How to cook jollof rice

Nigerian jollof rice recipe! This African dish is packed full of flavor, rich, grainy, smoky, delicious, and the best. It’s a one-pot dish that is made with rice, tomato, peppers, herbs, and spices. Learn how to make jollof rice in easy steps.

INGREDIENTS FOR JOLLOF RICE

These are the ingredients you’ll need to make it. The detailed ingredient list, measurements, and directions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Rice

Bell peppers

Tomatoes

Brown onion

Red onion

Tomato puree

Vegetable oil

Curry powder

Dried Thyme

White pepper

Bay leaves

Scotch bonnet

Stock cubes

Chicken broth

Salt

Plum or salad Tomatoes

Butter

HOW TO MAKE JOLLOF RICE

Here’s a detailed step by step on how to cook jollof rice:

First, blend the bell peppers, plum tomatoes, scotch bonnet, and brown onion.

Place a pot on heat, add oil into the pot, then add in sliced onions. Sautee the onions till they are fragrant and translucent. This should take about 2 minutes.

Next, add in the tomato puree/tomato paste. Fry for 5-10 minutes till reduced in quantity and doesn’t taste tart.

Add in the blended peppers, curry powder, dried thyme, stock cubes, bay leaves, and salt. Fry till it is dark red and no longer raw. It will be reduced in quantity, thick and the oil floats to the top of the sauce. This takes about 10 – 15 minutes.

Then add in the chicken broth, and boiling water. Stir, add in the washed rice. Cover the pot tightly and cook the rice on low heat till it’s almost tender. (About 25 minutes).

Add the remaining sliced red onion, sliced tomato, and butter.

Cover the pot and continue to steam the rice till it’s tender.

Stir the rice and take it off the heat.

Serve and enjoy!

HOW LONG TO COOK JOLLOF RICE

On average, cooking jollof rice takes between 40-60 minutes depending on the quantity. The rice usually cooks at the same time either in small or large quantities, but it takes longer to fry the tomato/pepper base for a large quantity. Therefore it will take a shorter time for frying the pepper base for 10 servings than the pepper base for 20 servings.

To fry the sauce base takes about 10-20 minutes

While it takes about 30 minutes to steam the rice in the sauce base.