✔ Updated · 28 dishes: injera, wats, tibs, vegan platters + more
I love the way an Ethiopian meal turns dinner into sharing: one big platter, everyone scooping with injera. Here are 28 traditional dishes, plus the spices and breads that make them taste right.
The most popular Ethiopian dishes to make at home are doro wat (spicy chicken stew), misir wat (red lentil stew), shiro (chickpea flour stew), siga tibs (sautéed beef), gomen (collard greens) and kitfo (spiced minced beef), all served on injera, a teff sourdough flatbread. Start by making berbere and niter kibbeh; they flavor almost everything.
- Easiest to start: shiro, misir wat, gomen, tibs.
- Celebration dish: doro wat.
- Vegan: misir wat, kik alicha, shiro, atkilt wat.
- Essentials: injera, berbere, niter kibbeh.
The Building Blocks: Bread, Spice and Butter
1. Injera
The spongy, slightly sour flatbread made from teff flour and fermented for 2 to 3 days. It is your plate, your spoon and your bread.
2. Berbere
The essential red spice blend: dried chilies, fenugreek, coriander, cardamom, ginger and more. It flavors most wats.
3. Niter Kibbeh
Clarified butter slowly infused with onion, garlic, ginger, fenugreek and koseret or basil. The secret behind that rich, aromatic flavor.
4. Mitmita
A fiery, bright-orange blend of bird's eye chilies, cardamom and salt, used for kitfo and as a table spice.
Meat and Fish Dishes
5. Doro Wat
Ethiopia's celebrated chicken stew: slow-cooked onions, berbere and niter kibbeh, with whole hard-boiled eggs. Holiday food at its best.
6. Key Wat (Sega Wat)
A deep red, spicy beef stew built on slowly cooked onions and berbere. Rich, warming and great with plenty of injera.
7. Alicha Wat
A mild yellow stew of lamb or beef with turmeric, ginger and garlic. Gentle heat, perfect for spice-shy eaters.
8. Siga Tibs
Cubes of beef quickly sautéed with onion, jalapeño, rosemary and niter kibbeh. One of the fastest Ethiopian dishes to make.
9. Awaze Tibs
Tibs tossed in awaze, a punchy paste of berbere mixed with liquid. Sizzling, spicy and often served in a hot clay dish.
10. Kitfo
Finely minced lean beef warmed in mitmita-spiced niter kibbeh, served with mild cheese (ayib) and greens. I cook mine through.
11. Quanta Firfir
Dried, spiced beef strips (quanta) simmered in berbere sauce and tossed with torn injera. Hearty and full of flavor.
12. Asa Tibs
Chunks of firm white fish, seasoned and fried, served with awaze or a squeeze of lemon. A favorite on fasting days.
Vegetarian and Vegan Dishes
13. Misir Wat
Red lentils simmered with onion, garlic and berbere until thick and silky. The star of most vegetarian platters.
14. Kik Alicha
Mild yellow split peas cooked with turmeric, ginger and garlic. Creamy, comforting and a lovely contrast to spicy wats.
15. Shiro
A smooth, velvety stew of seasoned chickpea or broad bean flour. Ready in about 20 minutes and loved across Ethiopia.
16. Gomen
Collard greens gently cooked with garlic, ginger and green chili. Fresh and mild, it balances the spicier dishes.
17. Atkilt Wat
Cabbage, potatoes and carrots braised with turmeric and ginger until tender and sweet. Also called tikil gomen.
18. Fosolia
Green beans and carrots sautéed with onion, garlic and ginger. Simple, colorful and quick.
19. Duba Wat
Pumpkin or butternut squash stewed with berbere and onion. Sweet, spicy and perfect in fall.
20. Inguday Tibs
Mushrooms sautéed with onion, tomato, jalapeño and rosemary, tibs style. Meaty texture, no meat.
21. Azifa
A cool green lentil salad with red onion, green chili, lemon juice and a little mustard. Serve it chilled.
22. Timatim Salata
Diced tomato, red onion and jalapeño in lime juice and oil. Sometimes tossed with injera pieces as timatim fitfit.
Breakfast and Snacks
23. Firfir
Torn injera tossed in a spicy berbere and niter kibbeh sauce. The classic way to use yesterday's injera for breakfast.
24. Chechebsa
Flatbread fried and shredded, then coated in niter kibbeh and berbere. Often eaten with honey and yogurt.
25. Ful
Mashed fava beans topped with tomato, onion, jalapeño, a little yogurt or egg, and bread on the side. A popular Ethiopian breakfast.
26. Sambusa
Crisp triangular pastries filled with spiced lentils or ground beef. A must at gatherings and during Ramadan.
27. Dabo Kolo
Little crunchy bites of spiced, lightly sweet dough, toasted until golden. Ethiopia's favorite snack to nibble with coffee.
Drinks
28. Buna (Ethiopian Coffee)
Ethiopia is coffee's birthplace. In the coffee ceremony, beans are roasted, ground and brewed in a clay jebena, then served in three rounds.
How to Build an Ethiopian Meal at Home
An Ethiopian meal is served family-style: a large tray lined with injera, with stews and vegetables spooned on top and extra rolls of injera on the side. Everyone tears off a piece of bread and scoops. No cutlery needed.
For a first try at home I'd make one meat wat, two vegetable dishes and a salad: doro wat or key wat, misir wat, gomen and timatim salata. The vegan version, with lentils, split peas, shiro and greens, is called yetsom beyaynetu and is eaten on Orthodox fasting days.
- Make berbere and niter kibbeh first. Both keep for weeks (the butter in the fridge), and they do most of the flavor work.
- Cook the onions low and slow. Many wats start with finely chopped onions cooked dry until soft and jammy before the fat goes in. Rushing this step is the most common mistake.
- No time to ferment injera? A quick version with teff and a little all-purpose flour plus baking powder won't be quite as sour, but it's great for a weeknight.
- Teff itself is gluten-free, but many injera recipes outside Ethiopia blend in wheat or barley flour, so check if that matters to you.
Food Safety Notes
- Kitfo is traditionally eaten raw (tire) or lightly warmed (leb leb). Raw ground beef carries a risk of foodborne illness; for a safe version, cook it through (yebesele) to 160°F.
- Doro wat and other chicken dishes: cook chicken to 165°F.
- Leftover wats keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge. Reheat to 165°F.
My Notes from the Kitchen
The first time I made doro wat, I cut the onion step short and it tasted flat. Now I give the onions a full 30 to 40 minutes, stirring often, and the stew comes out deep, sweet and glossy. Patience is the whole recipe.
Curious about the bread? Read whether sourdough is gluten-free (injera is a teff sourdough) and naan vs pita for more flatbread know-how.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the easiest Ethiopian dish to make?
Shiro and misir wat are the easiest. Shiro is chickpea flour whisked into a seasoned onion and garlic base and simmered for about 20 minutes. Misir wat is red lentils cooked with onion and berbere. Both need just one pot and pantry ingredients.
What is the national dish of Ethiopia?
Doro wat, a slow-cooked spicy chicken stew with hard-boiled eggs, is widely considered Ethiopia's national dish. It is made with lots of onions, berbere and niter kibbeh and is served for holidays and special occasions, always with injera.
What is injera made of?
Traditional injera is made from teff, a tiny ancient grain, mixed with water and fermented for two to three days. The fermentation gives it a sour taste and spongy, bubbly surface. Some recipes add wheat or barley flour, so it is not always gluten-free.
Is Ethiopian food spicy?
Many dishes are, thanks to berbere and mitmita, but not all. Alicha dishes like kik alicha and alicha wat are mild and flavored with turmeric and ginger, and greens like gomen are gentle. A mixed platter usually balances hot and mild dishes.
Is Ethiopian food vegan-friendly?
Very. Ethiopian Orthodox fasting days exclude animal products, so there is a big tradition of vegan dishes: misir wat, kik alicha, shiro, gomen, atkilt wat and azifa. Cook them with oil instead of niter kibbeh and serve them together on injera.
