Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Palm Butter Rice
Chicken simmered in a rich palm-nut sauce with chili and greens, ladled over rice, one of Liberia's most cherished dishes.
Liberian · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 55 min
~841 cal · 55g protein · 76g carbs · 35g fat · 8g fiber · 4g sugars · 20g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Palm butter, made from the cream of the , is one of Liberia's signature sauces, the centerpiece of Sunday lunches and celebrations. Not to be confused with , palm butter is the thick, savory paste extracted by boiling and pounding the fruit of the oil palm, then straining out the fibers and nuts.
Cooked down with chicken or fish, onion, hot pepper, and often a handful of greens, it becomes a deep, russet, richly flavored stew that Liberians serve over their treasured white rice. It is filling, warming food, tied to community and gathering, and a proud marker of Liberian identity on tables at home and among the Liberian diaspora abroad.
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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
1.5 lb chicken, in pieces
2 cups palm-nut cream (palm soup base)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 hot pepper, minced
2 cups spinach or collard greens, chopped
4 cups cooked rice, to serve
Instructions
1
Brown the chicken with the onion and garlic in a heavy pot.
2
Add the palm-nut cream and a cup of water and bring to a simmer.
3
Cook gently until the chicken is tender and the oil rises to the top, about 35 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Let the sauce simmer long enough for the palm oil to float up; that separation is the sign a palm butter is properly cooked.
4
Stir in the hot pepper and greens and cook until the greens wilt.
5
Season with salt and serve over rice.
Liberian home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Monrovia. The bitterness in torborgee is fermented palm oil rather than a spice or a green. It is built on beans or on bitterball, the small African eggplant, and it is particularly associated with the Lorma of Lofa county up in the north rather than with the coast.
🗺️
Liberia. Liberian food is bold and rice-loving, with fiery pepper soups, cassava-leaf and potato-greens stews, and jollof rice. Founded by freed American slaves, its table blends West African and American-South roots.
🌍
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 Liberia
TorborgeeA pungent, spicy Liberian stew of red cowpeas and bitter eggplant with smoked meats and fish, slicked with red palm oil.
Liberian Rice BreadA moist, tender quick bread of rice flour and mashed ripe banana, spiced and baked into a golden loaf for breakfast or tea.
Kanyah (Peanut and Rice Sweet)Ground roasted peanuts and toasted rice flour pressed with sugar into a dense, crumbly sweet, a Liberian classic.
Browse all Liberia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a Liberia meal
Liberian Lemongrass TeaDrink
Kanyah (Peanut and Rice Sweet)Dessert
Dumboy and Pepper SoupDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Palm Butter Rice?
Chicken simmered in a rich palm-nut sauce with chili and greens, ladled over rice, one of Liberia's most cherished dishes.
Where does Palm Butter Rice come from?
Palm Butter Rice is a Liberian dish from Monrovia, Liberia.
Can Palm Butter Rice be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Palm Butter Rice 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 Palm Butter Rice 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 Palm Butter Rice take to make?
About 75 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 55 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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