Chicken · Slow cooker adaptation

Slow Cooker Doro Wat (Munchies)

Eden Egziabher of Makina Cafe walks through her mother's Doro Wat, the national dish of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Red onions sweat dry for a full hour until they melt into a caramelised brown base, then berbere, qibe and lemon-washed chicken take over for the long, patient meld. Boiled eggs go in at the end to cut the heat.

R By Richard · Adapted from Munchies · Published 9 July 2026
👁 2.9M source views ❤️ 61.2k source likes
⏱Prep 90 min
🍲Slow cook 6 hr (Low) / 3 hr (High)
🍽Serves 6
How To Make Spicy Ethiopian Chicken Stew: Doro Wat

Source video by Munchies on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules and is marked for human review.

Doro Wat is the national dish of Ethiopia (and eaten across Eritrea), a long, patient chicken stew built on red onions that are sweated dry for an hour until they turn brown and sweet, then spiked with berbere, ginger, garlic and qibe (spiced clarified butter). Eden Egziabher of Makina Cafe shows how her family cleans the chicken with cold water and lemon before it goes into the pot, and how boiled eggs are scored and dropped in near the end to cut the heat. The onion sweat, the berbere bloom and the ginger-garlic tarka all stay on the hob because a slow cooker cannot dry-sweat or bloom spices. Once the base is built the whole lot goes into the slow cooker with the chicken for a gentle meld, with the eggs added at the end.

Slow cooker notes: Source is a long hob stew. The one-hour dry sweat of red onions, the berbere-and-qibe bloom, and the ginger-garlic paste tarka all stay on the hob because slow cookers cannot dry-sweat onions, brown, or toast spices in fat. The chef's 40 minute chicken cook plus 10 minute egg finish is replaced with a gentle 5 to 6 hours on Low (or 2.5 to 3 hours on High) so the flavours meld and the chicken pulls apart cleanly. Boiled eggs are scored and stirred in during the final 30 minutes so they take on colour without seizing. Salt and optional Mekelesha are added at the end, as in the video. Default servings set to 6 as no yield is stated; the chef mentions a whole chicken cut into 12 pieces, which feeds a communal table.

Ingredients

Chicken and wash
  • 1 wholewhole chicken, skinned, jointed into 12 pieces, each piece lightly pierced
  • 2 wholelemons, juiced
Onion base
  • red onions, finely chopped
Spice paste
  • garlic, chopped
  • fresh ginger, chopped
  • neutral oil
Stew
  • berbere
  • ground cardamom
  • qibe (spiced clarified butter)
  • hot water
  • salt (add late)
To finish
  • 6 wholeeggs, hard-boiled 15 minutes in salted water, peeled and lightly scored (add late)
  • mekelesha (add late)
To serve
  • injera (add late)

Method

  1. Skin the chicken and joint it into 12 pieces (or use dark meat only if you prefer). Pierce each piece lightly so the sauce and juices penetrate during cooking.

    ~20 min

  2. Put the chicken in a bowl of cold water, squeeze in the juice of about 2 lemons, and leave to soak for 30 to 60 minutes. Rinse the chicken repeatedly at the end of the soak until the water runs completely clear.

    ~45 min

  3. Tip the finely chopped red onions into a dry, wide pan (no oil, no water). Set the hob to medium and let the onions sweat, stirring often, for about an hour until they collapse and turn a deep even brown. Do not let them stick or burn.

    ~60 min

  4. While the onions are going, boil the eggs. Bring a small pan of water to the boil, add a little salt, drop in the eggs and cook for 15 minutes. Cool, peel, then score each egg lightly so the sauce can seep in.

    ~20 min

  5. Also while the onions are going, chop the ginger and garlic together with a little oil into a rough paste.

    ~5 min

  6. When the onions are properly brown, lower the heat to medium-low and add a little oil to the pan. Stir in the ginger and garlic paste and let it cook gently into the onions.

    ~3 min

  7. Add the berbere and stir it through. Keep the heat gentle so the berbere blooms rather than burns. If the base looks dry, splash in a little hot water and keep stirring.

    ~4 min

  8. Sprinkle in a little ground cardamom, then stir in the qibe (or ghee as a substitute). Use a small amount; the qibe carries a lot of flavour.

    ~2 min

  9. Transfer the spiced onion base into the slow cooker. Add the rinsed chicken pieces and enough hot water to reach the thickness you want (less water for a thick doro, more for a stewier one). Stir so the chicken is coated in the sauce.

    ~5 min

  10. Cover and cook on Low for 5 to 6 hours or High for 2.5 to 3 hours, until the chicken is tender.

    ~300 min

  11. In the last 30 minutes, sprinkle in a small amount of mekelesha if using, then nestle the scored boiled eggs into the sauce. Do not stir hard; you want the eggs whole.

    ~2 min

  12. Taste and sprinkle in salt to your preference. Cover again and let the eggs finish taking on colour and sauce for the last 10 minutes.

    ~10 min

  13. Serve on a big communal tray with injera on the side, eaten with clean hands: a scoop of sauce, a piece of chicken, a bite of egg.

    ~3 min

Frequently asked

Why red onions, and why cook them dry for an hour?
The chef says red onions have more flavour and release less water than white or yellow, which matters when you're stewing for hours. Sweating them dry, no oil, no water, on medium heat for about an hour draws every drop of moisture out of them and lets them go a deep brown. That caramelised sweetness is what gives Doro Wat its signature earthy back-note.
Can I do the onion sweat in the slow cooker?
No. A slow cooker cannot evaporate water off onions or take them to a proper brown, it will just steam them. The onion sweat and the berbere bloom both stay on the hob; only the long meld with the chicken moves into the slow cooker.
What is berbere and where do I get it?
Berbere is the Ethiopian and Eritrean spice blend that underpins the dish. The chef describes it as roughly seven or eight spices, chilli-led, with cardamom, cumin, dried ginger and dried onion in the mix. Any Ethiopian or Eritrean grocer will stock it, and a growing number of UK supermarkets carry it too.
What is qibe (or tesmi), and can I use ghee?
Qibe (Ethiopian) or tesmi (Eritrean) is a spiced clarified butter and it carries a lot of flavour, so a spoonful goes a long way. Plain ghee is a rough substitute if you cannot find it. The chef stresses using only a small amount either way.
Do I have to use a whole chicken cut into 12 pieces?
Traditionally yes, and the whole chicken feeds a communal table. But the chef says if you don't have time to break down a whole bird, use dark meat (thighs and drumsticks). It stands up to the long cook better than breast.
Extraction notes (transparency): Very few quantities are stated. Explicit numbers: 2 lemons for the chicken wash, about 6 eggs, boiled for 15 minutes, chicken cut into 12 pieces, onions cooked about 1 hour, chicken cooked 40 minutes then 10 minutes more after eggs. Everything else is 'a lot' (onions), 'a little bit' (oil, qibe, mekelesha), 'about four or so' of berbere with no unit stated, a 'sprinkle' of cardamom. Chicken quantity (whole chicken or just dark meat) is not weighed. Berbere unit is ambiguous in the transcript so quantity and unit are null with a note. Water for the stew is 'up to your preference'. Ginger and garlic quantities are not stated. Servings guessed at 6 based on the chef's communal serving description.