Hangi is the Maori earth oven, cooking meat and root vegetables in a pit of stone-heated coals under wet sacks for 2 to 4 hours. The flavour is deep, smoky and tender.
Hangi traces to early Polynesian cooking pits dug at sites like Wairau Bar (circa 1280 CE). The technique uses heated rocks (600-700C) placed in a pit; food baskets sit on the rocks, the pit is covered with damp cloths and earth, and cooks for 2-4 hours. Original Maori pits cooked cordyline root before European arrival. Wire baskets replaced leaves in the 19th century. Today the hangi appears at hui, funerals, weddings, midwinter Matariki celebrations and Pasifika festivals across Auckland. Gas-heated steel hangi machines replicate the technique without digging.
1 editor pick for Hangi in Auckland, ranked by editorial score. All Auckland signature dishes · Hangi across every city.