Peri Peri Chicken (Spicy Portuguese Chicken)
Peri Peri chicken (or piri-piri chicken) is a spicy Portuguese chicken recipe marinated with chili, garlic, lemon, and herbs. It is a popular menu at Nando’s restaurant. Grill or broil for a simple dinner. It’s naturally gluten-free!
Some says Peri-Peri chicken and the others say Piri-Piri chicken. This spicy Portuguese Chicken is quite addictive.
I first had the Peri-Peri Chicken at the South African franchise restaurant called Nando’s and loved it. The spicy peri-peri (or piri-piri) sauce made with bird’s eye chili, garlic, herbs, and lemon awakens your tongue and quickly salivates all over inside your mouth.
Although the sauce itself has its origin marked at Portugal, it is widely used in African countries like Angola, Mozambique, and South Africa.
The spiciness of peri-peri sauce can be adjusted by the amount of chilies, or even using less spicy kind of chilies.
The best way to cook the Peri-Peri Chicken is to GRILL them. For not having an out door grill in my high rise cosmopolitan kitchen, I baked it in the oven instead. It came out great but, of course, the smoky grilled flavor would have been even better. If you have a BBQ grill, use it!
Homemade Peri-Peri Sauce
The sauce can be made in less than 5 minutes, and all you need to do is to marinade chicken ahead of time. You will love this chicken, if you can bear the heat!
Here are the sauce ingredients. I mixed two kinds of chilies to reduce some heat (bird’s eye is too spicy for me). Yes, I am a WIMP!
If you want the suicidal heat…, go for 10 or even 15 of these tiny bird’s eye chilies.
Spicy Portuguese Chicken Recipe Instruction
Put all the peri-peri sauce ingredients in a blender.
Blend until very smooth.
Pour 1/3 cup of sauce over chicken legs and spread all over. I scored chicken so the flavor will penetrate better to the meat. Marinade at least 1 hr. Overnight is even better.
Place them on a pan lined with foil (Spray the pan with oil before you place the chicken).
Bake them in an hot oven (425F) for 20-25minutes, baste with more sauce as you turn the chickens to the other side.
Looks delicious! Salivating as I know how they will taste…
I served my families these Peri-Peri Chicken with potato, corn, and roasted pepper salad. I drizzle a little more peri-peri sauce over the chicken to knock them out.
Well, everyone survived and finished the chicken off to the bone. Dinner was done and the clean up was a breeze!
Now I have to come up with what to serve for tomorrow night.
Peri Peri Chicken (Spicy Portuguese Chicken)
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 4-10 bird’s eye chili, depends on the heat level of your choice
- 4 cloves garlic, or 1 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder for a thicker consistency
- juice of 1 lemon, about 1/4 cup
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 4 chicken legs
- extra sea salt, optional
Instructions
- In a blender combine everything except the chicken and the extra salt, blend until very smooth.
- Score chicken legs with a knife a few times.
- Pour 1/3 cup of the sauce over chicken and toss well. I sprinkle a few dashes of extra salt on top of chicken. Marinade the chicken at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
- Grill the chicken on an outdoor BBQ grill. Baste the chicken with the extra sauce. Cook until they are the juice runs clear when you insert a knife to the thickest part of chicken leg.
- To bake, preheat the oven to 425ºF
- Place chicken on a baking pan lined with foil, spray with oil,and place chicken. Bake for 15 minutes, turn over, baste with extra sauce, and continue to bake for another 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked and browned. Serve with extra sauce on the side.
Hi Holly.
Thanks for sharing/spreading this peri-peri/piri-piri chicken recipe. Regarding the name, in Mozambique, where the dish originates, we call it piri-piri. Peri-peri is what English speakers in South Africa call it.
As for your recipe, which I will try, you did well by keeping it simple. Everyone has a variation on the theme, but the basic recipe has no herbs. And BTW, I confess to using Nando’s bottled sauce occasionally.
Thanks again for sharing all of your cooking.
Manuel
Hi Manuel
Thank for verifying the correct name for this dish. I am going to try this recipe without the herb next time as you mentioned.
Thanks for stopping by and leave a comment. I appreciate it.
EMERGENCY! What kind of Paprika do I use??? Sweet, Smoked, Ground???
Hi, Holly! I love eating Per-Peri Chicken at Nando’s and I must say that your recipe is as great as the one served at that restaurant. I love spicy foods so I used 16 Bird’s eyes Chilli peppers along with 4 table spoon of black pepper powders and 4 table spoon of paprika powders.
Thanks, Denny. So happy to hear that you loved my Peri-Peri chicken recipe. I like the idea of adding lots of bird’s eye chili and paprika. So delish!
Hi, Holly! Thanks for sharing such a great Peri- Peri Chicken. I must say that the Peri-Peri sauce recipe that you shared with us is quite authentic and delicious.
I made my first home-made Peri-Peri Sauce, last night. i love spicy food so I used 16 bird’s eye red chilli peppers 4 table spoon of black pepper powders and 4 table spoon of Paprika powders. The sauce and chicken turned out well.
Can i use that reciepe on chicken drumsticks instead of legs?
Of course you can.
Can you please post the recipe for your potato, corn, and roasted pepper salad– that sounds yummy with it!
This wins! I’ll keep my card in my pocket. Thank you Nando’s and goodbye 😉
The peri peri sauce was invented by Portugese colonists in Southern Africa, ie. Angola, Mozambique & South Africa. From there travelled back to Portugal, where it also became popular. It’s a Portugese style African recipe like trinchado, prego sauce & xai-xai chicken