Peri Peri Chicken
Peri peri chicken is spicy chicken marinated in a tasty combination of peppers and spices and then grilled or baked to perfection. It’s a great addition to your summer grilling menu.
This amazing Peri Peri Chicken recipe uses that easy homemade peri peri sauce we shared with you yesterday.
Tender chicken quarters are basted in the spicy sauce until they are perfectly cooked. The bold sauce made from a blend of chili peppers, roasted peppers and onions and spice is so yummy that we put it on everything. It’s bright, bold and spicy and makes this peri peri chicken absolutely mouth wateringly delicious.
If you want to experiment with some other bold spices make sure to try our za’atar chicken and harissa chicken too!
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What You’ll Need
Once you have the sauce made, there’s not much to this chicken recipe. To make this you’ll need:
Chicken – We recommend bone in, skin on chicken quarters for this recipe but any chicken pieces will work including boneless and skinless pieces.
Peri Peri sauce – For this sauce you need a red bell pepper, onion, garlic, spices and red chili peppers.
How to Make It
Marinate the chicken. Put the chicken into a freezer bag with 2 cups of peri peri sauce. Make sure the sauce evenly covers the chicken. Seal the bag and pop it in the fridge for 4 hours or up to overnight.
Cook the chicken. You can cook the chicken in the oven or grill it. Either way, remove the chicken from the bag and scrape off the excess marinade. If you are baking the chicken, put the chicken in a casserole dish or on a baking sheet and bake it in a 425 degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165.
If you are grilling the chicken, place the chicken on a grill that’s preheated to 350-400 degrees F. Let it cook for 15 minutes before flipping and cooking for about 15 minutes more. The chicken is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
Peri peri chicken is a zesty chicken dish that has roots in both South Africa and Portugal. The dish coats chicken quarters in a zesty homemade peri peri sauce. This sauce consists of pureed chili peppers, garlic and spices. Check out our post on how to make this sauce here. The sauce gives this chicken bold flavor that we absolutely adore.
The spice level of this recipe depends on how spicy you make the peri peri sauce. The sauce can be made with varying degrees of heat. When you make the sauce, you can add the chili peppers one at a time to control the heat level. If you use more chili peppers, the sauce will be spicier. For a milder version you can use more roasted red peppers and less hot peppers.
No, any chicken pieces will work. It doesn’t matter if it is boneless or skinless. Use whatever chicken you have and like. We like chicken quarters because the dark meat stays juicier as it cooks, especially if you’re grilling it.
Looking for More Chicken Recipes?
- Harissa Chicken
- Za’atar Chicken with Yogurt Sauce
- Air Fryer Chicken Wings
- Instant Pot Butter Chicken {Low Carb}
- Grilled Chicken Fajita Skewers
- Grilled Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Skewers
- Buffalo Chicken Sliders
- Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Keto Chicken Gyro Bowl
- More Chicken Recipes…
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Peri Peri Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken quarters, this is the leg and thigh, bone-in, skin-on
- 2 cups Peri Peri sauce, divided
Instructions
Oven Instructions:
- Sprinkle chicken thighs with 1 teaspoon of salt before placing them in a freezer bag with 1 cup of the Peri Peri sauce. Seal and place in the refrigerator to marinate for 4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Remove the marinated chicken from the freezer bag and scrape off the excess marinade.
- Pour ½ cup of the unused peri peri sauce in a small bowl.
- Place the chicken pieces in a large casserole dish, or on a baking sheet, and bake for 20-30 minutes. As the chicken cooks baste it every 10 minutes with the peri peri sauce you put in the bowl. The chicken is done when it’s internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.
- Serve with remaining 1/2 cup of Peri Peri sauce on the side.
Grill Instructions:
- Heat grill to 350-400 degrees F.
- Remove the marinated chicken from the freezer bag and scrape off the excess marinade.
- Pour ½ cup of the unused peri peri sauce in a small bowl.
- Place the chicken pieces on the hot grill and cook for 15 minutes before flipping and cooking for approximately 15 minutes more. As the chicken cooks baste it every 10 minutes with the peri peri sauce you put in the bowl. The chicken is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
- Serve with remaining 1/2 cup of Peri Peri sauce on the side.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published on October 11, 2014. It was republished on July 8, 2020 with updated recipe and photos.
I’ve never had Piri Piri Chicken, but it looks delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Yum this looks great, I love Piri Piri chicken – would be great to make my own and not rely on Nandos! Thanks for sharing
LOL, I said the same thing…though I will still have to go to Nando’s for their Piri Piri Hummus!
Thank you so much, this looks so good! #client
Thanks Lori! 🙂
Oh yum! I spent my honeymoon, years ago 🙂 in Portugal, Piri Piri Chicken was one of my favorite dishes. I definitely need to make this at home, thanks for the recipe!
Yum! I love Indian food and this looked Indian to me — but I still think I will love it. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
This looks delicious! I will definately be making this sometime. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for this!
I’m always on the lookout for new ways to combine chicken and chillies! 🙂
This looks AMAZING. I’m so happy you put that detailed picture of using gloves when cutting up peppers because 2 years ago when I was canning some salsa I ignored instructions to wear gloves and got some pretty serious chemical burns on my hands! Those peppers are dangerous when not handled properly. Can’t wait to try this out.
It only took one time of cutting jalapenos without gloves then rubbing my eye (even after I washed my hands) and I learned my lesson. Always use gloves! Lol
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I love Peri-Peri Chicken and this would be so much more affordable than regularly visiting Nando’s! LOL. 🙂
Holy cow this looks so good!! I don’t like super spicy, but this just looks plain delicious. I’ve never heard of that sauce, I need to try it! Thanks so much for linking up with us at Motivational Monday!! We love seeing your posts each week! 🙂
I never heard of Pri Pri before but it looks and sounds amazing. Pinning for future. Thanks for sharing.
Found you on the SITS DIY Linkup. Have a great weekend!
All roads lead to Home Made Interest! I saw your post on STH Link Party and it looked so good….I didn’t realize it was you guys (met you at SITS). Anyway, this looks delicious and I’m going to try it this week if I can. I think my hubby will love it!
Hi Denise! Thanks for stopping by. You are going to love the recipe. It is one of my new favorites.
I love Piri Piri chicken and just wanted to say thanks for offering such a great giveaway! Thank you also for linking up again at Thank Goodness It’s Thursday. 🙂
Oh yum yum yum. Hubby loves his chilli too, so I reckon this recipe would be a winner!!
Thanks for linking up to Marvelous Monday on Smart Party Planning.