Groundnut Soup (Nkati Nkwan)
A rich, creamy peanut-based soup with tomatoes, chicken, and Ghanaian spices — the classic partner to fufu.
Ingredients
- •Raw or roasted groundnuts (peanuts)
- •Chicken or goat meat
- •Tomatoes
- •Onions
- •Tomato paste
- •Scotch bonnet peppers
- •Garlic
- •Ginger
- •Stock cubes
- •Salt
Instructions
Make groundnut paste
Blend raw or roasted groundnuts with a little water into a smooth paste. Alternatively use natural peanut butter.
Cook protein
Season and brown chicken or goat in a pot. Add water and simmer 20 minutes. Reserve stock.
Make tomato base
Blend tomatoes, onions, scotch bonnet, garlic, and ginger. Fry in oil until reduced.
Combine
Add groundnut paste to the tomato base, then add meat stock. Stir well to prevent lumps.
Simmer
Add cooked meat, season, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soup is thick and oil floats on top.
Groundnut Soup — nkati nkwan in Twi — is one of the defining dishes of Ghanaian cuisine and one of the most beloved soups in all of West Africa. A rich, creamy, deeply savory peanut-based broth built on a foundation of tomatoes, onions, and Ghanaian pepper, it is the perfect partner for fufu and is often described as the Ghanaian equivalent of a Sunday roast — a meal that brings families together.
The groundnut paste is the soul of the soup: fresh-roasted peanuts ground to a smooth paste carry a depth and richness that commercial peanut butter cannot fully replicate. As the paste simmers with the tomato base and meat stock, it transforms into a velvety, amber-colored broth with a complex nutty-savory flavor. The distinctive orange oil that rises to the surface after long cooking is a sign the soup is ready.
Groundnut soup is made across West Africa in many variations — Nigerian groundnut stew, Senegalese mafé, Malian tigadèguena — each with different spicing traditions. The Ghanaian version typically uses more tomato and a hotter pepper base. It is associated with celebration, hospitality, and home cooking at its most nourishing.