Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Nyama Choma
Simply salted goat or beef slow-grilled over charcoal and eaten with kachumbari and ugali, Kenya's social feast.
Kenyan · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 60 min
~900 cal · 91g protein · 12g carbs · 51g fat · 4g fiber · 7g sugars · 20g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Nyama choma, Swahili for grilled meat, is Kenya's favourite communal food, less a recipe than a social occasion. Gathering around a grill to share slow-cooked meat, pulled apart and eaten with the hands, is a cornerstone of Kenyan life, from roadside butcheries to weekend gatherings.
Goat or beef, often on the bone, is seasoned with little more than salt and slow-grilled over charcoal until the outside chars and the inside stays juicy, then chopped into pieces on a wooden board. It is served with kachumbari, a fresh tomato-and-onion salad sharpened with lime and chili, and a side of ugali, the stiff maize porridge, to scoop and balance the richness.
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 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
3 lb goat or beef, on the bone
2 tbsp salt
4 cups tomatoes and red onion (for kachumbari)
2 lime, juiced
1 chili, chopped
1 handful fresh cilantro
Instructions
1
Season the meat generously with salt and let it come to room temperature.
2
Grill slowly over charcoal, turning, until charred outside and tender within, about an hour.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the meat away from the fiercest heat and cook it low and slow, so the outside chars while the inside stays juicy rather than drying out.
3
Make the kachumbari: toss the diced tomato and onion with lime, chili, and cilantro.
4
Chop the meat and serve with the kachumbari and ugali.
Kenyan social-grill 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
📍
Nairobi. Nyama choma is an afternoon rather than a course. Meat is bought by weight at the counter, taken away to be grilled slowly over charcoal, brought back on a wooden board, chopped with a cleaver and eaten by hand with kachumbari, raw tomato and onion sharpened with lime, and ugali. It is a social form organised around waiting.
🗺️
Kenya. Sukuma wiki means push the week, which is exactly what the dish is for: collard greens chopped fine and fried with onion and tomato to stretch a household's food to payday. Nyama choma is the counterweight, goat as often as beef, roasted slowly over coals and eaten standing up over an afternoon rather than plated as a meal.
🌍
Africa. The structure repeats across most of the continent: one starch and one sauce. A grain or root is cooked stiff, torn or rolled by hand, and used to carry a stew of leaves, groundnut, okra or fish, usually from a shared bowl and with the right hand. UNESCO listings have followed that logic, inscribing couscous in 2020 as a shared Maghreb tradition and Ivorian attieke in 2024.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Kenya
Sukuma Wiki & UgaliCollard greens braised with tomatoes and onion beside firm maize ugali, Kenya’s daily bread and greens.
UjiA smooth, slightly sour fermented millet-and-sorghum porridge, sipped warm to start the day.
KaimatiCrisp cardamom-scented dumplings tossed in sugar syrup, a Swahili-coast sweet loved across Kenya.
Browse all Kenya recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
Make it a Kenya meal
Kenyan ChaiDrink
KaimatiDessert
Mukimo (Mashed Greens, Maize and Potatoes)Dinner
Similar dishes from around the world
Rwandan BrochettesRwanda
MiciRomania
Poisson BraiséGabon
Chicken SouvlakiGreece
Chelo Kabab KoobidehIran
MasgoufIraq
Cuisine
Diet
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 Lunches from Around the World
Dairy-Free Lunches from Around the World
Nut-Free Lunches from Around the World
Egg-Free Lunches from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Nyama Choma?
Simply salted goat or beef slow-grilled over charcoal and eaten with kachumbari and ugali, Kenya's social feast.
Where does Nyama Choma come from?
Nyama Choma is a Kenyan dish from Nairobi, Kenya.
Can Nyama Choma be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Nyama Choma 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 Nyama Choma 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 Nyama Choma take to make?
About 75 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 60 minutes cooking), 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.