Berbere Spice Mix

Berbere or berberé is an aromatic East African spice mix, a delicious seasoning blend that is essential to the cooking of Eritrea and Ethiopia. Make your own blend easily at home with this simple berbere recipe for a taste of the ancient spice routes.

What is berbere?

Berbere is a traditional aromatic spice blend from the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa, complex and enticing with a touch (or sometimes a distinctly hefty kick) of heat.

See also

• Peri peri seasoning, a hot and spicy blend that comes from a fusion of African and Portuguese flavours
• For a taste of North African Spice, try this Moroccan chicken and rice dish.
• Explore my guide to the spices of the Middle East

This deliciously complex spice mix makes a fragrant rub for meats and is key to East African stews like doro wat, a chicken stew with boiled egg that is characteristic of Ethiopia and Eritrea, zigni or sigi wat, which more often contains red meat, and misir wat, a distinctive spicy vegetarian lentil dish.

The key flavours in a berbere spice mix are chilli and ginger, bitter notes of turmeric, fenugreek, classically aromatic cumin and coriander, and the sweeter spices like nutmeg and cinnamon, balancing out the heat.

As with all traditional spice blends, different families and different cooks have their own blend, varying the heat and the bitter and sweet elements. Some versions are very complex and contain spices not widely available outside of the region, such as rue, aijwan and korarima, a spice from the ginger family that is sometimes called Ethiopian or false cardamon.

Needless to say, my easy berbere recipe is simpler, using ingredients that are easy to find on supermarket shelves. Mine is not a particularly fiery version but some like it very hot and you can ramp up the heat as much as you like.

Where does berbere seasoning come from?

Berbere’s history goes back to the old spice routes, when spices were brought by sea from India and South East Asia to Arabia, North Africa and Europe through the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez.

The berbere spice mix is characteristic of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia but it makes full use of spices from across the globe, including the New World chillies in the mix that lend their delicious heat to modern berbere spice recipes.

Berbere seems to me to have one foot in Africa and one in Arabia. This makes sense when you look at the map and see just how close Eritrea and Djibouti are to Yemen. The strait is narrower than the English Channel. They’re even talking about building a bridge!

The coastal area of East Africa from which berbere originates was known as Barbaria to the ancient Greeks and Somalia has a port called Berbera, which was a major trading centre in the Middle Ages.

It feels like there ought to be a connection, but I am told that the name of the spice comes instead from the Amharic for hot or hot pepper. So however you vary the recipe, you definitely need the chilli!

Why make berbere spice mix

• key ingredient that opens up so many East African dishes

• fabulously spicy

• easy to make and easy to use

• make it your way

Berbere seasoning ingredients

• Dried chillies – whatever you do, you need some chilli heat in this berbere spice mix, but how much is up to you! Opt for sweeter, smokier chillies or fierce ones as you prefer.

• Black pepper – another source of heat

• Cumin – pungent and earthy

• Coriander seed – aromatic and peppery

• Smoked paprika – the sweet smokiness adds real complexity

• Allspice – these little berries are similar in flavour to nutmeg, cinnamon and clove. Not to be confused with mixed spice!

• Cardamon – the fragrant seeds from green cardamon pods

• Cloves – delicious in moderation, really not very nice (my reference book says ‘camphorous’) in excess

• Turmeric – earthy and a little bitter aad adds that glorious colour

• Fenugreek seeds (not shown) – herby, astringent and bitter, this is part of the traditional berbere spice mix recipe but some people are sensitive or full-on allergic.
  
  I don’t get on too well with fenugreek. To add insult to injury, while many report that it makes their skin smell lovely, it always seems to smell stale on me!
  
  So I only use a tiny pinch or even leave it out altogether for myself at home. My recipe here contains a scant half a teaspoon. If you love it, then you can add a little extra.

• Ginger – hot and fresh

• Cinnamon – sweet and warming

• Nutmeg – sweet and woody

• Garlic powder – savoury

How to make berbere spice mix – step by step

Before you start, read my step-by-step instructions, with photos, hints and tips so you can make this berbere spice mix recipe perfectly every time.

Scroll down for the recipe card with quantities and more tips at the bottom of the page.

Step One – Remove the seeds and membranes from the dried chillies.

Lightly crush the cardamon pods under a glass or jar and scrape out the seeds, discarding the outer pods.

Put both the chilli and the cardamon seeds in a heavy dry pan with the rest of the whole spices. Toast the spices over a medium heat, shaking every 10 seconds or so. Heat until fragrant, ensuring that your spices do not burn.

Step Two – Transfer to a spice or coffee grinder and whizz for a few seconds until powdered. 

Do not remove the lid for a good few seconds after grinding, in order to allow the powder to settle.

If you remove the lid immediately, you will get a waft of powdered chilli spice drifting up in your face and over the kitchen counter. I have made this mistake and it took a while to stop coughing and for my eyes to stop watering. Please learn from my mistake and spare yourself the experience!

Helen’s Fuss Free Tip: Spice/Coffee grinders

If you grind both spices and coffee beans on a regular basis I recommend getting a more expensive grinder with two removable containers/bowls.

Label one for coffee and one for spices. Even with regular trips through the dishwasher, mine retain a distinct smell of either coffee or spices, and I don’t want either flavour to taint the other.

Many brands are available. Mine is a Cusinart that I have used several times a day for at least 15 years. 

It is worth it for the fresher coffee and being able to use one gadget for both coffee and spices.

Step Three – Add the remaining ingredients (the powdered spices), and briefly whizz to mix. Allow to settle.

Step Four – Transfer to a storage jar with a good seal. It helps to use a funnel to do this, so that you avoid waste and mess.

Serving suggestions

• Use in meat and vegetable stews, especially the classic Ethiopian doro wat.

• Use your berbere seasoning as a rub on meats to be grilled, or mix it with some yogurt and use as a marinade.

• Toss vegetables in a mixture of the berbere spice mix and olive oil before roasting.

• Add berbere seasoning to soups for an earthy, spicy twist.

• Sprinkle over dips like hummus.

Variations

• I have not included aijwan/carom in my recipe as this is less easy to find than the other ingredients, but it is available in Indian grocers. It is widely used in berbere mixes and if you have this cousin of caraway seed, it will add another layer of flavour.

• Add more chilli! Some versions of berbere are really rather hot. If that’s how you like it, you can unleash your inner fire demon!

Storage

As with all spices, store in a cool, dark, dry cupboard or drawer. The shortest date on the ingredients is the ‘best before’ date, though the spice mix will not go off if stored correctly. Flavour will diminish over time if you keep it for years.

Hints and tips

• Don’t forget to give the spices a moment to settle before you open the grinder. You don’t want chilli in your eyes!

• Use a grinder with two separate bowls so that you don’t get spiced coffee (unless you wanted it with cardamon).

FAQs

More seasoning mix recipes

• Greek seasoning – fresh with Mediterranean herbs

• Paella seasoning – deliciously fragrant

• Italian seasoning – perfect for pizza

• Explore all my homemade seasoning mix recipes.