West African Peanut Soup With Chicken

By Mark Bittman

Updated Feb. 29, 2024

West African Peanut Soup With Chicken
Evan Sung for The New York Times
Total Time
40 minutes
Rating
5(869)
Comments
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This West African soup is about as different from a traditional European chicken-in-a-pot soup as you can get, flavored with ginger, garlic and chiles (sounds Chinese, yes?), and incorporating vegetables like sweet potatoes and kale. Then of course there are the peanuts. When it comes to the peanut butter, “natural” peanut butter, made from peanuts and salt and nothing else, works best. Chunky or creamy? It doesn’t matter much. Finally, it’s nice to time the cooking so that the sweet potatoes do not quite fall apart.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • ¾cup roasted and shelled peanuts
  • 2tablespoons peanut or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn
  • 1medium red or white onion, chopped
  • 1tablespoon minced fresh ginger
  • 1tablespoon minced garlic
  • ½pound skinless, boneless chicken (about 2 thighs or breasts) cut into chunks
  • Pinch of cayenne
  • Salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 6cups stock or water
  • 2sweet potatoes or yams (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into thick slices
  • 8plum tomatoes, cored and halved (canned are fine; drain and reserve liquid for another use)
  • ½pound collards or kale, washed and cut into wide ribbons
  • ¼ to ½cup peanut butter, chunky or smooth
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

689 calories; 40 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 19 grams monounsaturated fat; 10 grams polyunsaturated fat; 53 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams dietary fiber; 18 grams sugars; 37 grams protein; 1870 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Chop peanuts, or crush them with the side of a knife, or pulse them in a food processor to chop roughly.

  2. Step 2

    Put oil in a deep skillet or medium saucepan over medium heat; a minute later, add onion, ginger and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, 3 to 5 minutes. Add chicken and continue cooking for another 3 or 4 minutes, until just coloring. Add ½ cup peanuts and the cayenne and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

  3. Step 3

    Stir in the stock and the sweet potatoes, bring to a boil, and turn heat down to medium-low so the soup bubbles gently. Stir in tomatoes and collards, then cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Stir in ¼ cup peanut butter. Taste, adjust seasoning (you may want to add more peanut butter at this point) and serve, garnished with remaining peanuts.

Ratings

5 out of 5
869 user ratings
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Comments

Tessa

I've made this recipe about a dozen times over the years and I've come to a point at which I'm very satisfied, so I'd like to share. First of all, African peanut soup benefits from being flavorful and thick, and falls flat when it's brothy and bland. I more than triple the amount of garlic, ginger, and ground peanuts! Subbing freshly ground peanuts for jar PB makes a big difference. I add cinnamon, carrots, and sub the stock for fresh bone broth & some coconut milk.

Elliza

This is in regular rotation in our house. We serve it to guests. We usually use Jiffy or similar sweetened peanut butter. Despite our efforts to be health conscious, when we make it with natural, unsweetened peanut butter it tastes like something is missing, and we usually end up adding a tablespoon of sugar to the pot. I also find the PB blends in better if you scoop out a 1/2 cup of soup liquid, wisk in the PB, then add it back to the pot.

Lea

We've taken to making this with cashews in place of the peanuts. The texture of the cashews in the soup is so luxurious we can never go back. This is one of my favorite recipes of all time.

Aileen

I admit I puréed this. I cooked as directed, fished out the chicken pieces (which I left whole) and set them aside, blended the soup, shredded the chicken, added it back to the pot with the peanut butter. It was good but I’ll definitely follow other commenters advice and add more garlic and ginger next time.

Amanda

I've made this twice now. I like it but it needs more seasoning than the recipe recommends. Also it's better with collards than it is with kale. Definitely use broth rather than water! I also cut things up in smaller pieces than what is recommended.

Ellen W

The first time I made this I left out the chicken for a vegetarian version. The second time I used shredded dark meat from a Costco rotisserie chicken instead of cooking the chicken in the broth. Shredded chicken gave it a rich texture. Neither time did I add either salt or sugar. My family’s taste buds have acclimated to a low salt diet with no added sugars. Of course I realize the Costco chicken was heavily seasoned with salt. ;-)

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