Home-made Mandazi

Name: Home-made Mandazi
Prep time: 12 min
Cook time: 23 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Kenyan
Ingredients: 750g Self-raising Flour; 6 tablespoons Sugar; 2 Eggs; 1 cup Milk

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Breakfast recipe with Kenyan flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 63 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Step-by-step instructions

This is one recipe a lot of people have requested and I have tried to make it as simple as possible and I hope it will work for you. Make sure you use the right flour which is basically one with raising agents. Adjust the amount of sugar to your taste and try using different flavours to have variety whenever you have them.
You can use Coconut milk instead of regular milk, you can also add desiccated coconut to the dry flour or other spices like powdered cloves or cinnamon.
For “healthy looking” mandazis do not roll the dough too thin before frying and use the procedure I have indicated above.
Mix the flour,cinnamon and sugar in a suitable bowl.
In a separate bowl whisk the egg into the milk 3. Make a well at the centre of the flour and add the milk and egg mixture and slowly mix to form a dough.
Knead the dough for 3-4 minutes or until it stops sticking to the sides of the bowl and you have a smooth surface.
Cover the dough with a damp cloth and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface into a 1cm thick piece.
Using a sharp small knife, cut the dough into the desired size setting aside ready for deep frying.
Heat your oil in a suitable pot and gently dip the mandazi pieces to cook until light brown on the first side then turn to cook on the second side.
Serve them warm or cold.

Why this works on a weeknight

Home-made Mandazi lands at about 35 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Skillet & One-Pan collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Home-made Mandazi actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🥘 Skillet & One-Pan Breakfast Kenyan Baking Breakfast Egg Warm Snack