8 recipes using rice — Groundnut soup, kelewele, jollof — vibrant and richly spiced West African cooking.
These 8 ghanaian rice recipes are ready in about 74 minutes on average, with 340–620 kcal per serving, and 50% are rated easy enough for a weeknight. Every recipe includes exact ingredient quantities, step-by-step instructions and full nutrition per serving.
Ghanaian cuisine — Groundnut soup, kelewele, jollof — vibrant and richly spiced West African cooking — brings its own distinctive techniques and seasonings to every ingredient it touches. When Ghanaian cooks work with rice, they reach for its own regional aromatics, fats and signature spice blends, and the techniques that come up most across these recipes are boiling, frying, steaming and simmering.
The everyday grain for half the planet — a neutral base that soaks up the flavours around it, from pilafs to fried rice. In this collection it's most often cooked with tomato paste, curry powder, dried thyme, bay leaves, tomatoes and shito. The dishes here span ghanaian classics ready in as little as 50 minutes to slower, more involved cooking that rewards a relaxed afternoon.
Reader favourite: Ghanaian Jollof Rice (Smoky Tomato Rice with Long-Grain) is the highest-rated dish in this collection at 4.9★ from 1,380 ratings.
Tender rice and black-eyed peas cooked together with dried sorghum leaves for a deep reddish-brown colour, served with stew, egg and wele — Ghana's most iconic street food.
Ghana's vibrant, smoky one-pot rice — cooked in a tomato-pepper base infused with spices until each grain is deeply flavored, served with fried chicken and fried plantain.
A Ghanaian rice and beans dish with a dramatic reddish color from dried sorghum leaves — an Accra breakfast staple served with an elaborate array of accompaniments.
Soft, sticky Ghanaian rice balls served with palm nut soup or groundnut soup — a Northern Ghanaian staple.
Ghana's version of West Africa's most contested dish — long-grain rice cooked in a rich, smoky tomato and pepper base, flavoured with bay, ginger and a hint of smoke from the 'bottom pot'. The party rice.
Ghanaian rice and black-eyed peas cooked with sorghum leaves for a distinctive deep colour — a Accra street food staple.
Ghana's iconic burgundy rice-and-beans tinted with sorghum leaves, served with stew, shito, gari, and fried plantain.
Ghana's beloved smoky-spiced tomato rice, slow-simmered until each grain absorbs the rich red sauce — and a crispy bottom layer forms.
Choose by use: long-grain (basmati, jasmine) for fluffy, separate grains; short-grain for risotto and sushi where stickiness is wanted. Aged basmati cooks longer and fluffier.
Rinse until the water runs clear to wash off surface starch and prevent clumping. The absorption method — a fixed water ratio, lid on, then a 10-minute steam off the heat — gives reliable results.
A gluten-free carbohydrate staple; brown and wild varieties keep the bran for extra fibre, B vitamins and minerals.
Most of these 8 Ghanaian rice recipes are ready in around 74 minutes from start to finish. The quickest, Ghanaian Omo Tuo (Rice Balls), takes about 50 minutes, while the slower-cooked dishes run up to 85 minutes.
Across this collection they range from about 340 to 620 kcal per serving, averaging 440 kcal — Ghanaian Omo Tuo (Rice Balls) is the lightest option at 340 kcal.
Waakye — Ghanaian Rice and Beans is a great place to start — it's rated easy and comes together in about 80 minutes. 50% of the recipes here are beginner-friendly.
In these recipes, rice is most often paired with tomato paste, curry powder, dried thyme, bay leaves, tomatoes and shito. Ghanaian kitchens also lean on its own regional aromatics, fats and signature spice blends.