Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Sauce Gombo Ivoirienne (Okra Sauce)
A silky, faintly stringy Ivorian okra sauce with beef and smoked fish in a tomato and palm oil broth, eaten with foutou or rice.
Ivorian · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 45 min
~413 cal · 30g protein · 16g carbs · 25g fat · 5g fiber · 6g sugars · 7g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Sauce gombo is the Ivorian sauce, gombo being the French word for , prized for the glossy, gently stringy texture the pounded pods give the pot. Beef and smoked fish are simmered with onion and tomato, and the goes in at the end to thicken everything into a lush sauce.
Across Côte d'Ivoire it is an everyday lunch, scooped up with foutou, attieke or rice by hand. Cooks slice or pound the depending on how ropey they like the sauce, a texture Ivorians treasure rather than avoid.
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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 4
400 g , sliced
400 g beef, cut in pieces
1 small smoked fish, flaked
1 onion, chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
3 tbsp red
1 pepper, whole
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Season and simmer the beef (or chickpeas and mushrooms) with the onion in water until tender, keeping the broth.
2
Warm the palm oil in a pot, add the tomatoes and whole pepper and cook to a soft base, then pour in the broth and meat.
3
Add the smoked fish (or mushrooms) and simmer 10 minutes so it flavours the broth.
4
Stir in the okra and cook just 5 to 8 minutes until the sauce turns glossy and thick, then season and serve with foutou or rice.
✎ Chef’s note
Add the okra late and cook it briefly so the sauce stays bright and silky rather than dull.
Traditional Ivorian lagoon cooking, Abidjan.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Abidjan (Lagunes). The maquis is a format more than a restaurant: open air, plastic chairs, a grill and a short list. Garba, attieke with fried tuna, onion and chilli, is the standing street plate here, and the older partner for attieke was kedjenou, chicken cooked sealed in a pot with almost no added liquid.
🗺️
Côte d’Ivoire. Kedjenou is cooked without stirring. Chicken or guinea fowl goes into a canari, a sealed clay pot, with tomato, onion, ginger and chilli and no added liquid, and the pot is shaken from time to time rather than opened, so everything cooks in the juices it gives up. It is served with attieke or rice.
🌍
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 Côte d’Ivoire
Kedjenou de PouletChicken slow-cooked sealed in a pot with peppers, tomato, and aromatics, with no added water, cooking in all its own juices.
Bouillie d'ArachideA creamy Ivorian peanut-and-millet breakfast porridge sweetened and scented with nutmeg.
Attiéké PoissonFermented cassava couscous served with grilled fish and a fresh onion-tomato relish, Côte d'Ivoire's national plate.
Browse all Côte d’Ivoire 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 Côte d’Ivoire meal
GnamankoudjiDrink
Gâteau Coco (Fried Coconut Cakes)Dessert
Kedjenou de PouletDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Sauce Gombo Ivoirienne (Okra Sauce)?
A silky, faintly stringy Ivorian okra sauce with beef and smoked fish in a tomato and palm oil broth, eaten with foutou or rice.
Where does Sauce Gombo Ivoirienne (Okra Sauce) come from?
Sauce Gombo Ivoirienne (Okra Sauce) is a Ivorian dish from Abidjan (Lagunes), Côte d’Ivoire.
Can Sauce Gombo Ivoirienne (Okra Sauce) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Sauce Gombo Ivoirienne (Okra Sauce) 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 Sauce Gombo Ivoirienne (Okra 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 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 Sauce Gombo Ivoirienne (Okra Sauce) take to make?
About 60 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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