Authentic West African Pepper Sauce Nigerian

This is super versatile, uses just four ingredients, and comes together in under 30 minutes! Make Jollof rice, Efo Riro, use as pasta sauce, or even a salsa-style dip: the possibilities are endless! This post contains helpful tips and tricks! If you’re in a rush, please use the “Jump to Recipe” above!

💭 Why you’ll love this recipe

Four ingredients and 30 minutes: This recipe uses easily available ingredients and comes together in no time! Great to make in large batches and freeze as well. Super versatile: I love using this as a base for pasta (e.g. my spicy alfredo sauce) or for my favorite Nigerian Jollof rice, or as fiery salsa replacement! Authentic Nigerian recipe: This recipe comes from my husband’s family, and I make a batch of it every week for him! Hot peppers are a common ingredient in many Nigerian dishes, and this is no exception. However, I do use habanero peppers (versus Scotch Bonnet) since it’s more easily available here.

📋 Ingredients and notes

You’ll need red bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and habanero peppers (or their more traditional counterpart - Scotch Bonnet pepper). If you’re making a larger batch or want to store for longer times, you need to also use a high-heat cooking oil (vegetable oil, red palm oil or avocado oil).

Notes and Variations

Adjusting spice levels. Most West African pepper sauces are FIERY! This is due to habanero peppers. You can easily adjust this down by taking seeds out of the habanero, reducing the number of habanero peppers or leaving them out entirely! Additional seasoning. This sauce is super versatile because it doesn’t have any additional seasoning (so for instance, I can add bouillon or stock cubes to make this work for Jollof rice or add basil to make a pasta sauce). You can add other seasoning for extra flavor if you wish.Oil versus no oil. This is a point of difference with my fiancé’s family. I like to simply parboil the sauce, but his mother fries the sauce in oil after it’s parboiled. Ata Bi Bo is the boiled version (this recipe) and Ata Din Din is when you fry it in oil.

📖 Make African pepper sauce

It’s super simple and comes together in under 30 minutes.

Remove the stem and seeds of red bell peppers and habanero peppers, and chop them up roughly (depending on your spice tolerance)Add a couple of tomatoes and half a onion. Add water just to help the blender.

Grind the ingredients at a high power level until you get a ground mixture. You can have this as smooth or as coarse as you want! Transfer the blended mixture to a large saucepan or a pot. Start off on a medium heat or medium-low heat until the liquid is heated. Then, turn the heat down to low, and parboil it for 20-30 minutes until the sauce becomes more dense. You’re done when you start seeing bubbles appear on the top, and the water has mostly evaporated.

🍴 Serving and storage suggestions

The possibilities are endless! I wrote a long post about making Nigerian jollof rice a while ago. I used the Nigerian version of the pepper sauce (with an extra habanero) as the base for that recipe. I’ve also made a terrific alfredo with this sauce, but you can also just use this as a great replacement for your favorite hot sauce or as a dipping sauce. Though it’s tangy, it’s super versatile.
You can store the sauce in the fridge for up to a week regardless of whether you use water or oil in the base. If you want to store it for longer, I suggest using oil, and topping off the container with a thin layer of oil to make sure it avoids all contact with air. This way, it’ll last 2-3 weeks. You can also freeze this sauce for up to 4 to 6 months! Just make sure to portion and place in a freezer-safe container. If you like this recipe, check out my other African recipes: If you tried this recipe, don’t forget to comment and rate! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐