North America → Saint Kitts and Nevis → Basseterre
🥔 SIDE
Seasoned Breadfruit (Kittitian Style)
Boiled breadfruit tossed with onion fried golden in butter and oil, garlic, thyme, sweet red pepper and parsley, moistened with a little broth, one of the four parts of the national dish.
Kittitian · easy · serves 6
prep 15 min · cook 50 min
~285 cal · 3g protein · 59g carbs · 7g fat · 11g fiber · 24g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
The national dish of Saint Kitts and Nevis is not one dish but four on one plate: stewed saltfish, spicy , coconut dumplings and seasoned . The is the quiet, starchy anchor, there to soak up the saltfish's tomato sauce.
came to the Caribbean from the Pacific at the end of the eighteenth century, and the big green fruit from trees in yards and along roadsides has fed the islands ever since. It is cooked while still firm and starchy, never as a sweet fruit: peeled, cored, cut into wedges and boiled until tender, much like a potato.
To season it, Kittitian cooks fry onion slowly in butter and oil until golden, add garlic, fresh thyme, sweet red pepper and parsley for just a moment, then toss in the boiled with a splash of chicken broth so it takes up all the flavour. Fresh is hard to find far from the tropics, but frozen or tinned from Caribbean and Pacific grocers works well.
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-, 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 medium (about 1.2 kg), or 3 cups frozen or tinned breadfruit pieces , firm and mature
- 1 tsp salt (for the cooking water)
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1/2 cup red sweet pepper, diced
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- to taste salt and black pepper
Instructions
- 1Cut the stem end off the breadfruit, quarter it, and cut each quarter into wedges. Cut away the spongy core and peel off the skin with a small knife. (Skip this and the next step if using tinned breadfruit; boil frozen pieces as below.)
- 2Put the wedges in a pot, cover with water, add the salt and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, turning them now and then, until a fork slides in easily. Drain, let them cool a little, then cut into 2.5 cm pieces.✎ Chef’s noteKeep the pieces covered with water as they cook, or the tops stay hard.
- 3Melt the butter with the oil in a heavy pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until golden.
- 4Add the garlic, thyme, red pepper and parsley and stir for 30 seconds, then take the pan off the heat.
- 5Add the breadfruit and the broth, toss gently to coat, then return to low heat for 3 to 4 minutes until heated through. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot with stewed saltfish.
Part of the national dish of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
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
📍
Basseterre. Basseterre slow-cooks goat water at weekends, a thick goat stew with breadfruit and papaya, seasoned with clove and thickened toward gravy. Saint Kitts and Nevis cooking runs on saltfish, dumplings, and the ubiquitous pepper sauce.
🗺️
Saint Kitts and Nevis. Saint Kitts and Nevis calls stewed saltfish with dumplings and breadfruit its national dish, alongside goat water stew. African and British roots meet over seafood and ground provisions.
🌍
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 Saint Kitts and Nevis
Goat WaterA rich, spiced goat stew thickened with breadfruit or flour and scented with clove and rum, the Saturday pot.
Stewed Saltfish with DumplingsSalt cod stewed down with tomato, onion, and pepper, served with boiled dumplings and ground provisions, the national breakfast of St. Kitts.
Coconut Sugar CakeChewy pink-and-white coconut candy set in ginger sugar syrup, a nostalgic Saint Kitts and Nevis sweet.
Browse all Saint Kitts and Nevis recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a Saint Kitts and Nevis meal
Kittitian SorrelDrink
Coconut Sugar CakeDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Bayerischer Kartoffelsalat (Bavarian Potato Salad)Germany
Chenchén (Dominican Savoury Cracked Corn)Dominican Republic
Dongchimi (North Korean Radish Water Kimchi)North Korea
Gazpacho AndaluzSpain
SpasArmenia
DovgaAzerbaijan
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Seasoned Breadfruit (Kittitian Style)?
Boiled breadfruit tossed with onion fried golden in butter and oil, garlic, thyme, sweet red pepper and parsley, moistened with a little broth, one of the four parts of the national dish.
Where does Seasoned Breadfruit (Kittitian Style) come from?
Seasoned Breadfruit (Kittitian Style) is a Kittitian dish from Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Can Seasoned Breadfruit (Kittitian Style) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Seasoned Breadfruit (Kittitian Style) 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 Seasoned Breadfruit (Kittitian Style) 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 Seasoned Breadfruit (Kittitian Style) take to make?
About 65 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 50 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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.