What Is Garri? How to Drink Garri, Make Eba & Choose the Right Kind

If you grew up in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon or Sierra Leone, you know garri. It's the bowl of cold soaked garri with groundnuts on a hot afternoon, the eba next to your egusi soup, and the bag every boarding school student packed in their trunk. If you're new to it, here's everything you need: what garri is, the different kinds, how to drink it and how to make eba.

What is garri?

Garri is made from cassava, the hardy root grown all over West Africa. The cassava is peeled, grated and left to ferment for a few days, which gives garri its gentle sour taste. The pulp is then pressed to squeeze out the liquid, sifted, and toasted in a wide pan until it becomes dry, crisp granules that look a little like coarse sand.

Because it's already cooked and dried, garri needs no further cooking to eat. That's why it's one of the most practical foods in an African pantry: add cold water and you have a snack, add hot water and you have a meal.

White, yellow or Ijebu: which garri should you buy?

How to drink garri (soaked garri)

“Drinking garri” is what everyone calls it, even though it ends up closer to a cold cereal than a drink. It takes two minutes.

1. Pour about half a cup of garri into a bowl or large cup.
2. Cover it with cold water and give it a stir. Any light bits of fiber will float to the top. Pour that first water off.
3. Add fresh cold water, about three times as much water as garri. The colder the better.
4. Sweeten with sugar or honey to taste.
5. Top it your way: roasted groundnuts (peanuts), a splash of evaporated milk, coconut chunks and a few ice cubes.

Everyone has their own style. Some people like it thin and icy as a drink, others like it thick with milk like a breakfast cereal. Ijebu garri gives the classic sweet-and-sour taste.

How to make eba

Eba is garri turned into a soft, stretchy “swallow” that you eat with soup. It's one of the quickest swallows to make.

1. Boil water and pour about 1 cup into a bowl.
2. Sprinkle garri evenly over the surface a little at a time, until it just covers the water. Don't dump it all in at once or you'll get lumps.
3. Leave it for about a minute so the grains soak up the water.
4. Fold and turn with a wooden spoon or spatula, pressing out any lumps, until it's smooth. Add a little more garri if it's too soft, or a splash of hot water if it's too firm.
5. Shape it into a ball and serve warm.

Pinch off a piece with your fingers, make a small dent with your thumb, and scoop up your soup. Eba goes with egusi soup, okra soup, ogbono and efo riro.

Other ways to eat garri

Garri is also eaten dry, straight from the bag with sugar and groundnuts. In Ghana it's sprinkled over beans and red red, or cooked into gari foto with eggs, tomatoes and onions. In Liberia it's mixed with peanuts and honey into a sweet called kanyan.

Is garri healthy?

Garri is mostly carbohydrate. It fills you up and gives quick energy, but on its own it's low in protein. That's why the groundnuts, milk and soup that traditionally go with it matter: they round out the meal.

Soaked garri with lots of sugar is a sweet treat, so go easy on the sugar, especially if you're watching your blood sugar. If you have diabetes, talk to your doctor about how garri fits your diet.

Raw cassava contains natural compounds that have to be removed before it's safe to eat. Fermenting, pressing and toasting is exactly what does that, which is why you should buy garri from brands you trust.

How to store garri

Keep garri in an airtight container in a cool, dry cupboard. Kept dry, it lasts for months. If it ever smells musty or gets damp, throw it out.

Shop garri at Yado Market

Igbasan Ijebu Garri, 5 lbBest for soaking → Yellow Garri, 5 lb & 10 lbGreat for eba → Ghana Gari, 2 lbFine grain → KIVO 4 in 1 Soaking MixReady to soak →

In Chicago? Pick up garri at our store at 1651 E 87th St, or browse all fufu, flour and garri with fast shipping across the U.S.

Garri questions

Is garri the same as fufu?

No. Both come from cassava, but garri is fermented and toasted into dry granules, while fufu is a soft dough traditionally pounded from boiled cassava, plantain or yam. Eba, made from garri, is a type of swallow like fufu.

Is garri gluten-free?

Garri is made only from cassava, which is naturally gluten-free. If you need to avoid gluten strictly, check the package for how it was processed.

Why does my soaked garri have bits floating on top?

Those are small pieces of cassava fiber. Stir, pour off that first water, then add fresh cold water.

How much water do I need for eba?

Start with about 1 cup of boiling water and add garri until it just covers the surface. You'll quickly learn the texture you like.

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