Vegan Jollof Rice Recipe (2025)

As a Nigerian craving the taste of home, this recipe was a Godsend. Increased the cayenne to 2 teaspoons and halved the salt and added a knorr vegetable boullion cube to get a richer flavor. My consummate Nigerian mum was skeptical about the idea of vegan jollof rice but lost her doubts after she tasted it. She's going to start adding bell peppers to her jollof rice (unusual but delicious). I cannot wait to make this again.

Oops, meant country style steak, not some strange Deliverance vampire hunt. Sorry.

Made this without the scotch bonnet or habanera pepper. Also used basmati rice. The chili pepper and cayenne gave it enough heat. Added about 1.5 c water after 30 minutes--which was absorbed by the end of the cooking time. Served it with Louisiana shrimp and a salad. Definitely a keeper. Froze the leftovers in baggies. BYW--added the pepper puree to the 1/2 the puree in the bowl. Advise you to put the tomatoes in the blender first, then add the onion!

This recipe is absolutely amazing. Initially followed it exactly but have since made changes. Double the curry powder and cut way less cayenne. I use 5 or 6 habaneros (seeded), 3 red bell peppers, 1 onion, and 3 medium tomatoes plus 1 1/2 cups water. I use brown rice which is earthier and better to my taste. Cook all the spices in the oil for 30 seconds, add purée, rice and 2 1/2 teaspoons salt and put in 350° oven for 1 hour 45 minutes. This is a staple in my home - amazing with a runny egg.

Ive found the best jollof rice also contains the following: fresh ginger, fresh thyme, freshly ground nutmeg, Meat stock, and long grain rice.But if you really have the time and energy to get that authentic party rice flavor you gotta cook it over firewood to get the real smoky flavor. Thats what we refer to as "party rice" in Lagos.

Made this today using a small habanero instead of scotch bonnet to accommodate a family preference. It was easy and delicious. Served with a side of oven fried okra and hush puppies. Had a request for country style stake with it next time.

Very tasty! One potential flaw in the instructions: check on the status of the rice well before the 30 minute mark as it may take a lot more liquid earlier on in order to avoid having burnt, crunchy rice. One recommendation: if you have a good food processor, use that instead of a blender. Less mess and avoids the need for pureeing in batches.

My husband is Nigerian, and although I lived in Lagos for a couple of years I never shadowed the better cooks and learned how to make good jollof rice. So this recipe was very useful - and it turned out great. I used a full habanero pepper and only 1tsp of dried Nigerian pepper for the first try, was just about right. I also added a little nutmeg and will add more next time. Served with pepper chicken (onions, bell pepper, diced tomatoes, chicken thighs sautéed with some salt & thyme).

I used Jasmine rice, only 1/2 a cup of water and the "rice" setting on an instapot pressure cooker. Let the pressure cooker naturally depressurize. It was easy and turned out amazing.

To those who thought there was too much heat. try removing the seeds & membrane from the pepper, or substitute something with less heat, like a jalapeno.Also, I've usually used Jamaican curry powder (2 tsp) and find the flavor better than Indian style curry powder for this dish.

What is Scotch Bonnet Pepper?
I live in Australia and have never heard of this.
Regards
Judith

I thought this rice was fantastic. Personally I love hot flavor, but we made it without the Scotch Bonnets and only a bit of chile pepper on account of it being served to little kids. I realize that is a bastardization, my apologies to Tunde, but I rarely get to cook for my taste buds alone. Anyhow it was great and I look forward to an attempt to make the real thing.

We have updated the recipe to specify what to do with the purée set aside.

Terribly written recipe. An hour and a half later I still don't have an edible dish. Water should've been added AT THE BEGINNING, not most of the way thru cooking time. My rice is hard, certainly not al dente and I think the "low" temperature contributed to that. Medium or even medium low is much better but now I'm juggling between adding water to get the rice tender and cooking it off so as not to have soup. Very frustrating.

We loved this. Although I was cooking for an elderly palette so I did dial down some of the spice. Most all spices that show to use 1 1/2 tsp, I cut to 1 teaspoon and I did not use the scotch bonnet pepper half. I did use the cayenne and the spice level was just right for my family. My mom loved it. I loved it. My sister was ok with it, she did not like the charring part to get a smoky flavor, although I could barely taste any smoky flavor. Will definitely make this dish again.

Not sure why you need a vegan recipe for this as your recent recipe (Dec 26) is vegan anyway all you have to do is substitute water for stock.

I had to use a can of petite diced tomatoes and two Serrano chilies with seeds, as that’s what I had on hand for a last minute addition. Blended in Vitamix no problem. Used a enameled cast iron, lidded casserole and the liquid ratios were perfect. The flavors were magnetic— we kept coming back for more! Nice crunch on bottom too. Winning side or main dish!

Dont use basmati, add more liquud, use hot chilli,

Prepared as written using habanero. It was delicious, kept you wanting more. Served with a fried egg. Only comment was it needed a bit more salt. Looking forward to leftovers!

This recipe is amazing. I did not need to add water. The idea is the rice steams itself. You also want some of the rice to burn to the bottom. That’s how you get this dish’s signature flavor. I covered the pot in foil before I put the lid on. This keeps more moisture in the rice.

Very spicy with the habanero pepper -- next time ill remove all the seeds or use half! Otherwise, simple and easy recipe. Just makes a mess with the tomato sauce.

Turned out great! I used what I had in the fridge including 3 different coloured bell peppers and grape tomatoes. I didn’t have a scotch bonnet pepper so I skipped on that. It still turned out delicious! I added 1.5cups of water when I added the rice, as suggested in other comments. Worked well. My husband chopped up some chicken thighs with salt and pepper on the side and added him to his dish. Will definitely make again, so tasty, easy and versatile.

This recipe is easy to make and delicious! It's quite flavorful.

Soo good! Followed the recipe (I’m a recipe follower). Could eat this all the time.

Very yummy! I guess there was a vacancy in my soul that could only be filled with rice. I served it topped with a fried egg. The purée going out and in the blender was odd and unnecessary. I guess that was only necessary if your blender didn’t fit the entire quantity comfortably.

I have made this twice, served most recently with shakshuka. I used brown rice, so it may have needed longer to cook and definitely more water, but it was delicious. Warning: As the recipe says, this makes a lot of rice!

Very good

I didn't have much luck with this recipe. After 45 minutes on low heat, the rice was still hard and undercooked. I then added a cup of boiling water as it was getting dry. I cooked it for an extra 10 minutes and then it was overcooked! The flavor was pretty bland even though I used spices and salt as indicated. Maybe adding water requires upping the amount of spices and salt.How about a nice mushroom risotto next time?

This recipe reads tasty, but the rice looks a little gummy. For jollof rice with each grain standing on its own, I cook Basmati rice ahead and cool it in the fridge. I prepare the blended vegetables and spice as instructed here, then fold the hot mixture into the cold rice. I usually bake it for about 20 minutes, just to let everything blend. It's a showstopper, which I picked up from an excellent cook in Nigeria and have used for four decades. There's never a grain left in the pan.