Peri Peri Chicken is a delicious, spicy weeknight dinner. Tender chicken in peri peri sauce with chili peppers for a garlicky, tangy taste.
This delicious and impressive dish is perfect for a family Chicken Dinner Recipe. For similar chicken dinners, you can try my Chicken Cacciatore and Hungarian Chicken Paprikash.
Sabrina’s Peri Peri Chicken Recipe
Peri Chicken is a fabulous dish that originated in South Africa. It’s characterized by its signature sauce, peri peri or piri piri sauce, which is made with spicy bird-eye chili, or Thai chili. The chilies add a nice amount of spice to the fabulous dish, but it’s not an overpowering heat. However, if you’re not a huge fan of spicy foods, you may want to lessen the number of chilies. You can always add a few to the sauce at a time and taste test it to make sure it’s a good heat for you.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1 lemon , juiced and zested
- 1 yellow onion
- 4 bird's eye chili peppers , use serrano as replacement
- 12 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoons coarse ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup roasted bell pepper strips , drained well
- 1 whole chicken , (5-6 pounds)
Instructions
- To a large food processor or blender add olive oil, white vinegar, lemon juice and zest, onion, bird's eye chili peppers, garlic, salt, oregano, paprika, sugar, black pepper, and bell pepper strips and process until smooth.
- Flatten the chicken into a spatchcock style by cutting the spine out of the back of the chicken and pressing down on the chicken until flattened.
- Add chicken to a large ziplock bag or covered container and coat with sauce.
- Refrigerate a minimum of 4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking sheet with vegetable oil spray.
- Add the chicken to the baking sheet, skin side up.
- Rub remaining marinade over the chicken.
- Cook for 60-75 minutes until chicken is cooked through to 165 degrees at its thickest part.
- Serve with Peri Peri Sauce remaining from the pan (or reserve about ¼ cup of sauce after blending and use that to top).
Nutrition
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Chef’s Note
If you’re serving Peri Peri Chicken for a more special occasion you may want to add some garnishes. Try putting some lemon slices, and cilantro leaves on the side of your plate. You can also add a crunchy topping with crushed pecans, pine nuts or peanuts over the chicken.
Table of Contents
About this Recipe
Easy chicken recipes are great for weeknight dinners that the whole family can enjoy. This recipe does take a while to prepare because the chicken needs time to soak in the marinade. You want to give it at least 4 hours in the fridge to get enough of the flavor soaked in. However, all the hands-on cooking is super easy. So, as long as you remember to get started in advance, it’s a fool-proof recipe for amazing chicken!
Pairing Suggestions
This dish is often served up with fresh juicy corn cobs. The naturally sweet flavor of the corn pairs perfectly with the hot pepper sauce. Try making some Milk Boiled Corn or a Corn Salad to go with your chicken dish.
How to Store
- Serve: After baking, don’t leave the chicken at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
- Store: Let the chicken cool down, and then put it in an airtight container to store in the fridge for 3-5 days.
- Freeze: You can also seal and freeze the chicken for up to 6 months. Let it thaw in the fridge, and then reheat it on the stovetop or in the oven before serving.
Variations
- Extra Spicy: The chilies already give this recipe a kick of heat. However, if you just can’t get enough spice and want to raise the heat level even more, you can add in a dash of hot sauce, hot chili powder, or spicy chili flakes. Add in a little bit at a time so that you don’t accidentally make it too spicy.
- Smoky Flavor: To give this recipe a more smoky flavor, you can add a little bit of barbecue sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or liquid smoke to the peri-peri marinade. Start small, with just ¼ or ½ teaspoon and taste it as you go.
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I apologize if I’m being dense, but the recipe says to use the remaining marinade over the chicken before cooking, and then to serve the chicken with peri peri sauce. So, do we want to reserve a cup or so of the sauce before we marinate the chicken? Does the recipe make enough to allow that? Or do you mean to use the drippings from the chicken as the sauce? Or something else?
It does look like a great recipe and I’m eager to try it!