Jakarta’s "mix-mix": blanched vegetables, tofu, tempeh, and egg under warm peanut sauce.

Where does Gado-Gado come from?

Gado-Gado is a Indonesian dish from Jakarta, Indonesia.

Can Gado-Gado be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?

Yes. This Gado-Gado recipe includes ingredient substitutions to make it vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, or egg-free — including several of those at once, such as gluten-free and dairy-free together.

How long does Gado-Gado take to make?

About 45 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 3.

Gado-Gado — a Jakarta, Indonesia recipe

Name: Gado-Gado
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 3 servings
Cuisine: Indonesian
Ingredients: 8 oz each firm tofu + tempeh, sliced and pan-fried; 4 cups total green beans + cabbage + bean sprouts, blanched; 2 potatoes, boiled and sliced; 1/2 cucumber, sliced; 3 hard-boiled eggs, halved; 1 cup roasted peanuts (for the sauce); 2 tbsp palm sugar; 1 tbsp tamarind paste; 2 cloves garlic; 1 red chili; 1 tbsp kecap manis; 1 lime

Asia → 🇮🇩 Indonesia → Jakarta

Gado-Gado

Indonesian · easy · serves 3

prep 25 min · cook 20 min

~800 cal · 40g protein · 67g carbs · 48g fat (estimated, per serving)

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Vegetable and tofu platter dressed in peanut sauce

🇮🇩 Jakarta

Gado-gado means "mix-mix," and that’s the whole philosophy — whatever the garden gives, united by a peanut sauce ground fresh to order by cart vendors across Jakarta. UNESCO-listed street culture on one generous plate.

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Make it yours

Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.

🥕 Vegetarian

🌱 Vegan

🌾 Gluten-Free

🥛 Dairy-Free

🥜 Nut-Free

🥚 Egg-Free

Ingredients

Serves 3 —

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8 oz each firm tofu + tempeh, sliced and pan-fried

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4 cups total green beans + cabbage + bean sprouts, blanched

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2 potatoes, boiled and sliced

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1/2 cucumber, sliced

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3 hard-boiled eggs, halved

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1 cup roasted peanuts (for the sauce)

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2 tbsp palm sugar

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1 tbsp tamarind paste

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2 cloves garlic

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1 red chili

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1 tbsp kecap manis

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1 lime

Instructions

1

Grind the peanuts (or sunflower seeds) with garlic, chili, palm sugar, tamarind, and salt; loosen with hot water into a pourable sauce and warm it with the kecap manis.

2

Arrange the blanched vegetables, potatoes, cucumber, tofu, tempeh, and eggs on a platter.

3

Pour the warm peanut sauce generously over everything.

4

Finish with lime and, if you can find them, krupuk crackers. Mix-mix before eating — it’s in the name.

Jakarta cart tradition.

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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination

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Jakarta. The megacity where gado-gado carts roam every kampung.

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Indonesia. Seventeen thousand islands, each with its own sambal.

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Asia. From street-cart woks to slow monastery kitchens.

The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.

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Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker

Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →