Sauce Arachide
Also: Groundnut stew, Peanut sauce, Tigadégué (related), Mafé (related)
A West African stew built on ground peanuts and tomato slow-cooked with chicken (or other meat), onion, palm or peanut oil and spices into a rich, thick sauce eaten over rice or a starch.
Identity criteria
- 1Ground peanuts / peanut paste as the defining base of the sauce
- 2Tomato (paste or fresh) giving colour and body
- 3A meat protein — classically chicken — simmered in the sauce
- 4Onion, garlic and chilli aromatics with the peanut base
- 5Long, slow cooking to a thick, rich, oily sauce
- 6Served over rice or a starch staple as a one-pot main
Components
Ground peanuts / peanut paste (groundnut)essential
Chicken (or beef, lamb, fish)essential
Onion, garlic, ginger, chilliessential
Palm oil or peanut oilessential
Tomato / tomato pasteessentialBalances the richness and colours the sauce
Water or stockessential
Stock cube, pepper, sometimes smoked fish/dried shrimpoptional
Technique
- Building a peanut-tomato sauce base
- Cooking out the peanut paste with tomato and aromatics is what creates the dish's identity
- Slow simmering / braising
- Lets the peanut sauce thicken, the oil separate and the meat go tender
Form & serving
- Served
- Ladled over rice or a starch
- Temperature
- Hot
- Portion
- A hearty bowl as a main
- Pairs with
- White rice · Fufu, foutou or pâte · Plantain · Couscous (in the Sahel)
Character
Flavour
Texture
Thick, creamy, oily sauce with tender meat
Eaten
A celebratory and everyday West African family main, served at gatherings and Sunday meals over rice or starch staples.
When
year-round
Variations & related
Regional variations
- Mafé / maafe · Senegal, Mali
The wider Mande groundnut-stew name, often with lamb or beef and vegetables
- Tigadégué · Mali
Bambara name for the groundnut sauce
- Beninese/Ivorian sauce arachide · Benin, Côte d'Ivoire
Francophone coastal renditions, frequently with chicken and palm oil
Related dishes
- sibling Mafé
The Senegalese/Malian name for essentially the same groundnut stew
- pairs-with Rice
The most common starch served beneath it
Substitutions
Chicken → Beef, lamb, or fishadmissible
Any common protein works in the same sauce
Ground peanuts → No peanut / a tomato-only sauceinadmissible
Removing the groundnut base makes it a different stew entirely
Common mistakes
- Not cooking out the raw-peanut taste, leaving the sauce flat
- Letting the peanut sauce scorch or split from too-high heat
- Under-thickening into a thin soup rather than a rich stew
- Skimping on tomato, so the richness has nothing to balance it
Provenance
A shared West African and Sahelian groundnut stew known under many names (mafé, tigadégué, sauce arachide), claimed across Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Mali and Guinea.
Shared by: Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Guinea
References
- 1.West African culinary tradition
- 2.Sahelian groundnut-stew references
Confidence: high