In this post, I share with you a homemade cooking recipe on how to make Nigerian jollof stew base. This authentic jollof recipe is on how to make jollof sauce and by the time you are done reading this cooking tutorial, you would be able to make the best pepper mix for jollof.
If this is your first time here, this is a food blog by the online cook so do well to be a part of this beautiful community and subscribe to get beginner-friendly recipes for African recipes.
Let’s get started, so to begin with this stew base you need the ingredients listed below.
Jollof stew ingredients
- 4 tomatoes
- 2 scotch bonnet pepper
- 3 onions
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 sweet long peppers
- 3 garlic
- Ginger
- 200g tomato paste
- Thyme
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
- 2 1/2 stock cubes (rectangle ones)
- 1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups chicken stock
To infuse more flavour, use the vegetable oil recently used for frying chicken, beef or turkey wings.
When cooked properly, the jollof sauce prepared with these ingredients can be used to cook perfect jollof rice with 5 cups raw rice.
How to make jollof stew base for jollof rice
- Clean tomatoes, bell pepper and sweet long pepper, scotch bonnet pepper in water, remove the green stalk and seeds
- Peel the skin off the onions, ginger and garlic
- Slice one of the onions
- Transfer clean tomatoes, peppers and onions into a blender.
- Blend to a rough texture.
- Pour vegetable oil in a pot
- Allow the oil get hot for 2 minutes
- Fry thyme and bay leaves for 2 minutes
- Add sliced onions and fry for 2 -3 mins on medium heat
- Add tomato paste, mix well to combine with the other ingredients already frying in the pot
- Allow for fry for 3-4 mins or till it darken a bit.
- Pour the pepper mix into the pot
- Season with curry powder, salt and stock cubes
- For better flavour, add chicken stock
- Mix well and cook for 15 mins on medium heat
- After 15 minutes, you would notice oil and foamy characteristics on top of the sauce.
- Stir well again to combine and prevent burning
- Cook for 20-25 mins on low heat.
- Jollof stew base is ready when the oil floats to the top with no foamy area
Stew base for jollof rice is ready to be used for cooking jollof rice at your convenience.
For extra spiciness, add more raw chilli and let the sauce simmer slowly until it cools down completely.
To convert this jollof stew base into jollof rice, all you need to do is add 5 cups of washed raw rice and 3-4 cups water.
Kindly note that the quantity of water to be added to make jollof rice depends on type of rice used.
If the sauce is not to be used soon, it is important to note that the stew base must be preserved well in order to make the perfect jollof rice.
How to preserve jollof stew
To keep the stew base in good condition do this;
- Get a clean bowls with lid
- Clean thoroughly with soapy water and rinse multiple times with clean water
- While waiting for the jollof sauce to cool down completely, place the bowls upside down to drain off the water
- Fill the bowls with the sauce after it cools down
- Close tightly with the lid and arrange in the freezer to freeze.
- Or store in the fridge if the sauce would be used the next day.
Watch this video cooking tutorial on how to make pepper mix for jollof rice.
For more authentic Nigerian jollof recipes, subscribe to this food blog to receive our newsletters.
In conclusion, this homemade stew base for jollof rice is worth the try and with it preparing jollof rice at short notice is easy.
© 2026 The Online Cook
