Nigerian Party Food: What to Cook and How Much to Make
Nigerian parties run on volume. Naming ceremonies, weddings, birthdays, and the immovable rule that nobody leaves hungry and everybody leaves with a takeaway pack.
The recipes are not the hard part. The quantities are.
How much rice
- 150g to 200g of uncooked rice per adult where there is also swallow, meat and sides.
- 50 guests: 8 to 10kg uncooked, or a 25lb bag with room to spare.
- 100 guests: a 50lb bag, and you will still be scraping the pot.
Always cook more than the maths says. Takeaway packs are not optional.
The standard party table
- Jollof rice. Non-negotiable.
- Fried rice. Alongside, never instead.
- One soup with swallow. Egusi is the safe choice.
- Meat. Fried, peppered or grilled.
- Moi moi, made with beans flour unless you enjoy peeling beans for eighty people.
- Fried plantain.
- Small chops: puff puff, spring rolls, chin chin.
- Salad with salad cream.
Buy the catering sizes
- Gino Party Jollof mix, box of 50. Named for exactly this.
- Tasty Tom, box of 50.
- Fried rice seasoning, 56oz.
- Suya spice, 3.7lb if grilling.
- Cameroon pepper, 3lb.
- Maggi, 100 cubes.
Drinks
Two to three per person across the event.
- Maltina and Malta Guinness, boxes of 12 and 24.
- La Casera, box of 12.
- Zobo, made the night before. One kilo covers a large gathering.
- Guinness and Pure Heaven for toasts.
The timeline that works
- Two weeks out: order everything.
- Three days out: make and freeze the stew base.
- Night before: zobo, moi moi, chin chin. All better on day two.
- Morning of: jollof and fried rice. Rice does not reheat well.
- Two hours before: fry plantain and meat.
The one thing people forget
Takeaway packs. Containers, foil, bags. Running out of containers is more embarrassing than running out of jollof.
We ship catering sizes anywhere in the United States. Around Dallas and Fort Worth we deliver, which on a fifty-person order is worth asking about.