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! 🙂
Nandos chicken in restaurant is with kin and your recipe is skinless. Can I use your same recipe to make it with skin? Is the readymade sauce exact taste as your marinated sauce?
Leaving the skin on or taking it off is a preference, so go with what you prefer. My family prefers this sauce to the ready made version.
salam apa i want to knw can i use nandos peri peri hot sauce & how much i can use?i can’t arrange birds-eye red chillis ,so that won’t make this sauce.pls its urgent.thank u
W/Salaam, normally about 1 and a half cup for each chicken is enough.
Thank you for the nice recipe
Thank you for the nice recipe
love you
M so happy to come across ur
M so happy to come across ur website… n must say u r doin a great job!!
Was goin to try dis peri peri chikn bt unable to find paprika powder.
Wat can b d substitute for d same? Will degi mirch do instead of paprika powder?
Eagerly waitin to try dis… Please reply.. Thanks a lot!!!
Thanks. Paprika powder is
Thanks. Paprika powder is made from crushed dried red capsicum. Degi mirch will make the dish a lot spicier than it is as paprika is normally not spicy. Try checking the supermarkets, spice isles.
Hi faiza, have been enjoying
Hi fauzia, have been enjoying you website a lot, looking forward to make a lot of things. Have only made one recipe of biscuits so far.i wanted to know what dark vinegar exactly is. I just went to the supermarket and I saw 3 types of vinegar: white, red wine, balsamic.
I bought balsamic but the red wine and balsamic is 70% wine vinegar which I don’t now is halal or not. And please tell me which of these three is the dark vinegar? If its none of these, en please tell me what to look for.
JazakAllah
Hi! The vinegar I use is
Hi! The vinegar I use is called Brown vinegar and is made from acetic acid and caramel. So it does not contain any wine/alcoholic base. Try and check for this type of vinegar please.
Fauzia, here is where you
Fauzia, here is where you mentioned that the vinegar you use contains caramel.
Yes, I read and posted that
Yes, I read and posted that from the ingredients list on the bottle of vinegar that I use. 🙂
Also the apple cider vinegar,
Also the apple cider vinegar, is that also not dark vinegar?
Yes apple cider is a dark
Yes apple cider is a dark vinegar although it is quite a strong one.
Aa..If there was a Bette word
Aa..If there was a Bette word than an ammmmmazing cook,that will be u..I loove cooking and by trying most of ur recipes my kids call me super mum not to mention my husband who is always working and can’t wait to get home and find good home made food…if I ask him ,”what would like for lunch/dinner?” He’s respond is ,”surprise me with one of fauzia’s amazing dishes!!!”
God bless you and give u all the happiness in life,may He grant you jannat firdaus inshallah …lots of women and men are reaching out to their families in a happy way,and that is feeding them well!!
Keep up the good work sister.
W/Salaam, Ameen to your
W/Salaam, Ameen to your lovely dua, thank you! 🙂
Assalamu alaikum sis. I just
Assalamu alaikum sis. I just tried this recipe and subhanAllaah, it was sooooo GOOD. And so close to Nandos! Granted I’ve only tried Nandos once, but I loved it and since I moved out of the UK there are things that you just can’t find. I’m so glad I found your site, and inshaAllaah I will try a lot more of your recipes. BaarakAllaahu feeki dear sis.
Salam Fauzia,
Salam Fauzia,
Will dried red chillies make a difference if I don’t have fresh ones on hand? Also, how many chillies did you use for your recipe?
Thank you!
W/Salaam, dried chillis will
W/Salaam, dried chillis will make a difference in flavour yes. Best with fresh ones. I use 4-5.
Salam,
Salam,
I would like to know what kind of grill you use for all your grilled items? is it a charcoal grill or oven grill. can charcoal grills be used indoor?
W/Salaam, I have a charcoal
W/Salaam, I have a charcoal grill but I use it in my balcony not exactly indoors. 🙂
I tried this recipe but it
I tried this recipe but it didnt turn out very well..,,
I used nando’s pre made sauces, but used about 1 cup becz they were extra hot ones….do u think that is why the chicken was nowt so tasty???
Like I’ve mentioned before am
Like I’ve mentioned before am not a fan of the ready made sauces, try the same recipe with my ingredients and see the difference. 🙂
Dear Fauzia- browsed the web
Dear Fauzia- browsed the web for a Peri Peri sauce and finally tried your recipe. Amazing !! and near to the original not only the family loved it but also my colleagues at work. I have stored the sauce in the fridge and it is so convenient . thanks and God bless you for being wonderfully dedicated.
This recipe turned out just
This recipe turned out just perfect! Mashaallah…better than Nandos anytime…
Thank you so much for sharing it with us…Be blessed:)
Found this on google and I
Found this on google and I will be coming back in the future!Just wanted to say, this recipe was ace! It tastes wayyyyyyy better and so much more real than nandos. Thank you!
Hi I would be using chicken
Hi I would be using chicken breasts instead of a full chicken, what alterations should I make the cooking method/recipe? Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hi, you can use 1 kg of
Hi, you can use 1 kg of boneless chicken cut into cubes or leave them whole but slice them to make each breast into 2 layers for even cooking. Skewer them (if cubed) and the rest of the method and recipe remains same. 🙂
Dear Fauzia….
Dear Fauzia….
Thanksssss alot for the recepie..I just love it……how can i make it in my electric oven? like there are no degrees to set up thr..any ideaa???
Hi! Without the temperature
Hi! Without the temperature markings on the oven, it would be really difficult to guess what the heat is like in there, I would suggest that you get an oven thermometer which you can place inside the oven and it will read the temperature. Then you can use the oven for baking. 🙂
I’ve decide to cube the
I’ve decide to cube the chicken and skewer it, should I change cooking times at all because its obviously smaller pices therefore require less time to cook through? Could you give me a rough estimate of how long to cook them? Also I’m grilling them in the oven. What temperature should the grill be and for how long? Sorry to be a pest haha thanks.
The oven should be very hot,
The oven should be very hot, around 200C when you place the skewers in it so that the chicken cubes get sealed instantly and don’t loose all their moisture. Approximately 8-10 minutes per side for the skewers to be done. You can then cut into one cube and check. 🙂
I tried your bounty cake it
I tried your bounty cake it was very good!!!im confused about the bird’s eye chilli, is it the same as lal mirch one that is traditionally used in Pakistan and India??? i googled it and read about it but mostly on indian websites i was called lal marach and i coudnt really get to know the answer
Thanks for the lovely
Thanks for the lovely feedback. Yes I would guess bird’s eye chillis would be the lal mirch. They will work fine. 🙂
Thanks to you for providing
Thanks to you for providing us with these perfect recipes in one place….Its like if you are following a recipe from FKF then it definitely will be what it looks like in the picture….no hassle of ingredients or method and really easy to follow. i never go to any other site now just follow your recipes 🙂
Does it matter if I use green
Does it matter if I use green birds eye chillies?
I think the aroma from the
I think the aroma from the red ones works out better for this recipe.