Top 20 Nigerian Foods You Will Taste In Your Life

Would you like to take your taste buds on an amazing adventure? If the answer is "yes," you should travel to Nigeria. Nigeria has a diverse and rich culinary tradition due to its location in West Africa and a large number of ethnic communities there. 

Depending on where a person is in the country, they have a wide variety of delicious foods. Additionally, many ingredients and essentials across state boundaries.

Nigerian cuisine, which consists of dishes or food items from the many ethnic groups that make up the country, is among the best in the world. Similar to the cuisines of other West African nations like Ghana and the Benin Republic, Nigerian cuisine combines spices and herbs with palm or groundnut oil to create richly flavorful sauces and soups with enticing aromas.

Every region of the nation consumes rice, whether it is cooked as fried rice, coconut rice, jollof rice, or processed into the traditional Pate dish, which combines rice with ground dry corn, spinach, tomatoes, onions, peppers, garden eggs, locust beans, groundnuts, biscuit bones, and minced meat.

In the northwest Nigerian states of Kano, Kaduna, Nasarawa, and Plateau, pate is a common dish to eat. 

Among the most popular soups eaten across the nation's various regions are Banga, Miyan Kuka, Okro, Ewedu, Pepper, Egusi, Afang, and Edikan Ikon soups. These soups are made with a variety of ingredients, including regional seasonings like dried locust beans (Iru) and vegetables like spinach, waterleaf, bitter leaf, and pumpkin leaves.

Typically, these soups are paired with "swallow" foods like fufu, Eba, amala, starch, pounded yam, etc. Thyme, Curry, Ginger, Nutmeg, Cloves, Habanero pepper, and Scotch Bonnet are used as a result of the Portuguese, British, Dutch, and other European traders' early influence on Nigerian cuisine.

Protein is always present in Nigerian cuisine. Various meats, including beef, mutton, and chicken, as well as different kinds of fish, are frequently used as garnishes. The use of seafood for soups and stews, such as prawns, periwinkles, clams, snails, and crabs, is also widespread in the southern parts of the nation. The flavors in these dishes will astound you!

Top 20 Nigerian dishes

1. Jollof Rice

Every region of Nigeria consumes this dish, which is one of the most well-liked in the world. It may surprise you to learn that the highly rated dish is just plain rice prepared with tomato, onion, pepper, and a few other spices. 

It can occasionally be accompanied by vegetables, chicken, beef, or fried fish. Not only is this dish well-liked in Nigeria, but also in some other West African nations like Ghana.

2. Garri

Without a doubt, this is the most widely consumed staple food in Nigeria. Regardless of region or ethnicity, it is consumed in the majority of Nigerian households. Cassava is used to make garri. First, the cassava is harvested, then it is peeled, cleaned, and ground. 

Before being sieved and fried in a hot pan, the ground cassava is drained of water, starch, and hydrocyanic acid. Garri is the product of this process. 

Then, garri can be used to make eba by simply pouring hot water into a bowl that already contains the desired number of garri granules. Eba can be consumed with any Nigerian soup, including Egusi, Okro, Banga, and Afang soup.

3. Pounded Yam

This is a very soft dish that is served in many Nigerian restaurants and homes. It goes well with a variety of soups, including vegetable, Ogbono, Egusi, and Afang soups. The desired quantity of yam is peeled, thoroughly washed, and boiled until tender to prepare pounded yam. 

After being boiled, the yam is then pounded in a mortar and pestle into a smooth mash. Pounded yam is popular among the Yoruba people of Western Nigeria, also known as the Yorubas, but it is also consumed by the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria.

4. Egusi Soup

One of the most popular soups in Nigeria is this one. It is consumed in many homes, particularly during holidays. This soup is a particular Nigerian delicacy because of its distinctive texture and fluffiness, among other attributes. 

The processed melon seed used to make the Egusi soup is combined with stockfish, red oil, meat, stockfish, vegetables, seafood, onions, and other seasonings. Alongside the soup are pounded yam, garri, amala, etc.

5. Suya

This is just some flavorful, well-cut beef that has been grilled over an open flame. Onions, tomatoes, and fresh cabbage are served alongside it. It is typically consumed in the evening after being wrapped in old newspapers or aluminum foil. 

The Hausa people of Northern Nigeria are famous for this hot dish. Typically, the meat is seasoned with a special spice blend called Yaji before being grilled.

6. Akara

Another well-known Nigerian delicacy is this one. In the country's north, it is known as Kosai. It is merely a bean cake that has been deep-fried in groundnut or palm oil. 

The skin of the beans is first removed by soaking them in water, after which they are ground into a mash that is deep-fried. Grated water yam can also be cooked in a pan to make another type of akara.

7. Moi Moi

Moi Moi is one of the really delicious foods in Nigeria that will blow your taste buds away. It is a very tasty dish that has gained popularity because of its distinctive flavor. It is made from processed beans just like Akara, but the difference is that it is boiled rather than fried. 

Fish, eggs, or crayfish are all acceptable garnishes for Moi Moi. Oil, tomatoes, pepper, salt, and a few spices make up the basic ingredients. You can eat it alone or with custard, garri, or pap that has been soaked; do whatever suits you best.

8. Pepper Soup

Furthermore, almost everywhere in the nation consumes this delicacy regularly. Typically, it's loaded with beef, chicken, mutton, or fresh fish. Typically, it is offered alongside beer at bars. 

Because it was made with only natural spices, it is a very healthy soup. When pepper soup touches your tongue, it leaves an indelible flavor that will make you want more. It has a pleasant aroma, is delicious, and is very spicy.

9. Nkwobi

The Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria frequently eat this soup. Nkwobi is a traditional dessert that is primarily made from cow legs and heads and is appropriately garnished with utazi leaves and palm oil. It is typically consumed with a glass of palm wine, which is thought to be the best beverage to help it pass through the stomach.

10. Ewa Agoyin

The Yoruba people of Western Nigeria are huge fans of this delicacy. In the Republic of Benin, it was created. Cooked, mashed beans called "Ewa Agoyin" are consumed with pepper sauce. 

Along with pepper, this sauce also contains tomato, onion, crayfish, and a few other spices. You'll want more once you taste what this combination creates.

11. Abacha and Ugba

Another typical Nigerian dish among the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria is this one. It goes by the name of "African salad." Cassava is used to make Abacha; it is first properly cooked, then grated, and finally, sun-dried. Then Abacha is made using these sun-dried cassava flakes. 

Slices of uga (oil bean seed) and some fresh vegetables are used to make this delectable treat. It is typically eaten as a dessert and served with fried fish and ponmo (cowskin).

12. Amala and Ewedu

Most often connected to the Yoruba people of Western Nigeria, ewedu is a delectable soup. However, it is a very well-liked dish in the nation. Ewedu soup is made from the mucilaginous leaves of the jute plant and is similar to okra soup in consistency. 

Swede soup is typically served with amala and heavily topped with meat and ponmo (cowskin). To counteract the mild bitterness of the jute plant leaves, a tomato-pepper sauce can also be added to the ewedu soup.

13. Beans and Plantain

Your trip to Nigeria would not have been complete without trying this cuisine. In Nigeria, beans and plantains are in plentiful supply, so making this delicious treat is not difficult. 

This dish is prepared as portage and lavishly adorned with dried fish and additional high-quality ingredients. A very special Nigerian delicacy that I think you would love to try is beans and plantains.

14. Ogbono Soup

This is yet another significant Nigerian soup. It is made from the bush mango seed, a wild variety of the mango, and is seasoned with oil, meat, stockfish, dried fish, and other ingredients. Typically, ogbono soup is served with pounded yam, fufu, or eba. 

Ogbono soup is known as "draw soup" because of its slick texture, which complements eba or fufu balls well. One of the easiest soups to make, so the saying goes.

15. Banga Soup

In Nigeria, where it is most prevalent in the south, this soup is very well-liked. Richly garnished with meats, fish, and other special ingredients that give it a distinctive aroma and flavor, this delectable soup is prepared from ripe palm fruit. It is typically consumed with starches, occasionally with white rice.

16. Efo Riro

This is a very tasty Nigerian soup that is primarily made by the Yoruba ethnic group in Western Nigeria. Beef, chicken, or smoked fish are added to pumpkin leaves to create efo riro. In addition to using spinach and water leaf in place of pumpkin leaves, you can.

17. Afang Soup

This soup is also well-liked in Nigeria. The southern Nigerian Efik tribe is primarily linked to it. An example of a vegetable soup is afang soup, which is made with stockfish, prawns, and other seafood. 

The Afang or Okazi leaves are the typical leafy vegetable used to prepare this delicious soup. The leaf is cut into incredibly small pieces because of how tough it is. The best accompaniments to afang soup are eba, fufu, or pounded yam.

18. Tuwo Shinkafa

The Hausa people of Northern Nigeria are known for cooking this dish, which is very well-liked. Two Shinkafa translates to "mashed rice." Rice is cooked until it is tender, at which point it is mashed into a semi-solid consistency. Soups like Miyan Kuka, Miyan Kardashian, or even bean soup, it is served. Typically, people eat it for lunch or dinner.

19. Okpa

This is a very tasty Nigerian delicacy that is most popular in the country's east, particularly in Enugu State. It is a particular type of Moi Moi made from a unique bean known as Bambara nuts. 

Bambara nuts are ground into flour, which is then combined with hot water and other necessary ingredients to make okra. Crayfish, palm oil, freshly ground pepper, pumpkin vegetables (if desired), and salt are among these ingredients. The meal is both delicious and very nourishing.

20. Boiled White Rice

In Nigeria, it is customary to prepare rice every Sunday. Most families cook white rice, which is typically served with stew or soup that has been lavishly garnished with fish or meat depending on the situation. Egusi soup, Banga soup, and vegetable soup are a few of the soups that are good with boiled white rice.