Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Legim
A thick Haitian vegetable stew of eggplant, cabbage, chayote, and greens cooked down with epis-marinated beef and mashed into a rich, savoury sauce.
Haitian · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 90 min
~547 cal · 41g protein · 36g carbs · 27g fat · 10g fiber · 5g sugars · 8g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Legim (Haitian légume) is a thick, deeply savoury vegetable stew, one of the most popular dishes on any Haitian table and often the first to sell out at a restaurant. A medley of vegetables, eggplant, cabbage, chayote, carrot, spinach, and watercress, is cooked all the way down and mashed in the pot until the vegetables themselves become the sauce.
That mashing is the step people skip and the one that matters: legim is not a chunky stew but a thick, unified base, and if you can still pick out a cube of eggplant you stopped too early. It is usually built on beef or goat marinated in lime and epis and browned first, though it can be made with pork or, for special occasions, spruced up with crab, shrimp, or lambi.
Seasoned with epis and a whole , legim is rich, restorative, and even better the next day. It is served over white rice, often with a spoon of black bean sauce and a side of pikliz.
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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 6
1 1/2 lbs beef stew meat, in pieces
2 lime, juiced
1/3 cup epis (blended peppers, garlic, herbs)
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 large eggplant, peeled and cubed
1/2 small head cabbage, chopped
1 chayote, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, sliced
3 cups spinach or watercress, chopped
1 cup green beans, trimmed
1 pepper, left whole
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 cup vegetable oil
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Rub the beef with the lime juice and the epis and let it marinate at least 30 minutes, ideally longer.
2
Brown the beef in the oil in a heavy pot, then add half the tomato paste, cover with water, and simmer until beginning to tender, about an hour.
3
Add the eggplant, cabbage, chayote, carrots, and green beans with the remaining tomato paste and the whole scotch bonnet, and cook until everything is very soft.
4
Mash the vegetables right in the pot with a masher until they break down into a thick, unified sauce.
✎ Chef’s note
The mashing is what makes it legim rather than a chunky stew; keep going until you can no longer pick out a cube of eggplant.
5
Stir in the spinach or watercress and simmer another 15 to 20 minutes so the flavours marry. Lift out the pepper and serve over white rice.
Port-au-Prince home tradition.
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🌏 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. Haitian cooking is bold and proud, griot (twice-cooked pork), rice and beans, and the fiery pikliz slaw, all lifted by the herb base epis. African, French, and Taíno roots meet in a deeply flavorful Creole table.
🌍
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: Pot or saucepan.
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.
Make it a Haiti meal
KremasDrink
Pen PatatDessert
Diri Kolé ak PwaDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Legim?
A thick Haitian vegetable stew of eggplant, cabbage, chayote, and greens cooked down with epis-marinated beef and mashed into a rich, savoury sauce.
Where does Legim come from?
Legim is a Haitian dish from Ouest (Port-au-Prince), Haiti.
Can Legim be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Legim 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 Legim 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 Legim take to make?
About 120 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 90 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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