Instant Pot African Peanut Stew is a hearty, comforting soup with rich, bold flavors. Tender bites of chicken and sweet potatoes are cooked in a vibrant sauce made with peanut butter and curry powder to give this soup a perfect balance of sweet and savory flavors.
Table of Contents
Introduction
When I first heard about African Peanut Stew (maybe because of the name?) I was a bit skeptical about whether we would like it. But after trying it, it’s become one of our family favorites!
African Peanut Stew is also known as West African peanut stew, African Peanut Butter Soup, or groundnut stew. This soup is popular in the West African countries of Mali, Senegal and Gambia and is known by different names such as tigadenega, mafe or domoda, depending on the country.
I did have to do a bit of tweaking and testing to adapt the stovetop recipe for the Instant Pot. In particular, I had to increase the spices by quite a bit since pressure cooking dulls the spices.
Here are some other soup and stew recipes you might like to try out!
– Instant Pot Chicken Curry Soup
– Instant Pot Vegetarian Moroccan Stew
– Instant Pot Indian Beef Curry/Stew
– Instant Pot Ethiopian Lentil Stew
– Instant Pot Curried Risotto
TIPS AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Spices
If your curry powder has been sitting in a cabinet for years, do yourself a favor and buy a new package of curry powder. Fresh curry powder will give your African Peanut Stew a vibrant flavor.
Add 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper or chili powder if you’d like the soup to be spicier.
Make sure that your Instant Pot isn’t too hot when you’re sauteing the spices. If necessary, press Cancel to cool down the inner pot after sauteing the onion mixture. Burnt spices will make this soup taste bitter.
Tomatoes
The recipe calls for canned tomatoes. You can also use tomato paste. Substitute 2 tablespoons of tomato paste for the canned tomatoes. The tomato paste will make the soup thicker.
Peanut Butter
Try to use peanut butter that doesn’t have additives and fillers. I always use natural peanut butter.
I like to use creamy peanut butter, but feel free to add chunky peanut butter for added texture.
Coat the measuring cup with vegetable oil before measuring the peanut butter to allow for easy cleanup.
Vegetables
I love the flavor of sweet potatoes in this soup, but you can use any vegetable of your choice: carrots, green plantain, potatoes, butternut squash, or okra. You might need to modify the pressure cooking time.
I like to add kale or spinach to add some extra nutrition and flavor to the recipe. If you’re using kale, chop it into 1-inch pieces and pressure cook with the chicken.
If you’re using spinach, add it at the end and it should heat through and wilt in the hot soup. If the soup has cooled down, heat through on Saute mode till spinach is wilted.
To make this stew vegan or vegetarian, omit the chicken and use butternut squash, carrots, or plantains.
Beef or Lamb
Although I prefer to make this Instant Pot African Peanut Stew with chicken, it can be made with lamb or beef. Cut the meat into 1 1/2 inch pieces.
If you’re making it with lamb, pressure cook for 20 minutes. If you making it with beef, pressure cook for 15 minutes. Make sure the meat is not lean.
Freezing
This soup does well in the freezer. I don’t add the spinach and cilantro if I’m freezing the stew. I add those ingredients when I’m reheating the stew.
How to Serve
If the stew is not thick enough for your tastes, heat it up on Saute mode for a few minutes to thicken it.
I like to top the soup off with cilantro and sometimes I add chopped peanuts. You can also add a squeeze of lime to each serving and some hot sauce if you like to add spiciness.
Serve this stew with couscous, white or brown rice, cornbread or french bread on the side.
If you’re new to the Instant Pot and aren’t familiar with how to use it, you might find it helpful to first read one of the following guides and then come back here to learn how to make this recipe.
- Instant Pot DUO Beginner’s Manual
- Instant Pot ULTRA Beginner’s Manual
- Instant Pot DUO EVO PLUS Beginner’s Manual
- Instant Pot DUO NOVA Beginner’s Manual
- Instant Pot DUO GOURMET Beginner’s Manual
- Instant Pot DUO CRISP Beginner’s Manual
Instant Pot African Peanut Soup – Ingredients
- Chicken
- Sweet potato
- Onion
- Broth
- Spinach
- Tomatoes
- White wine
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Cilantro
- Peanut butter
- Curry powder
- Chili powder
- Black pepper
- Salt
How to Make African Peanut Soup in the Instant Pot (Step by Step Instructions)
- Turn on Saute Mode
- Saute onion, garlic, and ginger
- Saute spices and deglaze
- Saute chicken and add broth
- Add vegetables and peanut butter
- Pressure cook
- Quick-release pressure
- Stir in spinach and garnish with cilantro
How to Turn on Saute Mode
- Instant Pot DUO: Select the Saute function.
- Instant Pot ULTRA: Select the Saute function and press Start.
Saute Onion, Garlic, and Ginger
- Once the Instant Pot has pre-heated, add oil and allow it to heat up.
- Stir in onions, garlic, and ginger and saute till soft, about 2 minutes.
Saute Spices and Deglaze
- Add in salt, black pepper, curry powder, and cayenne pepper (if using).
- Stir until spices are fragrant, about 15 to 30 seconds. *
- Press Cancel.
- Deglaze with white wine. Stir to remove any brown bits. There should be nothing stuck to the bottom of the inner pot.
* If the Instant Pot becomes too hot and the ingredients are burning, turn it off to cool it down and turn back on once cooled. You don’t want to burn the spices! If you need to, add a tablespoon of broth to deglaze the inner pot if you find that the ingredients are browning too quickly.
Saute Chicken and Add Broth
- Once deglazed, stir in the chicken until coated with the spices.
- Stir in broth.
Add Vegetables and Peanut Butter
- Stir in sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and peanut butter.
Instant Pot Duo Pressure Cook 4 minutes
- Close the lid and make sure steam release handle is in Sealing position
- Press Manual (or Pressure Cook) and + or – until the display reads 4 (4 minutes).
Instant Pot Ultra Pressure Cook 4 minutes
- Close the lid.
- Select Pressure Cook mode and adjust the time to 4 minutes (00:04).
- Press ‘Start’.
Pressure Cooking Process (Duo and Ultra)
- Instant Pot display will change to On.
- Once the Instant Pot is pressurized, the float valve will go up.
- The display will count down to 0; it will then switch to Keep Warm mode and display L0:00 or 00 00 and begin to count up the number of minutes since pressure cooking completed.
How to Quick Release Pressure (QR) on the DUO
- Move the steam release handle to Venting. Steam will come out of the steam release handle.
- When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
- Press Cancel and open the Instant Pot.
How to Quick Release Pressure (QR) on the ULTRA
- Press down on the Steam Release Button until it locks into place, and steam begins to come out of the Steam Release Valve.
- When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
- Press Cancel and open the Instant Pot.
[Find out more about the pressure release methods and how and when to use them. ]
Add Spinach and Cilantro
- Add spinach and stir until wilted.
- Garnish with cilantro.
- Serve with cornbread, French bread or couscous.
Instant Pot African Peanut Stew
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup onions chopped
- 2 Tbsp garlic minced
- 1 Tbsp ginger minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper powder
- 1 Tbsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 3 cups chicken broth (1 can)
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 cups sweet potatoes cubed into 1 inch pieces
- 14.50 oz diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup peanut butter preferably creamy natural
- 3 cups baby spinach coarsely chopped
- cilantro to garnish
Instructions
- Select the Saute function and pre-heat the Instant Pot.
- Add oil to the pre-heated inner pot of Instant Pot and allow it to heat up.
- Stir in onions, garlic, ginger and saute till soft, about 2 minutes.
- Add salt, black pepper, curry powder and cayenne pepper, stirring until fragrant about 15 to 30 seconds. *
- Press Cancel.
- Deglaze with white wine. Stir to remove any brown bits. There should be nothing stuck to the bottom of the inner pot.
- Once deglazed, add chicken and stir to coat with spices.
- Stir in broth, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and peanut butter.
- Close the lid and pressure cook on High Pressure for 4 minutes.
- Do a Quick Release (QR) of pressure. [Read More: The Different Pressure Release Methods]
- Select Cancel and open the Instant Pot lid.
- Stir in spinach until wilted.
- Garnish with cilantro.
- Serve with couscous, cornbread or crusty French bread.
Notes
- Prep time does not include steps that are already accounted for in the ingredient list, e.g. minced garlic, cut vegetables, etc.
- See the blog post for more detailed recipe tips.
Nutrition
I am not a certified nutritionist. I provide my best estimate of nutritional information merely as a courtesy to my readers. If you depend on nutritional information for dietary or health reasons, I suggest using your favorite online nutrition calculator to confirm the nutritional value of this recipe based on the actual ingredients that you use.
If you loved this recipe, please give it a five ⭐ rating in the comment section below and please share it on social media using the social media share buttons at the top and bottom of this post. Thank you so much!
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Susan
Wow! This is really good. I’m exploring recipes as part of Black History Month and an African Stew seemed apropos. I’ve never cooked anything like this before. Thank you for helping expand my horizons. A quick thought on sweet potatoes not softening. Just today I learned that there are white sweet potatoes that stay firmer than the orange ones while cooking. I wonder if that is what the reviewer had. I had never heard of them before and bought one by mistake. Found a recipe for roasting them that I’m going to try tomorrow.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks Susan! I love this recipe. I’m working on a vegetarian version of this recipe that is so good too. Hope to put it out sometime in the next few months!
Jocelyn
The cook time at the top of the recipe says 25 minutes. In the body of the recipe the individual step cook times do not add up to 25 minutes. Is there a step missing? BTW, my daughter substituted canned chick peas for the chicken and it was wonderful!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Jocelyn, the cook time includes time to build pressure and to release pressure, in addition to the actual pressure cooking. So I take my best guess on that – about 10 to 15 minutes to build pressure and about 5 to 10 minutes for the pressure to release. I’m glad you liked the recipe.
Leone
I look forward to making this very soon. My one question is what type of curry would you suggest? I have several and I’m not sure which would be best. Probably can’t go wrong no matter what.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Leone, I’ve used different brands: Sun brand, McCormick, Simply Organic. I think it’s more important to have a fresher bottle, if possible.
Lisa
My family devoured this last week and asked me to make it again, so I doubled the recipe. Looking forward to a delicious dinner tonight! Thank you for your very detailed instructions, pictures, videos, etc.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hey Lisa, at this very moment I’m cooking a vegetarian version with a completely different method in the Instant Pot. If it turns out, I’ll be sharing it in the future. I’m glad you like the recipe and appreciate the detail 🙂
Carol SR
This recipe has been a favorite of mine for 40 years and I appreciate the update for Instant Pot cooking. It’s one of those meals that can be ‘dressed up’ for company or served as a family meal.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Wow, Carol, that’s incredible that you’ve been making this dish for so long. I’d love to know what you think of my take on the recipe! Let me know if you try it out.
Albert Chin-A-Young
Great recipe. Very flavourful. And the couscous really made a difference. Definitely added to the taste.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thank you for commenting, Albert! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Marilyn Morrison
I finally made this last night and it was wonderful! I am so sorry that I did not take a picture as it was every bit as beautiful as it was tasty.
I cannot imagine why the previous customer’s sweet potatoes were still hard after 10 mins. I, also, was concerned about the stew being cooked through in only 4 minutes. I gave it 5 and the sweet potatoes were softer than perfect!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Wow, thank you so much Marilyn. After hearing from the last reader I’m so glad you took the time to share your experience. I still don’t know how her sweet potatoes didn’t cook at 10 minutes if they were cut into cubes…
Lynn A
I made this last night. First time I ever had it and my husband and I couldn’t believe how delicious it was. Definitely will be making this again! It had the perfect blend of spices that came together beautifully. None of the flavors over powered the others and it was very satisfying. Thank you for this
Paint the Kitchen Red
Lynn, thanks for letting me know. You’re most welcome 🙂
Jan Z-R
It appears there is NO WAY 4 minutes under pressure cook is enough! After 10 minutes the sweet potatoes are still hard as a rock! Is that a misprint?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Jan, I’ve made this many times, and the sweet potatoes have been cooked very soft at 4 minutes. I don’t understand how they’re not cooked, unless there are different types of sweet potatoes? How big did you cube them? Also, is it possible your Instant Pot didn’t come to pressure?