Berbere is an essential Ethiopian spice mix, used almost every day in Ethiopian home cooking. Get the recipe and learn how to make it yourself.

Used in sauces, on meats, and tons of platters, berbere is an iconic firey red pepper spice blend that adds an earthy heat to dishes. It's used nearly every day in Ethopian home cooking.

Preparing berbere is always a labor of love because of the many steps and the variety of ingredients.

Berbere is made of a variety of Ethiopian spices, blended together. In Ethopia, every household mixes and blends their own berbere spices at home. Then they take the mix to a shop that grinds the spices. The result is truly magical: A versatile and delicious spice blend that tells the story of the household that creates it.

Because we cook with berbere nearly every day, Ethiopian households prepare a very large volume - about 40 pounds! - of berbere at once. We store and use this amount for about a year.

Here is the traditional way to make Berbere:

Step 1

Rinse and sun dry about 37 pounds of chili pods (these are similar to California or New Mexico chilis). Remove the stems, then shred into pieces in a traditional spice grinder (mortar and pestle) at home.

Step 2

Mince, then sun dry, a fresh spice mix of rue seeds, besobela (sacred basil), red onions, garlic and ginger.

Step 3

Mix together dry whole spices, like black cardamom, black cumin seed and ajawain seed, cinnamon and cloves. Roast them a little, then ground with a mortar and pestle.

Step 4

Now all the chilis, herbs and spices get mixed up and will be taken to the spice grinder shop. ​

Here in North America, it's hard to grow or find the same fresh herbs and whole spices that are available in Ethiopia. That makes it equally hard to duplicate the exact flavor of berbere. If you want to try making berbere at home, below is a recipe that I have created. It's the closest I've been able to come to recreating the flavor of berbere here in the United States.

Recipe for Ethiopian Berbere Spice

Ingredients:

¼ cup New Mexico chili

¼ cup Hungarian paprika

2 teaspoon freeze-dried red onion

2 teaspoon freeze-dried garlic

2 teaspoon whole black cardamom

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon whole ajwain seeds (Nech Azmud)

¼ teaspoon whole black cumin seeds (Tikur Azmud)

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon powder

5 whole cloves

2 teaspoons dried Ethiopian besobela (sacred basil)

½ teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Put the whole spices (black cardamom, ajawain seeds and black cumin seeds) on a small skillet over medium-low heat and toast for about 2 minutes, shaking the skillet at times to avoid burning. Cool down for a little bit then grind in a spice grinder with the dried Ethiopian besobela. Add all the other ingredients and grind more to get all the spices blended. This recipe results in a milder berbere, but it has all the good berbere flavor.

Tip:

Add your favorite hot chili powder to make it spicier.

Note:

Store in an airtight container for up to a year.

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A little about me

Are you interested learning about cooking Ethiopian food? if so, I would love to share with you some of the Ethiopian dishes I cook at home. My name is Eleni. I was born and raised in Ethiopia. I came to the United States about 19 years ago. I live with my husband and two kids (ages 10 and 12) in the beautiful state of Oregon, near Portland. I am a caterer, food instructor and a farmer’s market vendor – and everything I do is exclusively related to Ethiopian food. Now I’ve created this blog to share recipes, tips, and ingredients to make it easy for you to prepare Ethiopian food at home.