Recipes

Peri Peri Grilled Chicken

Serves 4-6

| Prep Time: 5 mins

| Cook Time: 25 mins

| Total Time: 30 mins

You may need: Peri Peri

Discover The Recipe

When its time to fire up the BBQ and host outdoor dinner parties, wow your dinner guests with this Peri Peri Grilled Chicken recipe. Featuring a Portuguese-Mozambique fusion marinade called Peri Peri, a tangy- spicy-sweet sauce traditionally made with African Birds Eye chilis, it will leave you licking your fingers and longing for more.

Located on the southeast coast of Africa, Mozambique is a country with a proud cultural heritage and beautiful turquoise waters. The Portuguese connection traces back to Vasco de Gama, one of the early global explorers famous for the first sea voyage from Europe to India (1497-99) via the Horn of Africa, among other intrepid feats. Portugal colonized many of the regions along his route, including nearly 500 years in Mozambique, and brought back terrestrial and culinary riches to the motherland. While you can use our Peri Peri spice blend as a dry rub, we strongly encourage you to make the full marinade to get the lemony-garlicky tanginess that so characterizes Peri Peri. Customize the heat to your taste by adding 1 or 2 jalapeño peppers to the marinade.

Ingredients

2-3 pounds of chicken
salt & pepper to taste (optional)
1/4 sweet yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 red bell pepper, seeded & coarsely chopped
1 lemon, juiced
5 large, fresh basil leaves
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1.5 tbsp of Piquant Post Peri Peri blend
1 red or green jalapeño pepper, seeded (optional)

Notes

If you don't BBQ, you can make this recipe in the oven using your broiler. See the section on alternatives & substitutions below for broiler instructions.

Use a food processor to quickly make the marinade. If you don't have one, you can use your blender. You'll have to use the spatula to scrape the sides more frequently to achieve a smooth consistency. You can also add a little more lemon juice or a couple tbsp of water to help process the chunks.

We love reserving some of the marinade (before adding chicken) for drizzling on the cooked chicken. It is a delicious sauce that could also work for dunking crusty bread.

Optional ingredients add a little character and flavor but don’t sweat it if you don’t have them.

Instructions

Season chicken with salt & pepper to taste and set aside (optional). Coarsely chop onion and red bell pepper. Juice 1 lemon.

Add onion, bell pepper, lemon juice, basil, garlic, olive oil, Peri Peri spice, and jalapeño (optional) to a food processor. Pureé for 30 seconds then use a spoon to scrape bits from side and pulse for 10 more seconds until sauce is mostly smooth. (you can reserve some of the marinade as a tapenade sauce to drizzle).

Add the chicken to a non-reactive bowl and pour peri peri sauce over chicken. Use a spoon to flip the chicken and thoroughly coat and submerge. Place bowl in fridge for minimum 20 mins and up to overnight.

Heat a grill on Medium-High. BBQ / grill chicken for approximate 7-8 mins then flip. Grill 7-8 more mins or until chicken is cooked through to 165 deg F.

Alternatives & Substitutions

If you don't BBQ or feel like making Peri Peri grilled chicken indoors, you can use your oven broiler to cook the chicken. Broilers require more attention to the oven to make sure you don't overcook or worse, completely char the meat. First, make the marinade and add the chicken per the recipe. Then, adjust your wire oven rack to be 6-9 inches below your top broiler. Next, pre-heat the oven on Broil High. Finally, in an oven safe baking dish or on a foil-lined roasting pan, add the chicken and cook for approximately 5-7 mins per side (or until chicken is cooked through to reach an internal temp of 165 deg). Make sure to check on the chicken every 2 mins to make sure it is not burning or smoking. If you see the chicken beginning to burn, you can reduce the oven to Broil Low setting or to 500 degree temp.
Vegetarians: try our delicious Peri Peri Cauliflower Steak or hearty African Vegetable Pelau (Rice Pilaf) recipes instead. You can also make the Peri Peri marinade and use as a delicious dressing or tapenade on everything from crusty bread, to salad, to grilled veggies like corn, portobello mushrooms, eggplant, or zucchini. You can choose to marinate pre-cooking or just drizzle after serving.
Our Peri Peri spice blend works fine as a dry rub on chicken or meats. But we always recommend trying the full marinade first to achieve maximum flavor.
Try our Peri Peri Skirt Steak for Peri Peri Chicken with Ranch recipes for fun alternatives!
Don't forget to leave comments and feedback on your meals and experiments in the comments for others to read.
Post pictures of your masterpiece meal on social media and tag us. We repost!