Servings : Serves 4-5
I have been experimenting for a while now, trying to come up with a good and authentic-tasting peri peri sauce from scratch so as to make my home-made version of spicy Peri Peri chicken and FINALLY I believe I have landed on the perfect combination. If you like grilled chicken and love the spice, this is definitely a must-try recipe!!
The word Peri Peri comes from the Swahili word Pili Pili which stands for pepper/spicy chilli. So this dish is normally most enjoyable spicy. But of course you can always adjust the amount of chilli to suit your personal taste.
Ingredients for Peri Peri Sauce
- 2-6 birds-eye red chillis (adjust spice level to your taste....2 will be mildly spicy whilst 6 will be very spicy)
- 1 big red capsicum/bell-pepper
- juice of one lemon
- 2 tbsp. paprika powder
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. oregano
- 1/2 tsp. red chilli powder
- 1/2 cup oil (vegetable or olive)
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 4 tbsp. dark vinegar
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 1/4 tsp. red or orange food coloring
Ingredients
- 1 chicken, skin removed and cut into quarters then make 2-3 slits on each piece (approx 1kg-1.5kg)
Instructions
For the Peri Peri Sauce
This sauce is used for marinating the chicken and any leftover is normally cooked down and served as a dip. I prefer making the sauce up to a day ahead of using as the flavors tend to develop with a bit of time. So you can go ahead and prepare the sauce up to a day before you need to use it.
Blend all the ingredients of the sauce until smooth, then pour into a container and refrigerate until needed. You can make the sauce in bulk and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks and use as and when required.
Prepare the Chicken
To get the maximum moistness and succulence in your chicken and to infuse flavor into the meat, take a container big enough to hold the chicken quarters. Add 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, half cup white vinegar, juice of 1 lemon, throw in some roughly chopped fresh herbs like coriander or parsley. Then add COLD water and swirl/mix everything together. Now add in your cleaned chicken pieces, they should be completely immersed in the water. Cover the container and refrigerate it for 1-4 hours. Then drain out the liquid, rinse out the chicken quarters properly to get rid of any excess salt and proceed with the marination.
Pour the prepared sauce over the chicken pieces, making sure it goes into the slits. Cover and refrigerate. Allow to marinate at least overnight or for up to 2 days.
When ready to cook, shake the excess marinade off the chicken pieces. First grill the chicken on a bbq/charcoal grill (or under the broiler grill of your oven) for about 5 minutes per side, just to seal the chicken pieces so they stay nice and moist inside, and this gives the chicken that awesome bbq flavour especially if done on a charcoal grill.
Then place the chicken quarters on a greased tray, brush some sauce over them and pop it in a pre-heated oven at 170 C and bake for about 20 minutes (turn them over midway through the baking). Next, reduce the temperature to 120 C and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Make sure to brush the chicken with some of the peri peri sauce once more during the baking so they stay moist. Once done, remove and keep the chicken covered to retain moisture.
If you did not bbq the chicken on a proper charcoal grill, you can at this point light a small coal, place it on a piece of foil and put it in the center of the dish holding the cooked chicken. Drop some oil on the lit coal and cover the dish so that the smoke released from the coal gets absorbed into the chicken. This will give your chicken a good bbq aroma.
For the remainder of the marinade/sauce, just pour it into a small saucepan, add about half a cup of water and simmer until the sauce thickens and is cooked. You can use this to serve with the chicken.
Serve your delicious Peri Peri chicken with fries, fresh salad and a cold drink.
Enjoy! 🙂
Salamz Fauzia, my entire family is crazy about nando’s, i can’t wait to try this one! Thank you so sooo much for all the wonderful recipes you keep posting..God bless you! <3
For some of those belonging to India/pakistan who are confused…birds-eye chilli is often refered to as kashmiri mirch here!
Hi fauzia !
Cant tell how happy i am to come across ur website !! I improved soo much in cooking ! My mother is so happy ! May allah bless u 🙂 . Tried alot of ur recipies evrytym wit awesome results ! Thank u soo much ! Just 1 que can i shallow fry dis chicken as i just hve regular microwave and wat wud be da substitute to birds eye and paprika as i tried looking for dem but cudnt find ?? Plz help !
Hi and thank you! Please try and google the words so as to see how the ingredients look, that way you may be able to recognise them.
Can i shallow fry dis chicken as i hve da regular microwave ?
You can try! Hope it turns out as good as the grilled version.
Hi fauzia, wen am rinsing out da chicken from da vinegar, salt, sugar n water do u mean rinsing with water or just drain off da vinegar water. Again can I substitute da chilli wid cayenne pepper. Shukran
Hi, drain then rinse with water. For the fresh chilli, best to use it as it has a unique flavour. You can use cayenne pepper in place of the chilli powder.
Jazak-Allah fauzia Ave Neva made chicken as gud as dis 1, everybody loved it n was lyk it just tastes exactly like nandos chicken, will upload da pic soon, thnx darlin
hi. by oregano< do u mean < powdered oregano or oregano seeds or crushed oregano???……isnt one tbsp too much as oregano seeds have a very strong taste???
thanks
Hi, I use dried oregano, please google to see how it looks. And no it is not too much. 🙂
Salaams fauzia
I just want to say I made nandos chicken and it is exact same taste as nandos! Actually this beats nandos any day! Thanks for the recipe. Everyone must try this recipe!!
Family loved it so much they want me to make it again!!
it is neccesary to use red capcicumm
plz reply soon tell me i can make this in big patila it mean(if i preheat big bwol and grees my platter and put it in that bowl .it is write aur not
Not sure what a big patila is?
Please refer to my previous comments for the reply to this.
hi fauzia, i recently joined your fb page.. its very helpful i tried few of your recipes, all of them came out brilliant.. next i want to try your Nando’s style peri peri chicken.. i went to buy dark vinegar but i found Malt vinegar only it is also dark, i was wondering if they are both same and can i use malt vinegar in this recipe??.. i will wait for your reply..
Hi, yes malt vinegar should be ok for the recipe. Thank you. 🙂
Can’t wait to try this recipe. I love nandos peri peri chicken but The nearest nandos is a 2 hr drive away 🙁
Can I skip oregano?thanks
If possible, use it for best flavour.
I don’t have a charcoal grill or broiler..wat do I grill it on? Can I cook it in a non stick pan?
Better to use an oven-grill.
Is it possible to freeze the sauce?
Yes you can freeze it.
Fauzia I don’t get red capsicum and bird eyed chilli here so if I use Nandos sauce do I need to add something else as well or do I just marinate in the Nandos peri peri sauce? And will the results be any different?
Can’t wait to try it!
I have just prepared the marinating sauce and is resting in the fridge. I will be using two baby whole chickens not been chopped into pieces is that ok?
Yes that is fine. 🙂
Just the sauce will be enough.