The effects of processing steps such as soaking, fermentation, cooking and drying on the availability of lysine in kenkey were investigated. Soaking increased lysine availability by 21% and 22% for maize and maize-cowpea mixtures, respectively. Cooking of soaked samples further improved lysine availability by 68% and 31% for maize and maize-cowpea mixtures, respectively. Further significant improvements in lysine availability were effected by fermentation and cooking and values of 3.42 and 4.43 g/16 g N were recorded, respectively for maize and maize-cowpea doughs fermented for 4 days and cooked for 3 h. Cabinet drying had no significant effect on lysine availability, but drum drying of fermented maize and maize-cowpea doughs significantly lowered lysine availability in the resulting kenkey. A 1:1 mixture of cabinet and drum dried flours gave a product with higher available lysine content than the drum dried flour.