Piri Piri Chicken – mildly spicy luscious chicken legs marinated with the complex flavors of Peri Peri Sauce – a very versatile and bold sauce.
Grilling season is here, so it is time to fire up the grill. If you are craving something different this summer, here is a great chicken recipe that will get you excited about firing up the grill. You can make it mildly spicy or crank up the heat as much as you want. I won’t judge.
Believe it or not, my uncles use to eat these raw chilies with anything he could lay his hands on. No, I did not inherit those genes, thank God. I can only tolerate moderate heat.
I have made this recipe mildly spicy because I have a 5year old son and he loves grill chicken. There is no way; I am going tell him not to eat this chicken. He will hate me for life.
Peri peri sauce is -a blend of chilies, fresh garlic, jalapeno pepper, red pepper, basil, onions oregano, smoked paprika, salt, lemon and olive oil. It is sour, a little sweet and slightly salty- making it a really complex and versatile sauce that you can use on almost anything. Chicken should be a good starting point (legs, thighs, breast) they would do just fine.
Piri Piri Chicken
Ingredients
- 8 chicken legs or 2 ½ - 3-pound chicken cut up
- 1 or more tablespoon piri-piri sauce chili sauce adjust to taste
- ½ onion sliced
- 6 garlic cloves chopped
- ½ red bell pepper
- 6 basil leaves
- 2 tablespoons oregano
- ½ teaspoon coarsely ground white pepper
- Salt and pepper to season
- ¼ cup olive oil
- I lime or lemon
Instructions
- Trim chicken of excess fat and pat dry with a cloth or paper napkin. Rub with lemon, and 2 teaspoons creole spice or season with salt and pepper
- Place the onions, garlic, basil, oregano, bell pepper, and peri peri sauce in a food processor or blender, then add, olive oil. Pulse for about 30 seconds until blended
- Drench the chicken with peri- peri marinate, place in a zip lock bag and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
- When ready to grill. Using a thong remove chicken from the peri peri marinade and remove excess marinate. Reserve the marinade
- Preheat grill to medium- high heat.
- Place chicken on the grill and grill for about 10-15 minutes an each side you may need to turn the chicken occasionally on each side until it is cooked all the way. Do this in batches if you have a small grill
- In a small saucepan simmer the remaining peri peri marinade and the one from the chicken for about 7 minutes. Serve with chicken or mix with chicken.
Nutrition Information:
L says
Do you make your own Piri Piri sauce or powder or do you purchase already made
Imma says
Yes, making your own sauce is so much better. The recipe: https://www.africanbites.com/piri-piri-sauce/
Regina says
This sounds like something I will absolutely fall in love with I will definitely try this
Immaculate Bites says
Let me know your thoughts, Regina. I hope you’ll enjoy this 🙂
Zahara says
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDD
Zahara says
This look REAL Good
imma africanbites says
Thank you. It sure does. 🙂