish-brown, the everyday one-pot lunch of Ghana.
Ghanaian · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 60 min
~528 cal · 19g protein · 109g carbs · 2g fat · 7g fiber · 3g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Waakye (pronounced waa-chey) is one of Ghana's most common everyday meals, a dish of rice and beans cooked together that is a fixture of street stalls and lunch spots across the country. Its name comes from the Hausa words for beans, reflecting its northern roots.
What makes waakye distinctive is the dried or stalks (or leaves) cooked with the rice and beans, which tint the whole pot a characteristic reddish-brown and lend a subtle earthy flavour. It is served as a base piled with an array of accompaniments: spicy shito sauce, , spaghetti, boiled egg, fried , and stew, each vendor's spread a little different.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- 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 cups rice
1 cup black-eyed peas or cowpeas, soaked
1 small bunch dried stalks or leaves (waakye leaves)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
to taste shito (pepper sauce), to serve
Instructions
1
Simmer the soaked beans with the sorghum leaves and a pinch of baking soda until the beans start to soften and the water turns red-brown.
2
Add the rice and enough water to cook it, and season with salt.
✎ Chef’s note
The sorghum leaves are what give waakye its colour and flavour; if you cannot find them, a pinch of baking soda with the beans helps mimic the effect.
3
Cook, covered, until the rice and beans are tender and the liquid absorbed.
4
Serve with shito and any accompaniments you like, such as fried plantain and stew.
Ghanaian street-food tradition.
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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. 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
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a Ghana meal
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Red RedDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Waakye?
Rice and beans cooked with sorghum leaves that tint it reddish-brown, the everyday one-pot lunch of Ghana.
Where does Waakye come from?
Waakye is a Ghanaian dish from Greater Accra, Ghana.
Can Waakye be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Waakye 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 Waakye 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 Waakye take to make?
About 75 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 60 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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