Thieboudienne — Nutrition Facts (1 plate)
Per 1 plate (approximately 450–500g cooked, fish + rice + vegetables). Source: PlateFuel global food database.
What is Thieboudienne?
Thieboudienne (also spelled thiéboudienne, tieboudiene, or thiep bou dien) is the national dish of Senegal. The name translates literally to "rice and fish" in Wolof. It's a deeply flavored one-pot dish of broken rice cooked in tomato-based fish broth, served with poached fish and vegetables like cassava, cabbage, carrots, and eggplant.
Despite its prominence across West Africa and the Senegalese diaspora, virtually no mainstream calorie app — not MyFitnessPal, not Cronometer, not Lose It — has accurate data for it. The entries that do exist are user-submitted, wildly inconsistent, and almost always based on generic "rice and fish" templates that miss the tomato-palm oil base entirely.
What Makes Up the Calories in Thieboudienne?
A standard plate of thieboudienne gets its calories from three main sources:
| Component | Approx. Amount | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Broken rice (cooked in broth) | ~200g | ~260 cal |
| Thiof fish (grouper) | ~100–120g | ~110 cal |
| Tomato-palm oil base | ~30ml oil in dish | ~75 cal |
| Vegetables (cassava, cabbage, carrot) | ~120g mixed | ~35 cal |
| Total | ~1 plate | ~480 cal |
The palm oil used in the tomato base is the biggest variable. A home cook using generous oil can push the plate to 550+ calories. A restaurant version with heavier fish portions can also shift the macros significantly.
Macronutrient Breakdown
Thieboudienne is a genuinely balanced meal by macro standards:
- Protein (26g): Fish is the primary protein source. Grouper (thiof) is lean and dense — you're getting quality complete protein that most Western "healthy" meals can't match.
- Carbohydrates (58g): The broken rice soaks up the tomato-fish broth, which adds flavor and some calories. This is the primary energy source in the dish.
- Fat (14g): Lower than you might expect for a dish with palm oil. The oil is distributed across the entire pot, so a single plate's share is modest.
- Fiber (3.5g): The vegetable medley contributes cassava fiber, cabbage, and carrots. Not a high-fiber dish, but it's not empty either.
How Does Thieboudienne Compare to Other West African Dishes?
Put in context of the wider West African table, thieboudienne is one of the leaner options — especially relative to peanut-based dishes like mafé (520 cal) or egusi soup (480 cal with much higher fat).
| Dish | Calories | Protein | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thieboudienne | 480 | 26g | 14g |
| Mafe | 520 | 24g | 30g |
| Egusi Soup (+ fufu) | 840 | 24g | 39g |
| Jollof Rice | 415 | 8g | 14g |
| Pepper Soup | 280 | 24g | 18g |
Why Mainstream Apps Get Thieboudienne Wrong
MyFitnessPal's database has over 14 million food entries — but most of the "thieboudienne" results are user-generated estimates based on boiled rice and white fish. They omit the palm oil and tomato base entirely, underestimating calories by 30–40%.
The deeper problem is methodology: most apps let users enter dishes without any validation. If the first person to add thieboudienne guessed 300 calories, that entry gets copied hundreds of times. The data compounds the error.
PlateFuel built its West African food database from the ground up, using verified cooking methods and actual ingredient ratios for each dish — not guesses.
Tips for Tracking Thieboudienne Accurately
- The 480-calorie figure assumes a standard restaurant plate. Home portions can vary significantly — if you're using 2:1 rice-to-fish, adjust up on carbs.
- Some versions use dried fish (guedj) alongside fresh fish, which adds umami but minimal calories.
- Thiebou yapp (thieboudienne with meat instead of fish) runs higher — expect 550–600 cal due to fattier meat cuts.
- Wolof thieboudienne (red) vs thiebou dien blanc (white, no tomato) differ by about 40–60 calories due to the tomato paste.
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