Come, fall in love with these crunchy, light-as-a-cloud Akara or black-eyed pea fritters. These African-style fritters are simply seasoned with onions and scotch bonnet peppers, but they are loaded with savory flavor.
Deep-fried bean fritters are popular in many cultures, including falafel in the Mediterranean, southern fried pinto bean fritters here in the United States and vada or vadai in India. These akara, black-eyed pea fritters, are yet another amazing recipe to add to that delicious list.
Table of Contents
What is akara?
Akara are golden, crunchy, puffy bean fritters, often made with cowpeas or black-eyed peas, from the West African region, which includes countries like Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Ghana, among others. Akara is usually eaten stuffed inside bread, like a burger, or with a cornmeal porridge called pap, for breakfast.
Versions of akara are also eaten in the Caribbean and in Brazil, which are home to large populations of people of African origin. In Brazil, where they are sold as street food, they are called Acarajé.
If you love black-eyed peas in breakfast recipes or as a snack, be sure to try out these vegan black-eyed pea cakes and these black-eyed peas sweet potato pancakes.
Why you will love this recipe
- Full-bodied flavor and texture. This is a simple recipe but it is big on taste and crunch.
- Five ingredients. You need just a few ingredients to make this akara recipe and you likely already have them in your pantry.
- Friendly to all diets. This is a gluten-free recipe and it is also soy-free, nut-free and vegan.
- Easy to make. The batter comes together in the food processor and all you need to do is drop blobs of it in the hot oil.
Ingredients
- Dried black-eyed peas. These have a delicious sweet, nutty flavor that works nicely in these fritters and adds the most authentic flavor.
- Red onion. Yellow onions are okay too but the spicy flavor of red onion is nice here. You can also substitute shallots.
- Scotch bonnet pepper or habanero pepper. You need a hot pepper in this akara recipe, and the heat is tempered down by the deep frying. But if you can't stand the idea of a very hot pepper use a moderately hot pepper like jalapeno instead.
- Cilantro. This is not always added to akara, but I really like the flavor it adds. Leave it out if you like, but it's really good here.
- Oil for deep frying. Use an oil with a high smoke point, like peanut oil, avocado oil, sunflower oil or canola oil.
How to make Akara
1. Place the dried black eyed peas in a bowl covered with two inches of water.
2. Let the black-eyed peas stand six to eight hours. The peas will absorb water and puff up quite a bit. Drain out the water.
3. Place the black-eyed peas in a food processor bowl along with onions, cilantro, chili peppers and salt.
4. Process without any added water until fairly smooth but still very textured. Remove the batter to a bowl.
5. Heat oil in a frying pan or deep fryer. Form balls with the akara batter as best as you can with your fingers and drop them in the hot oil. Don't worry about getting perfect rounds--these can be blobby and imperfect.
6. When the akara turn golden-brown, flip them carefully and fry the other side until golden-brown. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels. Serve hot or warm.
Recipe FAQs
Black-eyed peas, which are easily available, add the most authenticity to this recipe. But you can use nearly any bean, including black beans, pinto beans and chickpeas, in this recipe (although subbing chickpeas would make it falafel, more or less).
I recommend frying the akara for the best texture and flavor. But if you want to bake them instead, use ¼ of an onion to reduce the moisture in the batter. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop rounds of the batter on it, leaving at least an inch between the fritters. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, flipping over once halfway through, until golden-brown on both sides.
No. The texture of cooked black-eyed peas would be all wrong in these akara, and your fritters would likely fall apart in the frying pan. Start with dried beans for this recipe.
Serve the akara by themselves, with a spicy hot sauce, as a snack or appetizer. In West Africa the akara would be eaten sandwiched inside bread, with oatmeal, or with a hot cornmeal porridge called pap.
Storage instructions
- Refrigerate: Store the fritters in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
- Freeze: Freeze the akara in a freezer-safe container for up to four months.
- Reheat: Reheat the akara in the oven or air fryer until hot and crisp again.
More black-eyed pea recipes
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Akara (West African black-eyed pea fritters)
Equipment
- Frying pan (or deep fryer)
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried black-eyed peas (cowpeas)
- 1 medium red onion (roughly chopped)
- ¼ to ½ scotch bonnet pepper or habanero pepper (if you can't tolerate heat use a milder pepper, like jalapeno)
- ¼ cup cilantro (roughly chopped)
- Salt to taste
- ¼ cup peanut oil (or any high-smoke oil, for deep frying. You will need 2-3 cups of oil depending on the size of the pan or fryer you use, but don't worry. A very small percentage of the oil will actually end up in the fritters).
Instructions
- Place the dried black eyed peas in a bowl covered with two inches of water.
- Let the black-eyed peas stand six to eight hours. The peas will absorb water and puff up quite a bit. Drain out the water.
- Place the black-eyed peas in a food processor bowl along with onions, cilantro, chili peppers and salt.
- Process without any added water until fairly smooth but still very textured. Remove the batter to a bowl.
- Heat oil in a frying pan or deep fryer. Form balls with the akara batter as best as you can with your fingers and drop them in the hot oil. Don't worry about getting perfect rounds--these can be blobby and imperfect.
- When the akara turn golden-brown, flip them carefully and fry the other side until golden-brown. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels. Serve hot or warm.
Recipe notes
- Don't add any water to the batter while processing--there is enough water absorbed into the black-eyed peas and you don't want a very runny batter, which would fall apart in the frying pan.
- Process the beans into a homogenous batter but one that still has some texture, with flecks of onions and cilantro visible. This will give you the crispiest fritters.
- Do not use canned or cooked black-eyed peas in this recipe. You will need to soak dried black-eyed peas for the best results.
- Black-eyed peas are best in this recipe. However, you can use nearly any bean, including black beans, pinto beans and chickpeas, in this recipe (although subbing chickpeas would make it falafel, more or less).
- Frying the akara will produce the best fritters. But if you want to bake them instead, use ¼ of an onion to reduce the moisture in the batter. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop rounds of the batter on it, leaving at least an inch between the fritters. Bake 25-30 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven, flipping over once halfway through, until golden-brown on both sides.
- Serve the akara by themselves, with a spicy hot sauce, as a snack or appetizer. In West Africa the akara would be eaten sandwiched inside bread, with oatmeal, or with a hot cornmeal porridge called pap.
- Refrigerate: Store the fritters in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
- Freeze: Freeze the akara in a freezer-safe container for up to four months.
- Reheat: Reheat the akara in the oven or air fryer until hot and crisp again.
Nicole
These akara fritters are amazing! We make them all the time. Best recipe I've tried.
Vaishali
So happy you love them, Nicole!
Nadia
Hi. I have an event I am catering this wknd and these are my menu. Question: why did you not take all the skins and eyes off of the peas? All the authentic recipes that I have reviewed are prepared with no skins and no eyes. Just wondering if the skins and eyes on alter the taste. Thanks.
Vaishali
I rarely take the skins off beans and legumes--there is so much nutrition in them, including lots of powerful antioxidants, and in my opinion leaving them in makes hardly a difference. You can take them off if you like.
Sydney
Not sure what happened with these. Mine completely fell apart in the oil.
Better 2nd try...made sure not to put too much oil and they turned out perfect! 🙂
Vaishali
Awesome, happy it worked out!
Divya Mahesh
We make akara in andhra. We call it alasanda vada
Vaishali
Divya, good to know! My parents who were Maharashtrian and Konkani would make something similar too but with urad dal and coconut.
gloria of Veghead, Etc.
Thank you! I really like the idea of baking them—but I wonder at what oven temperature?
Vaishali
Sorry about that! It’s 350 degrees.