Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Granat Stew (Groundnut Stew)
A rich Freetown peanut stew of meat in a smooth groundnut and tomato sauce, ladled generously over rice.
Sierra Leonean · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 55 min
~785 cal · 60g protein · 25g carbs · 51g fat · 6g fiber · 12g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Groundnut stew, known in Krio as granat stew, is a favourite of Freetown kitchens and one of the great one-pot meals of Sierra Leone. Peanut butter or freshly pounded groundnut paste melts into a base of fried onion and tomato to make a thick, savoury sauce with a gentle sweetness.
Meat, usually chicken or beef, is browned and simmered until tender, then folded into the peanut sauce with a hit of and ginger, and the pot is left to cook low until the oil rises and the sauce turns glossy. Some cooks add sweet potato or cabbage; a vegetarian pot leans on the vegetables instead.
Rich and filling, it is served over plain white rice, the everyday accompaniment across the country.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, 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 4
1.5 lb chicken or beef, cut in pieces
1 cup natural peanut butter
2 onions, chopped
4 tomatoes, blended
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 , left whole
3 tbsp
Instructions
1
Season and brown the meat in the oil, then simmer it in water until tender and set it aside, keeping the stock.
2
Fry the onions until golden, add the garlic and ginger, then the blended tomatoes, and cook down about 10 minutes.
3
Whisk the peanut butter smooth with a couple of cups of the reserved stock, then stir it into the tomato base.
✎ Chef’s note
Peanut sauce needs patience and a low flame. Rushed over high heat it splits and catches.
4
Return the meat (or add the sweet potato and cabbage) with the whole scotch bonnet and simmer 20 minutes until thick and glossy.
5
Season and serve over white rice.
Freetown home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Freetown. Rice is not a side dish. It is the meal, and everything else is plassas, the sauce that goes over it; the standard complaint is that a meal without rice does not count as one. Groundnut soup, okra and jollof rotate around it, and pepper is used with an unapologetically heavy hand.
🗺️
Sierra Leone. Rice is the point of the meal rather than the side. A Sierra Leonean household counts a day without rice as a day without food, and among the upland and swamp varieties grown here there are surviving pockets of African rice, Oryza glaberrima, domesticated along the Niger two or three thousand years ago and a different species from the Asian rice grown almost everywhere else.
🌍
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 Sierra Leone
Cassava Leaf StewFinely pounded cassava leaves slow-cooked with palm oil, beef, and smoked fish over rice.
Sierra Leonean Fry FryA plate of assorted fried things with a peppery gravy to dip them in, the Freetown street breakfast.
Krain KrainChopped jute leaves stewed with red palm oil and smoked fish into a savory green sauce, served over rice.
Browse all Sierra Leone recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Whisk.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
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Cuisine
Diet
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Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Sierra Leonean Recipes
Gluten-Free Dinners from Around the World
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Frequently asked questions
What is Granat Stew (Groundnut Stew)?
A rich Freetown peanut stew of meat in a smooth groundnut and tomato sauce, ladled generously over rice.
Where does Granat Stew (Groundnut Stew) come from?
Granat Stew (Groundnut Stew) is a Sierra Leonean dish from Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Can Granat Stew (Groundnut Stew) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Granat Stew (Groundnut Stew) 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 Granat Stew (Groundnut Stew) 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 Granat Stew (Groundnut Stew) take to make?
About 70 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 55 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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