Kitfo (Ethiopian Steak Tartare)
Kitfo Recipe (Ethiopian Steak Tartare) – This Ethiopian beef tartare recipe features high-quality steak seasoned with bold spices for a delicious dish that pairs well with nearly any sides! Enjoy raw or quickly sear to serve as a meal that everyone will love to share around the dinner table.
Why We Love This Ethiopian Kitfo Recipe
Note: This recipe features raw or undercooked beef. It is not recommended that pregnant women or people with compromised immune systems eat meat that has not been properly and thoroughly cooked.
Ethiopian cuisine is one of our favorite global foods to make at home. Partly because it’s hard to come by unless you live in certain cities, and partly because it’s such a rich family experience to sit down and tear injera bread together. Enjoying a plate loaded with hearty aromatic dishes isn’t just having a meal – it’s creating a memory.
Kitfo Beef Tartare is a common dish usually found on an Ethiopian sharing platter. It is raw high-quality beef that’s finely minced and seasoned with spices and clarified butter. The taste is savory and salty; perfect umami with a wonderfully soft melt-in-your-mouth texture.
You can serve Kitfo as a true raw steak tartare, or give it a quick sear in a hot skillet to partially cook it. Either way you’ll certainly want to enjoy fresh and meaty beef tartare as a special dish alongside a bounty of east African-inspired sides!
Ingredients You Need
This Ethiopian recipe only includes a handful of ingredients, which are mostly vibrant spices. To make authentic Kitfo you need:
- Beef filet – well-trimmed
- Anchovy paste – for a unique salty and savory flavor
- Seasonings – cayenne pepper, salt, garlic powder, ground cardamom
- Clarified butter – or ghee
You can add more or less cayenne pepper to taste, depending on how spicy a dish you want. But even if you prefer a mild beef tartare I suggest you add at least a smidge of the spice for great flavor.
How to Make Ethiopian Beef Tartare
There are just 3 easy steps in this Kitfo recipe:
- Set out a large high-powered food processor. Make sure to trim all the silver skin and fat off the fillet and cut the fillet into large chunks. Place in the food processor.
- Add the cayenne, salt, anchovy paste, garlic powder, and cardamom. Pulse to chop the fillet into fine chunks. You can choose to stop when the beef resembles ¼ inch chunks, or chop smaller into ground steak.
- Once the texture is to your liking, melt the clarified butter and pour over the top. Mix the butter in by hand, do not pulse.
Serve the freshly prepared steak tartare room temperature, or seal in a container and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or more) to enjoy cold.
If you are enjoying with other hot dishes, I recommend you serve without refrigerating for the perfect mouth-feel combination.
Get the Complete (Printable) Ethiopian Kitfo Recipe Below. Enjoy!
How to Make Cooked Kitfo
If you’d like to prepare Ethiopian Kitfo as a cooked dish, simply sear in a skillet on medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes. For the best flavor, I suggest that you don’t completely brown the steak, so that there’s a least a bit of “tartare” remaining. Once cooked slightly, kitfo is turned into what is known as “lebleb”.
But again, as noted at the beginning of this post please be aware that undercooked meat is not considered safe by the CDC for pregnant women to eat.
Tips & Tricks
- Do not use already ground beef! In order to safely eat raw beef, it needs to be a high quality cut of beef that is ground in a food processor shortly before eating it.
- Don’t over ground. Since you are processing the meat yourself in a food processor, just be careful not to grind it too much or it can become tough from over working the meat.
- Spice it up! The key to making delicious homemade kitfo is adding all the seasonings and spices. Anchovy paste adds a lovely, savory flavor while cayenne adds a bit of a kick!
Frequently Asked Questions
Enjoy Kitfo with a side of collard greens, mesir wat lentils, and homemade injera bread. If you’re making a large sharing platter you might also consider preparing Ethiopian Chicken Dora Wat as well!
If you have never had steak tartare, it can be scary when presented with raw beef. When you are using a high quality cut of beef, you can actually eat is raw. Once seasoned and dressed with the clarified butter, it is tender and flavorful. And yes, it is safe to eat. However, if you are pregnant or nervous about eating raw beef, you can sear it quickly!
It’s traditional in Ethiopian cuisine to eat with your hands and use the injera bread or other flatbread as kind of a scoop and edible plate. Tear off a piece of the bread, and holding it in one hand, use it to grab a bit of the tartare almost like a small mit or glove. Then just take a bite and enjoy!
Tartare does taste best when eaten freshly prepared or refrigerated for about 30 minutes. You should only keep the beef tartare in the fridge for up to a day or so. To enjoy the next day after making, remove from the fridge and eat cold or let the Kitfo come to room temperature for about 15 minutes before serving.
Looking for More Delicious Beef Recipes?
- Quick-Seared Carne Asada
- Skillet Steak Bites with Mushrooms
- Cuban Beef Picadillo
- Saucy Greek Lemon Meatballs (Keftedes)
- Italian Beef Skewers
Kitfo (Ethiopian Steak Tartare Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds beef fillet well-trimmed
- 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon anchovy paste
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/3 cup clarified butter or ghee
Instructions
- Set out a large high-powered food processor. Make sure to trim all the silver skin and fat off the fillet and cut the fillet into large chunks. Place in the food processor.
- Add the cayenne, salt, anchovy paste, garlic powder, and cardamom. Pulse to chop the fillet into fine chunks. You can choose to stop with when the beef resembles ¼ inch chunks, or chop smaller into ground steak.
- Once the texture is to your liking, melt the clarified butter and pour over the top. Mix the butter in by hand, do not pulse.
- Serve raw immediately, cover and chill, or pan-fry over high heat for 1 -2 minutes.
This is going to be such a great dinner tonight! So excited to make this. Looks so delicious and packed with so much flavor!
This is such a delicious way to serve and enjoy beef! Love it!
I made a seared version and it was delicious! The spices are spot on!
I normally don’t go for these kinds of recipes, and I was a little concerned about the rawness of the meat so I served mine a little, and this tasted just so amazing! It also pairs well with other Ethiopian side dishes!