Doro Wat from Ethiopia

A bowl of Ethiopian Doro Wat with chicken drumsticks and boiled eggs in a rich, spiced sauce.

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This spicy chicken stew, called Doro Wat, is an Ethiopian specialty! It is made with chicken, lots of red onions, and Berbere spice for a flavorful meal. Doro Wat can be a tough recipe to get correct, but this recipe will walk you through all of the steps with ease!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Ethiopian

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 2 5

Total Time 2 20

Servings serving

Calories 659kcal

Author Alexandria Drzazgowski

Ingredients

4 red onions finely chopped
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp Garlic paste
1 Tbsp Ginger paste
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp salt more or less to taste
3-4 tbsp berbere depending on how spicy you want it
3 tbsp ghee or Niter Kibbeh
2 lbs chicken all cuts, bone in, skin removed
2 cups chicken broth
4 hard boiled eggs with little slices cut into the whites

Instructions

In a large pot or dutch oven, add the 4 red onions (do not add oil etc to the pot), and stir for 30-45 minutes until the onions are soft, dark brown, and caramelized. Start off by cooking the onions without any oil, but if halfway through they are starting to burn, you can add 2 Tbsp of the ¼ cup vegetable oil into the pot early.
After the onions are dark, add the remaining vegetable oil, 1 Tbsp Garlic paste, 1 Tbsp Ginger paste, and 3 tbsp tomato paste and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the 1 tsp salt, 3-4 tbsp berbere, and 1 tsp cardamom and 3 tbsp ghee or Niter Kibbeh. Stir for another 5 minutes.
Cut one slice into each piece of 2 lbs chicken , then place it in the pot. Stir to coat the chicken in the onion and tomato combination.
Add 2 cups chicken broth in with the chicken, cover, and simmer for about 60 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened to look more like a stew.
Add 4 hard boiled eggs and cook for another 5 minutes. If you want a thinner Doro Wat, you can add some water to the pot, and if you want it a little thicker, you can cook these last few minutes with no lid.
Serve with injera and enjoy!

Video

Notes

Recipe researched using Cooking with Claudy, Eat-opian, Cooking with Claire. Recipe Copyright The Foreign Fork. For educational or personal use only.

Red Onions: Feel free to add plenty more red onions in accordance with your taste. Some Doro Wat recipes use up to 3-5 kilograms of red onions for one stew.
Garlic paste + Ginger paste: You can make this yourself by placing fresh garlic and fresh ginger in a food processor and pulsing into smooth. However, if you want less dishes, using the store-packaged stuff will work.
Cardamom: Some Ethiopian recipes call for cardamom and some do not. Feel free to leave out if you prefer.
Berbere: Berbere is a spice mix popular in Ethiopian cuisine, made with cumin, cayenne, paprika, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice. You can buy Berbere online, or make your own.
Ghee or Niter Kibbeh: Niter Kibbeh is an Ethiopian ghee that is spiced with flavors like cumin, cinnamon, and cardamom. You can buy Niter Kibbeh online, or make your own Niter Kibbeh in the Instant Pot.
Chicken: All cuts, bone in, skin removed. I used 2 pounds of a fully jointed chicken with the bones in, including thighs, breasts, & drumsticks. I discarded the chicken wings, as I didn’t want to overcook them but you can keep them if you prefer. For juicier, more flavorful cuts, use dark meat like thighs and legs. For cheaper, thicker cuts, use chicken breast.
Tomato Paste: Tomato paste is not a common ingredient in Ethiopia, but it is a very common ingredient in Eritrea! Ethiopians have likened it to using cream in a carbonara recipe... It's not the original way, but it's common enough in some areas that it has become a valid way to make the dish! Feel free to omit it if you'd prefer.
I cooked my onions for about 20 minutes without any oil before they started to burn. At this point, add some oil to keep your onions caramelizing instead of burning. The onions should look a deep golden brown, almost jammy, when they are ready.
Feel free to add more broth at the end if you prefer a thinner Doro Wat. If you want your sauce thick, leave the lid off for the last five minutes of cooking.
If you want to hard boil the eggs in the Instant Pot instead of boiling them, you can definitely do this! I follow the 5-5-5 method, which is 5 minutes on HIGH pressure, 5 minute Natural Release, and 5 minutes in an ice cold bath.
Wash your chicken with water, lime and salt before cooking to clean it thoroughly. This is a method that can also be found in my Haitian Griot recipe!
The slices in the chicken and eggs allow for the spices to sink in deeper, giving each bite more flavor!
Your chicken should be fully cooked after about 20 minutes but the longer it stews the more tender and flavorful it becomes!