Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Rwandan Brochettes
Marinated goat skewers grilled over charcoal and served with grilled plantain, Rwanda's favorite social food.
Rwandan · easy · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 20 min
~910 cal · 52g protein · 89g carbs · 39g fat · 11g fiber · 36g sugars · 12g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Brochettes are Rwanda's favourite social food, skewers of marinated grilled meat eaten at bars, roadside grills, and gatherings across the country, often with a cold drink and good company. Ordering brochettes is as much about the occasion as the food.
Cubes of goat (the classic), beef, or chicken are marinated in oil, garlic, and spices, threaded onto skewers, and grilled over charcoal until charred outside and juicy within. They are served hot off the grill with grilled (ibitoki) and sometimes a little chili sauce or salad. Simple, smoky, and deeply satisfying, brochettes are the taste of an easy Rwandan evening among friends.
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
1 1/2 lb goat or beef, cubed
3 tbsp garlic and ginger, minced
1/4 cup oil
1 cup crushed tomatoes or tomato paste
2-6, to taste pili-pili chilies, pounded to a paste
1 tsp paprika
to taste salt and black pepper
2 onions
3 , to grill
1 lb sweet potato or French fries, to serve
Instructions
1
Blend the crushed tomatoes with half an onion, the garlic, ginger, pili-pili, paprika, oil and salt into a medium-thick sauce. Set half aside for dipping, and marinate the cubed meat in the rest for at least 30 minutes, or overnight.
2
Cut the remaining onions into chunks and thread them onto skewers alternating with the meat, packed closely together. Soak wooden skewers first so they do not burn.
3
Grill over hot charcoal, turning about three times and basting with the marinade each time, until the meat takes on a reddish colour and chars at the edges, 10 to 15 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Charcoal, not gas, is what gives brochettes their smoky Rwandan character. Cut the cubes evenly and do not overcook: charred outside, still juicy inside. Rwandan brochettes are savoury rather than fiery, so the pili-pili is there for warmth, not heat.
4
Grill the plantains alongside and serve everything hot with the reserved sauce for dipping, sweet potato or French fries, and a kachumbari of chopped tomato and onion.
Rwandan 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
📍
Kigali. The hills do the farming. Rwanda is cultivated intensively up steep slopes, so beans, sweet potato, cassava and bananas come off small plots and the everyday plate carries several starches at once. Brochettes over charcoal, usually goat, are the sociable evening exception to an otherwise mild kitchen.
🗺️
Rwanda. Brochettes are the national street food: goat or beef cubed and grilled over charcoal, ordered by the stick and eaten with grilled plantain, and the argument is about whether the fat should be left on. Beans and cooking bananas do the daily work underneath, and the hills that give the country its nickname also give it a temperate climate that grows both.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Rwanda
IsombePounded cassava leaves stewed with spinach, eggplant, and peanut into a soft, savory green.
Ibijumba n'IkivugutoThe classic Rwandan breakfast: warm boiled sweet potatoes served with ikivuguto, a tangy cultured fermented milk.
IgikomaRwanda's morning porridge of sorghum, maize, and soya flour, whisked smooth and drunk warm and sweet from a mug.
Browse all Rwanda recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue, Blender.
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 Rwanda meal
Rwandan MandaziDessert
AgatogoDinner
Similar dishes from around the world
Nyama ChomaKenya
Poisson BraiséGabon
Chicken SouvlakiGreece
Chelo Kabab KoobidehIran
MasgoufIraq
Shish TaoukLebanon
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 Rwandan Brochettes?
Marinated goat skewers grilled over charcoal and served with grilled plantain, Rwanda's favorite social food.
Where does Rwandan Brochettes come from?
Rwandan Brochettes is a Rwandan dish from Kigali, Rwanda.
Can Rwandan Brochettes be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Rwandan Brochettes 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 Rwandan Brochettes 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 Rwandan Brochettes take to make?
About 50 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 20 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.