Learn how to make the best African pepper soup spice! Even if you don't have the traditional ethnic spices, you can make it using everyday spices from your local grocery store.

African pepper soup dishes are made with a blend of complex and unique spices. These spices are commonly found in the West African region and used in a variety of ethnic soups, like this goat meat pepper soup.
If you have ever tasted an African pepper soup, you might be wondering what gives it its unique and earthy flavor. I’m going to show you how to make pepper soup spice from scratch using the traditional ethnic spices, and also how to make it using regular spices.
Traditional Spices Used
Alligator pepper: also known as Grains of Paradise, Guinea pepper, and Melegueta pepper. In Nigeria, this spice is known as Atare, Atariko or Ulima seeds.
Alligator pepper has a nutty, woody flavor with a hint of citrus. It has a nice peppery taste without any harsh after-burn.
It also makes a great substitute for black pepper for those that don’t like the taste or are allergic to it.

Selim pepper: also known as Grains of Selim, Ethiopian pepper, Senegal pepper, Negro pepper, Kani pepper or Uda seed. This pepper has a musky flavor of smoked herbs with a hint of bitter cocoa. It is similar in flavor to peppercorns.

Calabash nutmeg: also known as Jamaican nutmeg, African nutmeg, and Muscadier de Calabash. In Nigeria, it is known as Ehuru, Ariwo or Ehiri, depending on what tribe you’re from.
This spice is very similar to nutmeg and is grown in West Africa and also in the Caribbean islands.

How to Make Pepper Soup Spice
Using traditional African spices
- Roast the calabash nutmeg in a dry pan for about two minutes.
- Grind the calabash nutmeg, selim pepper, and alligator pepper together to a fine powder. My go-to grinder is this handy coffee grinder or this mortar and pestle set.
- Make sure they are well mixed together and store in an airtight container.
- This makes 3 tablespoons of the pepper soup mix and each serving has 0 net carbs and 0 calories.
You can get all these spices from amazon or an African store and mix yourself or just buy a pre-packaged pepper soup spice mix. I have done both and I honestly can’t tell the difference as they both turned out really good.

Using spices commonly found in the grocery store
It can be quite hard to get the native pepper soup spices if you don’t live in Africa. I like to order from Amazon sometimes but the items frequently go out of stock.
So I began to experiment with different household spices to see if I could come up with something relatively close.
After a few hours of mixing, smelling, tasting and shoving my spice blend under my husband’s nose for his approval, I eventually came up with a mix that mimics the taste of the traditional blend.
The ingredients I used are Allspice, Peppercorn, Ginger, Cayenne pepper, Fennel seeds, and Cumin.
Allspice has a woody flavor that resembles a combination of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. So if you don’t have allspice on hand, you can recreate it using half a teaspoon each of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

To prepare the pepper soup spice
- Using a spice blender, grind the peppercorn and fennel seeds to a fine powder.
- Mix all the spices together and store them in an airtight container. This produces about 3 tablespoons of the pepper soup mix.
One serving is roughly 1 - 1.5 tablespoons, depending on how strong you want the flavor to be. As you can see, both spices are similar but not quite the same. But if you can't get the traditional spices, this option will work perfectly as it tastes really close to the original.

What can I use pepper soup spice for?
This spice is perfect for African soups like this Nigerian Pepper Soup and this Fish Pepper Soup. You can also add small quantities to any stew or soup to really enhance the taste and flavor.

Check out these African pepper soup recipes!
📖 Recipe

Pepper Soup Spices
Ingredients
Ingredients to make pepper soup spice (using traditional African spices)
- 6 calabash nutmeg
- 8 selim peppers
- 1 tablespoon alligator pepper
Ingredients to make pepper soup spice (using regular spices)
- 1 tablespoon peppercorn
- 2 teaspoon allspice
- 1.5 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
Instructions
How to make pepper soup spices using traditional African spices
- Roast the calabash nutmeg in a dry pan for about two minutes.6 calabash nutmeg
- Remove the outer skin and take out the seed inside.
- Grind the calabash nutmeg, selim pepper, and alligator pepper together to a fine powder.8 selim peppers, 1 tablespoon alligator pepper
- Store in an airtight container.
How to make pepper soup spices using common spices
- Grind the peppercorn and fennel seeds to a fine powder using a spice blender.1 tablespoon peppercorn, ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
- Mix with the other spices together and store in an airtight container.2 teaspoon allspice, 1.5 teaspoon ginger, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, ¼ teaspoon cumin
Notes
- This produces about 3 tablespoons of the pepper soup mix. One serving is roughly 1 - 1.5 tablespoons, depending on how strong you want the flavor to be.
- The recipe card shows the nutrition info for the pepper soup spice made from spices found in the grocery store.
- The traditional pepper soup spice contains 0 calories and 0 carbs.
Love this recipe. I have mixed a batch of both the original African spices and the one with items I already had in my pantry in a pinch one day. Both worked out really well and my husband couldn’t tell the difference.
It always works when I'm out of the spice and my local African store does not have any in stock. I'm glad you enjoyed it, Katie!
Hi, thanks for this I certainly will try it.
Already grind black pepper (pepper corn), ginger, funnel seed and others are available in the stores, will using them acheive the same result as buying the seeds to grind in making the pepper soup spice?
If it's already ground, it should still work.
Thanks, Tayo, this is helpful.
I tried it out and I got the taste of what I yearned for. Thanks, dear,
You are so welcome, Folake!
Pls I need spice mix for fish, chicken and beef stew. Thanks
I have a spice mix for fish in my pan-seared tilapia recipe, and I have another for beef or chicken in my crispy baked chicken recipe. I hope this helps!
Hey! Thank you for the recipe, I am going to give it a go this weekend. I had a quick question though, the calabash nutmeg I have is already ground...about how much should I use to get "6 calabash nutmeg"? I am not sure how big they are to start with so it is difficult for me to guess.
Thank you
Andrea
Hi Andrea, the African calabash nutmeg is about 1/2 an inch in size and is pretty small. The Jamaican nutmeg comes in a much larger size. The item frequently goes out of stock online but you can see an example of the exact size here: https://amzn.to/3626VjM. Hope this helps!
I have been wanting to make my own pepper soup condiments I am so happy this is helpful to me.Thanks a lot
You're welcome, Vivian!
Thank you.
This was very helpful In making my pepper-soup spice mix.
You're welcome, Moyo. I'm glad it was helpful!
Thanks for the Africa spice for pepper soup shared, it was so helpful to get the real taste I wanted.
Thank you for your feedback, Adekemi. I'm glad the post was helpful!