Is there any Nigerian here who doesn’t like beef?
Haha… I don’t think so too. Well, with an exception for vegans and vegetarians. We don’t joke with beef at all, we love it in stew, eat it fried, boiled or grilled.

Nigerian Beef Stew (African Stew)
Today’s recipe is one of Nigeria’s classic dishes, one of the tomato stew recipes that must be in every Nigerian household. Beef stew is made with tomatoes, red bell pepper, scotch bonnet (ata-rodo), onions and of course beef. In Nigeria, we use soup and stew interchangeably so excuse me if I get carried away.
Nigerian stew would usually call for pepper mix while soup is slightly thicker and contains vegetable like pumpkin leaves, efo tete etc
I must say this stew is not peculiar to Nigeria alone but the whole of Africa. It is also called African stew or red tomato stew. There might be few swaps of ingredients and spices used, but the same process is followed. One pot tomato stew with the addition of protein of choice.
Beef stew is made thicker as it is fried, it keeps well in the fridge and can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. Nigerian beef stew has been saving lives for years. It is perfect with plain boiled rice. In fact, some people with trust issues add beef stew to their jollof rice and fried rice.
This stew is also great with bread, yam, plain okra and ewedu, not forgetting some Nigerian soups too.
To make this delicious tomato stew, you can use any protein of choice like beef, chicken, pork, lamb, goat, fried fish, boiled eggs etc. The main ingredients in Nigerian beef stew are tomatoes (fresh or plum) I used chopped tomatoes for mine.
Red bell pepper (tatashe) and onions are also important in making this classic stew as it is the base for the beef, the addition of garlic and ginger is optional but if it floats your boat, feel free to add it. If you would like to know more about Nigerian Pepper mix, you need to read this post.
Related post: If you are loving this recipe already, you should check my smoked turkey stew recipe. It is perfect with rice and a must in your fridge.
What’s in my stew
- Beef
- Nigerian pepper mix: This mix consist of tomatoes, scotch bonnet, onions and red bell pepper/ pointed red pepper. Nigerian pepper mix is the base for Nigerian soup and rice dishes like jollof rice and native jollof rice.
- Curry
- Thyme
- Chicken bouillon powder/cube (jumbo, Knorr, Maggi and the likes)
To make beef stew, you need to either grill or boil the beef, for this recipe, you want to use fried beef which can be grilled for a healthier option. In Nigeria, we boil our proteins 90% of times before adding it to our stew and soups. The only blood I need in my beef is the blood of Jesus. Lol
How to boil beef
- Rinse the beef (protein of choice) yes, we have to rinse our proteins before we boil or do anything with it. Even if you don’t want to, picturing what your African mum or aunty could say would make you change your mind.
- Add it to a pan, add chopped onions, bouillon cube, salt (add curry and thyme if using or any other herbs of choice. I used dried oregano) add little water and bring to boil until the meat is tender. Check out my post here dedicated to how to boil meat to perfection.
- Fry beef until golden brown or grill in the oven for a healthier option
How to make Nigerian beef stew
- Boil the beef with spices and seasoning of choice, fry or grill and set aside
- Blend the peppers, mine was about 4 cups after blending
- Using the same oil used in frying the beef, add the pepper mix and cook for some few minutes
- Add spices, salt and bouillon powder/ seasoning cubes and fried beef to the stew.
- Continue to cook on low heat till oil floats to the top of the stew (if the stew is too thick, add stock or water to make it lighter)
- Serve as desired
Nigerian Beef Stew (African Stew)
Equipment
- saucepan
Ingredients
- 3 red bell peppers
- 400 g canned chopped tomatoes
- 1 medium onion
- 3 scotch Bonnet
- 3 tsp chicken bouillon powder use according to preference
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp oregano optional
- 1 kg beef
- 1 cup veg oil
- ½ tsp curry optional
- ½ tsp thyme optional
Instructions
- Boil beef with 2tsp bouillon powder, ½ tsp salt and chopped onion, oregano and boil till tender. This should take between 20 minutes or longer depending on the cut of meat used. Tougher meat would take longer to cook. Take the beef out of the stock, sieve the stock to get rid of scum and reserve for later
- Place a saucepan on medium heat, add vegetable oil and heat till hot, carefully drop the meat into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. You may choose to grill the meat for healthier option
- Place the fried beef on a kitchen towel and move on to cooking the stew
- To the hot oil, carefully add the pepper mix, stir to combine, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 10 minutes. Stir to combine, if the stew is becoming thick, add beef stock or water to avoid burning. (Remember this is fried stew so you only need to add little water/stock at a time if using at all)
- Add curry and thyme or any other spices you choose to add and stir to combine.
- Add bouillon powder or salt (you can use the combination of both but be careful, so you don’t overdo it. Remember you have added salt and bouillon to boil the beef. Also, if you have added the beef stock to the stew, you might not need to add salt or bouillon powder)Return the fried beef to the stew, stir until well combined and continue to simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes or until oil floats on top of the stew.Turn off the heat and serve stew warm with side of choice
Video
Notes
- You can add concentrated tomato (tomato paste) to the stew if you desire.
- Decant excess oil if need be after the stew is ready
If you made this Nigerian beef stew (African stew) recipe, don’t forget to leave me feedback. Tag me on Instagram and save away to your Pinterest
ATB
Ajoke x
It is very sweet,tasty and delicious
I’m always looking for good recipes to try. This one caught my eye and I decided to make it for my kids and I. I followed the instructions given, the only thing I did differently is that instead of frying the meat, I stir fried it with little oil. It’s much healthier in my opinion. The food was amazing, I’m sure I will make this dish again and try with different protein. Thanks
Wow it is very good and easy following your step I enjoyed the food thanks a lot
Thank you, Kelechi, I am glad you enjoyed it.
I have had African red stew manu times, your easy to follow recipe made it possible for me to do it myself. I made it for the first time last week and my grandson can't get enough of it. I served mine with FuFu. He has even requested it for his birthday dinner today. Thank you for sharing. Next its EGUSI Soup for me to try on my own.
I tried it last week, and now again today. Thank you for sharing. It is very delicious.
Please I want to know whether palm oil can be used for the preparation of stew and it still go well??
Yes, Johnson, you can substitute vegetable oil for palm oil.
Please I want to whether palm oil can be used for the preparation of stew and it still go well??
This is the easiest recipe I have read about preparing Nigerian beef African stew.
The instructions are directions are easy to follow.
Thanks also for sharing. I plan to prepare this recipe over the weekend for my family.
Keep up the good work!
I have been trying to cook stew and haven't been able to get it right until I found this easy to follow recipe... it was a hit with my Nigerian boyfriend, thank you xx
amazing to do and follow as well. Will post on a Instagram
I love beef am going to try it
Lovely
Hi so I was going to make chicken for this recipe instead how do you suggest I cook it boil or fry on the stove?
Hi Jade, if you would be using soft chicken for this recipe, I would suggest you only boil for 5 minutes before frying as the chicken may fall apart. Add the fried chicken back into the stew earlier than recommended in the recipe so that the chicken cooks throughly. Thank you
Thanks it was helpful and I will try it by weekend. Your food is attractive well done sis. Regards Eva.
Thank you, Eva
I've just eaten this today and is very good. I'm English but I've been cooking a lot of African food this year and I love this kind of thing. I'll try again next week with goat. My usual I cook is curry goat with rice and beans but I like this beef with red rice (I make it up so don't know if it's got a real name)
Hi Frazer, I am glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for your feedback! I think the red rice you were referring to is Jollof rice.
Very delicious and great full body flavor. This will be made many more times and the pepper blend has many additional usages.
I can not wait to make this today! Thank you!
I like beef. Ironically, when I was much young, I didn't have enough money to eat as much as I wanted. Now, in my mid fifties that I can comfortably afford to eat as much as I wish, the advice is 'mellow on meat'.
Is this world nice at all?