Waakye
Ghanaian rice and beans cooked together with dried sorghum leaves, which turn the pot red-brown, sold by the ladle from street tables.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 10 min
- Rest
- None
- Total
- 1 hr 20 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Cheap nightUnder $8 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Waakye is rice and black-eyed beans boiled together in one pot with dried red sorghum leaves. The leaves do no more than colour the grain a dusty brown-red and lend a faint earthiness; the dish itself is plain, soft and savoury, meant to be loaded with other things. The beans go in first because they take longer, the rice follows, and the pot is cooked dry like any rice. A pinch of bicarbonate deepens the colour if your leaves are weak, and stands in entirely if you have none. Serve with shito, a boiled egg, fried plantain, spaghetti and stew, as the street tables do.
What you'll need
6 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.
Ingredients
- Rice, long-grain, rinsed400 g
- Black-eyed beans, dried, rinsed200 g
Choose one
Dried sorghum leaves, rinsed (optional)4- Baking soda, to deepen the colour (optional)1.2 ml
- Salt7.4 ml
- Water1½ l
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Put the beans and sorghum leaves in a large pot with 1 litre of water. Bring to a boil and cook until the beans are tender but not splitting, 40 to 50 minutes. The water will turn dark red.
45 min
Tip: Old beans take longer. Start checking at 35 minutes.
Step 2
Pull out the leaves. Add the baking soda if using, the salt and the rice. Top up with water so it sits about 2 cm above the rice and beans.
3 min
Step 3
Boil hard, uncovered, until the water has dropped to the level of the rice, about 8 minutes.
8 min
Step 4
Cover tightly, turn the heat to the lowest setting and cook 15 minutes. Turn off and rest 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork; the grains should be brown-red and separate.
25 min
Watch: Do not stir while it steams or the beans mash into the rice.
Step 5
Serve on a plate with a spoon of shito, a halved boiled egg, fried plantain, a little gari sprinkled over and a ladle of tomato stew if you have one.
5 min
Nutrition
Per serving · estimate
- Calories
- 220 kcal
- Protein
- 11.1 g
- Carbs
- 40.8 g
- Fat
- 1.2 g
- Saturated fat
- 0.2 g
- Fibre
- 4 g
- Sugar
- 3.2 g
- Sodium
- 1023 mg
Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.
Allergens
Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.
- No major allergens flagged in the structured ingredients.
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
- Gluten-free
- Nut-free
Adapt this recipe
The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 13 November.
Substitutions
Sorghum leaves → Half a teaspoon of baking soda
Gives the brown colour without the faint hay note. Most Ghanaian cooks abroad do this.
Tips
- Dried sorghum leaves are sold as waakye leaves in Ghanaian and West African shops and online. A sachet lasts for months.
- The spaghetti on a waakye plate is not a joke. Plain boiled, a small tangle, tossed in a little of the stew.
History & culture
Waakye is breakfast and lunch from Accra to Tamale, sold by women at roadside stands and wrapped in leaves or paper. The order is a performance: rice and beans, then gari, shito, egg, spaghetti, salad, wele (cow skin), fish, stew, in whatever combination you can pay for. It is weekday food and Saturday-morning food.
The word is Hausa (shinkafa da wake, rice and beans), and the dish came south with Hausa traders and settlers from northern Ghana and the Sahel, where sorghum is a staple crop. Cowpeas are indigenous to the region; rice became common across the south in the twentieth century.
Traditional — The plate of accompaniments is where waakye lives. Shito (black pepper sauce) and gari come from Ghanaian shops; this recipe covers only the rice and beans and tells you what to put around them.
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.
How long does Waakye take?
1 hr 20 min all in — 10 min prep, 1 hr 10 min cook. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 6 plates. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Easy.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Vegetarian, Vegan, Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Nut-free.
What does it cost to cook?
Cheap night — about Under $8 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
6 more questionsFewer questions
What equipment do I need?
Stockpot.
How much salt do I put in?
The recipe lists Salt at 1½ tsp.
What can I use instead?
Sorghum leaves → Half a teaspoon of baking soda. Gives the brown colour without the faint hay note. Most Ghanaian cooks abroad do this.
What should I watch for?
Do not stir while it steams or the beans mash into the rice.
Any tips from this recipe?
Dried sorghum leaves are sold as waakye leaves in Ghanaian and West African shops and online. A sachet lasts for months. The spaghetti on a waakye plate is not a joke. Plain boiled, a small tangle, tossed in a little of the stew.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
Similar dishes
Red-red
Ghanaian black-eyed bean stew cooked in red palm oil with tomato and ginger, served with fried ripe plantain.
EasyMedium heat
Jollof rice
Nigerian party rice cooked in a fried-down tomato, pepper and scotch bonnet base until the grains stain red and the bottom catches.
MediumMedium heat
Rice and peas
Coconut rice with kidney beans, thyme and allspice — the Jamaican Sunday pot that is not 'rice with a pea'.
Easy
Arroz e feijão
Rice and beans — the Brazilian everyday plate, not a side you skip.
Easy