North America → Haiti → Ouest (Port-au-Prince)
🍢 SNACK
Akra (Haitian Malanga Fritters)
Grated malanga blended with garlic, scallion, green pepper, thyme, parsley and Scotch bonnet, fried in spoonfuls into craggy golden fritters and eaten hot with pikliz.
Haitian · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 20 min · plus 30 min hands-off time
~118 cal · 0g protein · 3g carbs · 12g fat · 1g fiber · 1g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Akra is one of Haiti's most loved street foods: hot, craggy fritters sold from street-side pans, eaten as a snack or an appetizer and set out at parties and family gatherings. Its name is shared with the akara bean fritters of West Africa and the saltfish accras of the French and English Caribbean, but the Haitian version is its own thing, made not from beans or fish but from malanga.
Malanga, also called yautía or tannia, is a starchy, earthy root, a cousin of , and in Haiti it is often cooked where others would use potatoes. For akra it is peeled and grated as finely as possible, or blended, into a sticky mush, then seasoned in the Haitian way with garlic, scallion, green pepper, thyme, parsley, black pepper and fiery , the same flavours that go into epis, the country's green seasoning base. The malanga is so starchy that it binds itself, with no flour or egg needed.
Spoonfuls are fried until golden and crisp outside and soft within, and they are served with pikliz, Haiti's sharp, fiery pickle of cabbage, carrot and hot pepper in vinegar, and often with fried .
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 vegetarian, vegan and 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 4
- 500 g (about 2 roots) malanga (yautía), peeled, taro or eddoes can stand in
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 , chopped
- 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
- from 3 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1/2 pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 2 cups vegetable oil, for frying
- 1 cup pikliz (Haitian spicy pickle), to serve
Instructions
- 1Keep the peeled malanga in a bowl of water as you work. Pat it dry, cut it into chunks and either grate it on the finest side of a box grater or blend it, with the garlic, scallions, green pepper, thyme, parsley, Scotch bonnet, salt and black pepper, into a thick, sticky paste. (If you grate it, stir the finely chopped seasonings in afterwards.)✎ Chef’s noteMalanga can itch bare hands. Wear gloves to peel and grate it, or oil your hands first.
- 2Cover and chill the mixture for 30 minutes to let the flavours blend and the paste firm up a little.
- 3Heat about 2 cm of oil in a heavy frying pan to 175C (350F). Drop in heaped spoonfuls of the paste, pushing them off with a second spoon or shaping them long with your fingers, and leave space between them.
- 4Fry for 5 to 8 minutes, turning once or twice, until deep golden and crisp all over. Drain on paper and fry the rest in batches.
- 5Serve hot with pikliz on the side, and fried plantains if you like.
Haitian street-food 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
📍
Ouest (Port-au-Prince). Epis is made ahead and kept in the fridge: parsley, thyme, scallion, garlic, peppers and citrus blitzed into a green paste that starts nearly every pot. Pikliz is its opposite number, cabbage, carrot and scotch bonnet left in vinegar until they sharpen, spooned over fried food to cut the fat.
🗺️
Haiti. Griot earns the twice-cooked description: pork marinated in sour orange and epis, the green herb base of garlic, peppers, parsley and thyme that starts most Haitian pots, then simmered until tender and fried until the edges go crisp. Pikliz beside it is cabbage, carrot and scotch bonnet left in vinegar, and it is there to cut the fat.
🌍
North America. The most consequential technique on this continent is nixtamalisation, cooking maize with lime or wood ash. It loosens the skins, makes the dough that becomes tortillas and tamales, and frees up niacin the body cannot otherwise absorb, which is why maize spread around the world without the technique and took pellagra with it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Haiti
Diri Kolé ak PwaHaiti’s national rice and beans: red beans cooked into coconut-scented rice with thyme, clove, and Scotch bonnet.
Espageti AyisyenHaiti's famous breakfast spaghetti tossed with smoky herring, onions, peppers, and a hit of epis and ketchup, savory morning comfort.
Soup JoumouA golden squash soup with beef, pasta, and root vegetables, Haiti's soup of freedom, eaten every New Year's Day.
Browse all Haiti recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan, Blender.
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 Haiti meal
KremasDrink
Pen PatatDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Baya Kyaw (Burmese Split Pea Fritters)Myanmar
Pholourie (Guyanese Split Pea Fritters)Guyana
Klui-Klui (Beninese Peanut Sticks)Benin
Accra Banana (Cameroonian Banana and Cassava Fritters)Cameroon
Kelewele (Ghanaian Spiced Fried Plantain)Ghana
Gâteaux Piment (Mauritian Chili Cakes)Mauritius
Cuisine
Diet
Vegetarian Recipes from Around the World
Vegan Recipes from Around the World
Gluten-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Nut-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Gluten-Free Haitian Recipes
Dairy-Free Haitian Recipes
Frequently asked questions
What is Akra (Haitian Malanga Fritters)?
Grated malanga blended with garlic, scallion, green pepper, thyme, parsley and Scotch bonnet, fried in spoonfuls into craggy golden fritters and eaten hot with pikliz.
Where does Akra (Haitian Malanga Fritters) come from?
Akra (Haitian Malanga Fritters) is a Haitian dish from Ouest (Port-au-Prince), Haiti.
Can Akra (Haitian Malanga Fritters) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Akra (Haitian Malanga Fritters) 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 Akra (Haitian Malanga Fritters) 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 Akra (Haitian Malanga Fritters) take to make?
About 1 h 10 min in all: 20 minutes prep and 20 minutes cooking, plus 30 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, 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.