Trust us when we say you need this homemade suya spice recipe in your life! Use it to make Beef Suya, Epic Chicken Wings, or Cameroonian Soya Without Skewers.

What Is Suya?

Suya or soya is the quintessential West African street food that is made up of well-spiced grilled pieces of meat that are mostly placed on a skewer.

In Nigeria, it is called suya, in Cameroon, it is called soya, in Ghana, it is called, “chinchinga”.

In French it is called, “les brochettes”. It is also known as “beef kebab” or “kabob”. It is one of our guilty pleasures – so tasty and a little addicting.

Street Food At Home

The Hausa men who usually sell suya on the streets have had a fair share of our money. We have bought a lot of suya in our lifetime.

When we moved to the United States, we had to find a way of making our eat-suya dreams a reality. So we started experimenting with making soya at home. Sometimes, we would marinate the meat with freshly ground spices and you can see how we do that in this video.

At other times, we would attempt to mimic the signature suya spice (or soya pepper) that the Hausa men who sell the BBQ meat always use.

In the beginning, we were mostly disappointed with our results because the spice was not just suya-ish as we expected.

But we're not one to give up especially when that concerns trying a new recipe. So we kept testing and tweaking until finally, we have the perfect suya spice recipe. Somebody praise the Lord!

Ingredients For Homemade Suya Spice

The three main ingredients needed for Homemade Suya Spice are:

Roasted peanut powder: Peanuts are also known as groundnuts in Central and West Africa.
Ginger powder: Ginger powder adds a unique flavor
Hot pepper powder: Cayenne pepper powder would work here

Other ingredients for Suya Spice Include:

Salt
Maggi (or bouillon powder) will give you a great suya spice
White or black pepper
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Paprika, for some color. Smoked paprika will add smokiness

Homemade Suya Spice Is Better

And let us tell you, this suya spice is soooo TASTY. When using it, you do not need to add anything to your meat.

We compared it with packaged suya spice we bought from the African store and it is farrrrr better. It is fresh and full of flavour while the store-bought version is so flat and smells a little moldy. So homemade suya spice over store-bought any day!

You could use this suya spice to marinate meat, fish, or chicken. It is a must-have for your kitchen shelf! If you do not want it hot, omit the hot pepper.

We currently have two versions at home – the one with hot pepper and the one without. The one without is for our kids and the one with the heat is for the Mr. N and I.

A wooden spoon filled with West African Suya spice.

Watch The Video

We made a video in which we demonstrate how you can make your own homemade suya at home and you know, be your own spice guru!

How it comes together

Yield: 10 tablespoons
Prep: 10 minutes
Total: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1/4 cup ginger powder
1/4 cup peanut powder, substitute with ground peanuts (groundnuts). Use a cloth to squeeze out oil from the groundnuts before use
2 small cubes Maggi (seasoning cube)
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon paprika, optional

Method

Combine all the ingredients in a small blender cup or coffee grinder then blend them until well combined.
Pass the blend through a fine sieve.
Put in an airtight container and keep for use. You could also freeze it if you want.
Use this soya spice to rub on skewered meat before grilling or use as a marinade for chicken or fish.