Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Kabalagala
Sweet little pancakes of ripe banana and cassava flour fried until golden, a favorite Ugandan snack.
Ugandan · easy · serves 6
prep 15 min · cook 15 min
~280 cal · 2g protein · 68g carbs · 0g fat · 4g fiber · 16g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Kabalagala, sometimes called Ugandan banana pancakes, are a popular sweet snack across Uganda, sold from roadside stalls and made at home from the country's plentiful bananas. Small, chewy, and lightly sweet, they are an everyday treat and a favourite with children.
They are made from very ripe bananas, ideally the small sweet ndizi, mashed and mixed with flour into a thick batter, sometimes with a little sugar or a hint of chili. Dropped into hot oil in small rounds, they fry to a golden brown, crisp at the edges and soft within, sweet from the banana alone. Naturally gluten-free from the flour, they are cheap, portable, and irresistible warm.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and 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 6
4 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 to 3 cups, as needed flour
2 tbsp sugar (optional)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (optional)
1 pinch salt
for frying oil, for frying
Instructions
1
Mash the ripe bananas thoroughly.
2
Work in the cassava flour a little at a time, with the sugar, soda and salt, until you have a soft dough that no longer sticks to your hands or the bowl. Let it rest 10 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Stop adding flour the moment the dough stops sticking, whether or not you have used it all; cassava flour is dense and too much makes them heavy. Use the ripest bananas you can find, ideally the small sweet ndiizi. Sugar and soda are modern additions to soften the texture, and traditionally kabalagala are nothing but ripe banana and cassava flour.
3
Press or roll the dough out to about a centimetre thick and cut out rounds with a glass or a cutter, gathering and rerolling the offcuts.
✎ Chef’s note
Kabalagala are cut from a rolled dough, not spooned out as batter. They are meant to be chewy rather than fluffy, and that only happens if the dough is firm enough to roll.
4
Deep fry in oil over medium heat, two to three minutes a side, until golden brown and fragrant.
5
Drain and serve warm.
✎ Chef’s note
Red palm oil is a common frying medium and gives them a deeper colour and flavour.
Ugandan snack tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Kampala. Matoke is a cooking banana picked green, peeled with a little oil on the hands so the sap does not stick, then wrapped in its own leaves and steamed for hours until it collapses into something soft and gold. It occupies the place rice holds elsewhere, and it is the meal rather than a side to it.
🗺️
Uganda. Matoke is steamed rather than boiled, peeled green bananas wrapped in their own leaves and set over water until they collapse into something between a mash and a pudding, then eaten with groundnut sauce. Luwombo is the ceremonial version of the same technique, meat or chicken steamed in a tied banana-leaf parcel so nothing escapes.
🌍
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 Uganda
Ugandan RolexA fresh chapati rolled around a vegetable omelette, Kampala’s street breakfast, "rolled eggs" said fast.
Matoke with Groundnut SauceSteamed green bananas (matoke) mashed soft, served with a rich purple groundnut sauce.
LuwomboChicken or beef stewed in a rich groundnut sauce, steamed inside a banana leaf, a royal Ganda dish for celebrations.
Browse all Uganda recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Deep pot for frying.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Uganda meal
Matoke with Groundnut SauceDinner
BusheraDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Kabalagala?
Sweet little pancakes of ripe banana and cassava flour fried until golden, a favorite Ugandan snack.
Where does Kabalagala come from?
Kabalagala is a Ugandan dish from Kampala, Uganda.
Can Kabalagala be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kabalagala 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 Kabalagala 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 Kabalagala take to make?
About 30 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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