Kitfo

Kitfo Recipe ክትፎ አሰራር

Ethiopian kitfo, three ways: raw, leb leb or fully cooked.

What you need

The Ethiopian essentials

From your kitchen

  • Ground beef (red, no fat, high quality)

How to make it

  1. Melt the kibbeh. Use a lot of niter kibbeh, enough to cover the bottom of the pan from side to side, and melt it over low heat.
  2. Add the spices. Stir in the mitmita, about 3 tablespoons or more to taste, and the korerima.
  3. Add the beef and keep stirring. Add the ground beef and mix it through. Keep stirring the whole time, whichever way you are making it.
  4. Choose how you want it. Raw, the most common way: take it off the heat almost right away, after a few minutes of mixing. Leb leb: give it a little longer, so it is warmed and partly cooked, not raw and not fully cooked. Fully cooked: keep stirring until the beef is cooked all the way through.

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Everything we make that goes into this dish. Add it all to your cart in one click.

Clarified Butter (ንጥር ቅቤ)
$31.99
Mitimita (ሚጥሚጣ)
$15.99
Ethiopian Cardamom (ኮረሪማ)
$13.99
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Kitfo is only as good as its kibbeh and mitmita. Our Niter Kibbeh and Mitmita are the pair it is built on, with Korerima to round it out.

Good to know

Kitfo can be eaten three ways: raw, leb leb (lightly cooked) or fully cooked. Whichever way you make it, the beef has to be red, with no fat, and high quality.

Ethiopians cook by feel, not by measuring, so treat the amounts as a starting point.

Serve it with kocho or injera, or just eat it with a spoon. However you like it.