West African staples are mostly starch plus a rich soup. Fufu has about 165 calories per 100 g (about 400 per cup), pounded yam about 116-136, and soups range from about 75 to 265 calories per 100 g depending on how much palm oil, peanut or egusi goes in. A cup of jollof rice is roughly 300-370 calories, and beef suya about 235-275 per 100 g of meat.
Most of the figures below come from the FAO/INFOODS West African Food Composition Table, a lab-based database built for the region, cross-checked with USDA FoodData Central. Jollof, egusi soup and suya don't have analyzed entries in either, so for those we show the estimate and the arithmetic behind it.
Key takeaways
- Swallows are the big calorie item: 1 cup (240 g) of fufu is about 400 calories; pounded yam about 280-330.
- Oil and seeds decide soup calories: each tablespoon of palm oil adds 120 calories and each ounce of ground egusi 163.
- Suya is high in protein: lean grilled beef has 31 g of protein per 100 g.
- Dodo soaks up oil: deep-fried plantain is about 375 calories per 100 g, versus about 137 boiled.
- A party plate adds up: 2 cups of jollof with chicken and dodo runs about 1,000-1,300 calories.
West African food calories at a glance
Per 100 g (3.5 oz) and per common portion. WAFCT is the FAO West African table; USDA is FoodData Central.
| Food | Calories per 100 g (kcal) | Portion | Calories per portion (kcal) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fufu (fermented cassava) | 165 | 1 cup (240 g) | 396 | WAFCT, USDA 166 |
| Pounded yam (boiled yam) | 116-136 | 1 cup (240 g) | 278-326 | USDA, WAFCT |
| Kenkey (fermented maize) | 139 | 1 ball (200 g) | 278 | WAFCT |
| Gari, dry (for eba) | 351 | 100 g dry | 351 | WAFCT |
| White rice, cooked | 115-130 | 1 cup (158 g) | 182-205 | WAFCT, USDA |
| Ogi or pap, cooked | 51 | 1 cup (240 g) | 122 | WAFCT |
| Black-eyed peas, boiled | 116-122 | 1/2 cup (85 g) | 99-104 | USDA, WAFCT |
| Akara-style fried bean cakes | 253 | 100 g | 253 | WAFCT |
| Plantain, ripe, boiled | 137 | 100 g | 137 | WAFCT |
| Plantain, deep-fried (dodo) | 236-375 | 1/2 cup (85 g) | 201-319 | USDA, WAFCT |
| Goat meat, lean, grilled | 167 | 3 oz (85 g) | 142 | WAFCT |
| Beef, lean, grilled | 182 | 3 oz (85 g) | 155 | WAFCT |
| Chicken, dark meat with skin, grilled | 264 | 3 oz (85 g) | 224 | WAFCT |
| Catfish fillet, steamed | 121 | 3 oz (85 g) | 103 | WAFCT |
| Egusi (melon) seeds, dried | 574 | 1 oz (28 g) | 163 | WAFCT |
| Palm oil | 884 | 1 tbsp (13.6 g) | 120 | USDA |
The gari row is a dry weight; eba is gari stirred into hot water, so its calories per 100 g depend on how much water you use. Log the dry gari if you can.
Jollof rice calories
Jollof is rice cooked in a blended tomato, pepper and onion base with oil and stock. No lab database has analyzed it, so here's a per-cup estimate built from its parts:
| Component (per 1 cup of jollof) | Calories (kcal) | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Cooked long-grain or parboiled rice, 1 cup (158 g) | 194-205 | USDA |
| Cooking oil, 2 tsp to 1 tbsp | 80-120 | USDA, 120 per tbsp |
| Tomato, pepper and onion base, stock | about 20-40 | Nutrify estimate |
| Total, Nutrify estimate | about 300-370 |
The oil is the swing factor. A pot made with a generous pour lands at the top of the range or above; a lighter hand lands near 300.
A typical party plate, 2 cups of jollof with a 3 oz grilled chicken thigh (with skin) and half a cup of dodo, comes to roughly 1,025-1,285 calories. For plain rice portions, see calories in a bowl of rice.
Fufu, pounded yam, eba and other swallows
"Swallows" are the soft starch balls eaten with soup. They're filling and mostly carbohydrate, with little protein or fat:
- Fufu (fermented cassava): 165 calories, 1.0 g protein, 0.4 g fat and 38.7 g carbs per 100 g (WAFCT). USDA's fufu entry agrees at 166.
- Pounded yam: boiled yam pounded smooth. USDA lists boiled yam at 116 calories per 100 g; WAFCT's Nigerian yam cultivars average 136, with 6 g of fiber.
- Kenkey: fermented maize dough, 139 calories per 100 g with 3.7 g protein.
- Eba: made from gari (toasted fermented cassava), which is 351 calories per 100 g dry.
Because swallows are eaten by hand in big portions, they are often the largest calorie item on the plate. A fist-sized ball is easy to underestimate; weighing one serving once gives you a reference for next time.
Egusi and other West African soups
The FAO table includes several soups and sauces analyzed from recipes in Burkina Faso. They're not identical to Nigerian or Ghanaian versions, but they show how much the oil and nut or seed base matters:
| Soup or sauce (WAFCT) | Calories per 100 g (kcal) | Per 1 cup, 240 g (kcal) | Fat per 100 g (g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jute mallow leaf sauce with fish and palm oil (like ewedu) | 75 | 180 | 5.5 |
| Red palm oil sauce with fish and vegetables | 127 | 305 | 9.5 |
| Dried okra sauce with beef and red palm oil | 144 | 346 | 11.7 |
| Groundnut sauce with fish and vegetables | 166 | 398 | 12.5 |
| Yassa sauce with lamb, onion and mustard | 226 | 542 | 20.5 |
| Cassava leaf sauce with fish and palm oil | 264 | 634 | 23.7 |
Egusi soup has no analyzed entry, but its two main calorie sources are easy to count. Ground egusi seeds have 163 calories, 7.8 g protein and 12.8 g fat per ounce (28 g). Palm oil adds 120 calories per tablespoon. A bowl with 1 oz of egusi, 1 tbsp of palm oil, 3 oz of goat meat and leafy greens comes to about 445 calories (Nutrify estimate). Served with a cup of pounded yam, the meal is about 720-770 calories.
A cup of fufu with a cup of groundnut soup comes to about 794 calories using the WAFCT values.
Suya calories and protein
Suya is thin-sliced beef (sometimes chicken, ram or offal) rubbed with yaji, a spice mix built on ground roasted peanuts, then grilled. Here's an estimate for 100 g of beef made into suya:
| Component | Calories (kcal) | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Lean beef, grilled, 100 g | 182 | WAFCT; 31.3 g protein |
| Yaji spice rub, about 1 tbsp (mostly ground peanut) | about 53 | USDA peanuts, 587 per 100 g |
| Oil brushed on, 0-1 tsp | 0-40 | USDA |
| Total, Nutrify estimate | about 235-275 |
That gives about 31-33 g of protein per 100 g, which makes suya one of the higher-protein street foods in the region. The onions and tomatoes served with it add very little. Fattier cuts and extra oil move it up.
Fried plantain (dodo), akara and beans
Plantain changes a lot with cooking. Ripe boiled plantain is about 137 calories per 100 g. Deep-fried, it absorbs oil: the FAO table lists 375 calories and 16.9 g fat per 100 g, while USDA's restaurant fried plantain is 236. Half a cup of dodo is about 200-320 calories.
Black-eyed peas (cowpeas) are the base of akara and moin moin. Boiled, they have 122 calories, 8.5 g protein and 4.7 g fiber per 100 g. The FAO table's fried cowpea cakes from Burkina Faso, close to akara, have 253 calories and 12.6 g protein per 100 g. Moin moin is the steamed version; there's no analyzed entry, so log it as boiled black-eyed peas plus the oil in the recipe. Akara with pap is also on our list of breakfasts around the world.
Is West African food healthy?
Many everyday West African foods are nutritious: beans and black-eyed peas bring protein and fiber, yams have about 6 g of fiber per 100 g, leafy soups such as ewedu are light, and grilled fish and meat are high in protein.
Two things decide whether a meal is heavy:
- Palm oil. It has 120 calories per tablespoon, and about 49% of its fat is saturated (USDA). It also supplies vitamin E. A measured tablespoon or two per pot of soup, rather than a free pour, makes a big difference.
- Portion of swallow or rice. A cup of fufu is about 400 calories before any soup. Cutting the swallow portion is usually the biggest single saving on the plate.
If you're watching saturated fat for heart health, talk to your doctor about how much palm oil fits your diet. Similar patterns show up in Caribbean food and Ethiopian food.
How to log a West African meal
- Log the swallow and the soup separately. They're the two biggest numbers.
- Weigh one portion once. After you know what 240 g of fufu or pounded yam looks like in your bowl, you can estimate by eye.
- Count the oil at the pot level. Divide the palm oil or vegetable oil you used by the number of servings.
- Log dry gari for eba when you can.
For home-cooked pots, our guide to tracking homemade recipes shows how to split a recipe into servings. In Nutrify you can also photograph the plate or describe it by voice ("one cup fufu, one cup egusi soup with goat") and adjust portions after. Nutrify has a 7-day free trial, then a paid subscription.
Sources
- FAO/INFOODS. West African Food Composition Table / Table de composition des aliments d'Afrique de l'Ouest, 2019. Codes used: wet fufu 02_041, gari 02_039, boiled Nigerian yam 02_035, kenkey 01_099, ogi 01_100, boiled white rice 01_038, boiled cowpea 03_007, fried cowpea cakes 03_154, boiled ripe plantain 02_058, deep-fried plantain 02_084, egusi seed 06_013, grilled lean goat 07_114, grilled lean beef 07_011, grilled chicken dark meat with skin 07_032, steamed catfish 09_019, sauces 14_016, 14_005, 14_018, 14_008, 14_010, 14_025.
- USDA FoodData Central, FDC IDs: fufu 2709568 (FNDDS), yam boiled 170072, black-eyed peas boiled 173759, long-grain rice cooked 168878, parboiled rice cooked 169708, fried plantain 168200, palm oil 171015, dry-roasted peanuts 173806. Search any ID at fdc.nal.usda.gov.
