The two-island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis has a rich heritage with Caribbean, African, Indian, and British influences. That’s reflected in the cuisine of St. Kitts, with its wealth of fresh seafood, abundant fruit, and bold, spicy flavors.
From the Caribbean comes dishes such as cookup, jerk chicken, or cracked conch. The Indian heritage is seen in staples such as roti, or tamarind balls.
The British left behind black pudding and a legacy of ingredients that includes breadfruit and saltfish. Generations with African roots helped merge all these strands into a unique, spicy, and healthy cuisine where nothing goes to waste. Read on to discover the best food in St. Kitts.
Saltfish
Saltfish
Saltfish is a whitefish, typically cod, that is preserved in salt and then soaked and rinsed repeatedly to remove the salt before use. It’s a popular ingredient, with a long history as a food for sailors and slaves.
You’ll find it served up in various ways, with saltfish fritters being a common one. A pancake-like batter of saltfish, flour, scallion, scotch bonnet pepper, onion, and herbs is fried until crisp.
Stewed saltfish with spicy plantains, seasoned breadfruit, and coconut dumplings is the national dish of St. Kitts & Nevis. It replaced goat water after a national poll in 2003.
Goat Water
Goat water
Formerly the national dish of St. Kitts, goat stew is also called “goat water” because its base is water, not stock. It’s a hearty dish, with goat meat, papaya, breadfruit, and dumplings, seasoned with herbs and hot peppers.
With no stock, you need browning sauce for coloring and extra flavor. Goat is a tough meat, so several hours of cooking are needed to tenderize it.
Goat water is a popular weekend meal on St. Kitts and is regularly served at festivals. The rocky, mountainous terrain of this beautiful island made it particularly suitable for these self-sufficient animals to thrive.
Browning Sauce
Browning sauce is such a key ingredient in Caribbean cuisine that it deserves its own entry. It adds color and flavor to everything from oxtail stew and goat water to dark cakes.
You’ll find various brands on supermarket shelves, with ingredients being listed as sugar, water, caramel color, and salt. The sweet/savory mix of sugar and salt is key to its depth and appeal.
Home cooks will make their own by caramelizing brown sugar over heat, then—very carefully—adding water. With its long history of sugar production, it may be no surprise so many St. Kitts dishes use it as an essential base.
Stew Chicken
Stew chicken
Stew chicken is a dish that’s common to many Caribbean Islands, not just St. Kitts. It’s made with diced chicken pieces, or just chicken thighs, stewed for several hours in a tomato-based sauce.
The chicken is first marinated in garlic, onion, thyme, and spices including nutmeg and cinnamon. It’s then sautéed before chicken broth and tomatoes are added to start the long simmering process.
Browning sauce is an essential in the stew to deepen the color and flavor. The result is a tasty, hearty stew that has warm associations with family and home cooking for any Kittitian.
Brown stew fish
A similar “brown stew” can be made with other meat, or fish. Brown stew fish is made with any species—such as mahi-mahi or red snapper—that’s firm enough to hold together during prolonged cooking.
Read: Things to Do in St. Kitts & Nevis
Cracked Conch
Cracked conch
Queen Conch is a large—up to 5lb—sea snail with chewy white meat that tastes like clam. “Cracked” conch is a delicious schnitzel-style slice of conch that’s coated in seasoned breadcrumbs or flour before frying.
The name comes from the process of pounding the meat before cooking to tenderise or “crack” it. Conch—pronounced “conk”—can also be served raw in ceviche, diced up before frying in fritters, or stewed in soups and chowders.
A very St. Kitts food, conch is harvested by free diving or scuba diving from a small wooden boat. Populations are under threat but sustainable fishing controls are helping to keep it on local menus.
Cookup
Cookup is a one pot rice meal, commonly called “pelau” on other Caribbean islands. The dish has many similarities to Middle Eastern pilaf or Spanish paella.
A very hearty meal, easy to make, it’s popular on St. Kitts for family gatherings or special occasions. Well-seasoned chicken or pork is fried with onion, then added to a broth with rice.
Slowly cooked for at least an hour, the whole thickens up like a Creole jambalaya. Look out for it in restaurants, where it’s usually seen with tasty sides such as plantain or coleslaw.
Jerk Chicken
Jerk chicken
Jerk chicken may be associated with Jamaica but it’s a staple food in St. Kitts & Nevis, as well as many other Caribbean islands. It’s chicken made with a “jerk” or marinade of spices and seasonings that’s then smoked or grilled.
The tender, juicy, meat and aromatic flavor make an irresistible combination. You’ll see jerk chicken and other meats on almost every restaurant menu and at countless roadside food shacks.
A good pairing is the traditional rice & peas that is another well-seasoned staple. Dried pigeon peas, soaked overnight, are cooked with rice in water and coconut milk.
Turn Corn
Corn, known as maize or Indian corn in North America, has spread throughout the Caribbean from its original home in Mexico. It’s served up in many different ways, including as a soft porridge for breakfast.
Cornmeal
Turn corn, sometimes called “fungee”, is a St. Kitts side dish made with cooked cornmeal, not unlike polenta. Its name comes from the process of continually “turning” or whipping the cornmeal as it cooks to the right consistency.
Butter, salt and water, milk, or coconut milk are the main added ingredients, although ground allspice—pimento—might be added. The result is a firm but light dish that can be sliced and is a good pairing with stews, saltfish, or meat.
Lobster
Lobster
With plenty of Caribbean lobster in the waters around St. Kitts & Nevis, you’ll regularly spot it on menus. Lobster season is year-round, but it might be in short supply if seas are too rough for boats to go out.
The Caribbean or spiny lobster is less sweet than the better-known Maine lobster. The warm waters of the Caribbean mean it grows faster than cold water species, producing a milder taste and softer texture.
You’ll find lobster grilled, steamed, or boiled, and often served with butter or a jerk sauce. A memorable Caribbean touch comes from the generous use of bell pepper, paprika, and other seasoning in any cooking stock.
Johnny Cakes
Johnny cakes
Johnny “cakes” are actually a fried bread that is a staple in almost any Caribbean meal. A popular breakfast on St. Kitts, served with cheese or saltfish, they are also paired with dishes such as stew chicken to soak up the juices.
They are made from a dough of flour, salt, baking powder, and water. Shaped into small rounds, the cakes are fried until golden brown.
The crisp exterior and soft insides make a good contrast and these small treats are very more-ish. Elsewhere, sugar might be added to the dough for a sweeter taste, but that’s not common on St. Kitts.
Roti
Roti
A traditional Indian unleavened flat bread, roti first came to St. Kitts in the late 1800s. The British brought many indentured Indian workers to work in the sugar plantations after the abolition of slavery.
Served in a wrap with fillings such curried chicken, shrimp, or chickpeas, roti make a popular lunch or roadside snack. You’ll also not have to go far on any beach in St. Kitts to find them for sale.
An essential addition to the wrap and its filling is chutney or a hot sauce. Be careful when splashing on any extra hot sauce—some can be very fiery indeed.
Plantains
Plantains
Every home cook in St. Kitts will have a good supply of plantains in the kitchen. Looking like a banana, but with a much thicker skin and less sweet taste, they are a versatile ingredient.
When unripe and still green, they can be peeled and cooked by frying, boiling, or baking. Sliced up and fried, green plantain chips are a great snack or side dish.
When riper and sweeter, plantains are closer to a banana in taste. They are ideal for making into bread or when fried and sprinkled with sugar, great for breakfast, topped with a fried egg.
Black Pudding
Black pudding
Strongly reflecting the British colonial influence, black pudding is a savory blood sausage. Local spices and peppers make it much livelier than the often bland English version.
The main ingredients are pig’s blood, fat, boiled rice, thyme, onions, and hot peppers. The mixture is put into sausage casings and then cooked by steaming or boiling.
The whole process was traditionally a communal event associated with major events such as Carnival. Nowadays, it’s a common breakfast, usually eaten with Johnny cakes.
While not to everyone’s taste, black pudding holds a fond place in the hearts of most Kittitians. It harkens back to harder times, when earlier generations had to use every part of the pig.
Sugar Cake
Sugar cake
Sugar cake is a sweet made from grated coconut, brown sugar, and spices such as nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon. The sugar is boiled with water to caramelize it, then the coconut is added as it thickens.
A drop of vanilla essence brings out extra flavor and some cooks might also add nuts. The mixture is then poured into a shallow baking tin to cool and set.
Cut into squares, it’s a delicious sweet dessert or on-the-go snack. Traditionally, the treacle would be dropped onto a banana leaf to cool, hence another name of “coconut drops”.
Tambran Balls
Tambran balls
Tambran balls—better known as tamarind balls—are a confectionary made from tamarind pulp. They are found throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, as well as India.
The local version tends to have seeds still in them, so do be careful biting into one. You’ll find darker ones made with sugar and lighter ones with spices added, both sold in shops all over the island.
Simple to make at home from pulp and sugar—and often a touch of scotch bonnet pepper—the sweet/sour taste is one every St. Kitts child grew up with. The tamarind fruit is also used in many other Kittitian recipes, from chutneys to cooling drinks.
Guava Cheese
Guava cheese
Guava cheese is a sweet jelly of guava pulp and sugar, cooked until it thickens. Fudge-like, it’s cut into slices for dessert or might be eaten with dairy cheese as a snack.
The dish is thought to have originated in Portugal, arriving in the Americas with Portuguese colonizers. Variations of it exist in Brazil, elsewhere in the Caribbean, and in Goa.
A touch of lime gives guava cheese a refreshing sweet and sour taste. You might see St. Kitts street vendors offering cubes for sale in bags, sprinkled with sugar.
Fruit
Soursop
St. Kitts & Nevis has a wealth of fruit, including more than 40 species of mango. You’ll find mango in everything from spicy salsas to clam chowder and hot sauces.
Another common fruit here you might not know is soursop, often served as a refreshing drink or in a dessert. Sugar or custard apples are as delicious as they sound, with a unique taste.
The large mamie apple tastes like a sweeter, more fibrous mango, while guinep, or skinnip, might remind you of lychee. Wax apples, shaddock, sea grapes, and sour orange are other fruits to enjoy trying in markets or shops.
Breadfruit, cooked by boiling, baking or frying, is used much like a potato. It’s a staple of Kittitian cuisine, popping up in everything from salads to stews and accompanying the national dish of saltfish.
Where to Try Kittitian Food
St. Kitts
Sprat Net Bar & Grill in Central serves up fresh Caribbean seafood with the boast “We only eat the ones we catch”. You’ll also find dishes such as jerk chicken and Johnny cake.
Lion Rock Beach Bar on Cockleshell Beach is another notable spot for jerk chicken, fresh seafood, and a lethal rum punch. Sadly, Lion is no more, but PJ and Angela carry on the family-run tradition.
Cathy’s Ocean View on the Strip, Frigate Bay, has some of the best lobster on St. Kitts. The menu also features oxtail, rice & peas, plantain, and other local favorites.
St. Kitts
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