‹ The dishes of every country › Africa

What to eat in Rwanda

The 10 best dishes in Rwanda

Hill cooking: beans, plantain and brochettes.

1

Brochettes

Best: Kigali

Goat skewers with fries and a beer.

Cook itWhere to eat itWikipedia

2

Isombe

Eaten all over Rwanda

Cassava leaves cooked with eggplant and peanut.

Cook itWhere to eat itWikipedia

3

Ugali

Eaten all over Rwanda

Stiff cassava or maize porridge eaten with beans and isombe at the family table.

Cook itWhere to eat itWikipedia

4A photo like it

Ibihaza

Eaten all over Rwanda

Pumpkin cooked with beans and sometimes milk into a soft, sweet stew.

Cook itWhere to eat it

5

Matoke

Eaten all over Rwanda

Green plantains steamed and stewed with tomato, onion and sometimes beef.

Cook itWhere to eat itWikipedia

6A photo like it

Sambaza

Best: Lake Kivu

Small sardine-like fish from Lake Kivu, fried whole and eaten with lime and a beer.

Cook itWhere to eat itWikipedia

7A photo like it

Akabenz

Best: Kigali

Pork fried crisp in its own fat, served by the plate at bars in Kigali.

Cook itWhere to eat it

8

Mizuzu

Eaten all over Rwanda

Ripe plantains fried until soft and caramelised, a side or a snack.

Cook itWhere to eat itWikipedia

9

Rwandan coffee

Eaten all over Rwanda

Single-origin Bourbon coffee from the hills around Lake Kivu, among the best in Africa.

Cook itWhere to eat itWikipedia

10

Urwagwa

Eaten all over Rwanda

Banana beer brewed at home from ripe bananas and sorghum, shared from one pot.

Cook itWhere to eat itWikipedia

Share Rwanda's dishes

Next door

Every country

Photos: each dish's lead photo on its Wikipedia article (license and author on Wikimedia Commons); "a photo like it" is a food photo of the same kind, not that dish. Cook it opens a recipe in Chef Amazing, or Chef writes one for you. Picked by Chef Amazing, November 2026.