Okra soup has sliced okra fruit, meat, crayfish, seasoning cubes, salt, pepper, etc. I love this soup because it is very easy to prepare and likely the cheapest soup in Nigeria.

I remember cooking a pot of (Okra) Okro soup with just two hundred and fifty Naira, (10 years ago, more like a one-dollar soup.

You can use frozen fish, Okra, and some other ingredients to cook the soup, then you could buy a good frozen fish with just forty or fifty Naira, I am talking about the “good old days”.

Okra soup is one of the most common soups eaten by the people of Igbo, often, I combine okro and ogbono for better results, you can learn more here about making Nigerian Ogbolo(ogbono) soup in my previous posts.

Is Okro Soup Good for Kids?

There are numerous reasons I like this soup, the most outstanding reason being that kids love it, I learned that the best way to introduce eba or fufu to kids is to serve it with Okra or ogbono soup, this way it would be very easy for them to swallow, I have tried it, it worked for my kids.

Okra is also good for adults, I just cooked a pot of okra soup before writing this, a tiny quantity that would serve for this night, it is Sunday night here in Nigeria. 

I like this soup because the two main ingredients are very rich in vitamins (okra and fluted pumpkin).

So let’s prepare a delicious pot of Nigerian Okro soup, The exact way an Igbo woman would like to make it.

Did I tell you that Okra is one of the most popular soups in Igbo land especially from April to July, its exact harvest season?

Ingredients for (Okro) Okra Soup

Below is the list of ingredients that can be used in preparing Okro Soup. You can always increase or reduce depending on the number of the person you are planning to feed and of course their stomach sizes:

1. Sliced Okra (a medium-sized bowl full)

2. Stockfish head (medium size)

3. 1 kg of meat (chicken)

4. 5 shombo peppers

5. 2 scotch bonnet peppers

6. 500g mackerel

7. 2 seasoning cubes

8. Salt to taste

9. 200ml Red (palm) oil

10. Half a cup of ground crayfish

Above are some ingredients that I use for making this soup.

Soup Preparations

Step 1

Slice the okra and keep it aside in a bowl, the trader in most Nigerian markets can assist you with slicing the okra, but you can also try using a kitchen knife, I like to slice Okra myself, although there is no harm in using the help of the market women.

Remove the center seeds from the shombo, mix with the scotch bonnet, and blend or pound using a mortar and pestle. Also, blend or grind the crayfish.

I used just 1kg (2.2lb) of chicken and 500g of fish for this okra soup.

I like to parboil meat with lots of spices and then use very little while cooking the real soup.

Step 2

Wash your fish/chicken and season with a half teaspoon of salt, two seasoning cubes, a cup of water, and half a cup of sliced onions.

Allow it to boil together for 10-15 minutes. Remove them while leaving the stock in the pot.

Step 3

Add your stockfish to the boiling pot, one more cup of water, and cook for about 10 minutes till they are soft for consumption.

Add two cups of water.

Step 4

Introduce 200ml of palm oil, and add your crayfish, pepper/shombo, and salt to taste.

Let it boil for eight minutes. Add the cooked chicken/fish and allow to simmer for three more minutes.

Step 5

Add the sliced okra and stir. Drop the cooked mackerel fish on top. Allow to simmer for three to four minutes, and you are done with this delicious soup.

You can serve okro soup with eba, fufu, or pounded yam.