Portuguese chicken (peri peri chicken). For a delicious family roast, make this Portuguese style chicken featuring the irresistible spicy classic peri peri sauce. Add a layer of your favorite veggies for an extra bite of nutrition and deliciousness. A tasty side of Portuguese rice brings you the best family meal for your next dinner.
As I promised in the previous post, I’m back with that extra special dish I served alongside Portuguese rice. When it comes to food, I’ve a huge affection towards timeless classics that retain their glory generations after generations. Moreover, I prefer simple dishes for everyday cooking, and that’s what this Portuguese chicken is all about - traditional, simple, and best of all, the flavors reign supreme.
You might be very familiar with this Portuguese style chicken or peri peri chicken synonymous with one of the world favorite restaurant chains, Nandos. In this recipe, I’ve tried to recreate this delicious masterpiece with an authentic touch of Portuguese cuisine.
Ok, first of all, let’s talk about the classic peri peri (piri piri) sauce that makes this chicken all the more delicious. It’s honestly one of my favorite marinades, and it always taste great slathered onto your favorite meat or fresh vegetables. For an easier version of this classic Portuguese chicken, you can always sub homemade peri peri sauce with storebought sauce. However, today I’m going to make this sauce from scratch , so you all can enjoy a clean meal minus artificial colors and preservatives.
My favorite recipe for peri peri sauce is a classic combo of olive oil, smoked paprika, white vinegar, dried oregano, crushed garlic, lemon juice and dried chili flakes. The traditional sauce is well-known for its extra level of heat. But, feel free to customize it based on your taste preferences. Again, I’ve used dried red chili flakes here, but sub with 3 or 4 birdseye chilies to make this sauce as authentic as possible.
Now all you need to do is slather this sauce on chicken, and bake it until cooked through. Talking about chicken, I butterflied (removed the back bone) to reduce the cooking time drastically. Again, it’s totally optional, you can bake whole chicken for a delicious roast chicken dinner.
In order to more layers of flavor and nutrition, I have also chopped up a few veggies (beetroots, carrots, pumpkins) to go into the baking tray along with chicken. This way, the veggies will cook in the juices from the chicken, and oh my, these are the best roast veggies ever.
Finally, serve this with Portuguese style rice for the perfect meal.
If you love classic recipes like I do, I’m pretty sure this Portuguese chicken is going to be your new favorite. I’m so into this Portuguese style chicken and rice at the moment. So good!
More Roast Chicken Recipes
- Perfect Roast Chicken
- Curry Roast Chicken
- Malabar Roast Chicken | Kozhi Nirachathu
- Tandoori Roast Chicken
- Chinese Roast Chicken
- Jamie Oliver's Empire Roast Chicken
Portuguese Chicken | Peri Peri (Piri Piri) Chicken | Video
Ingredients
Peri peri (piri piri) Sauce:
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon dried chili flakes or 10 birdseye chilies
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt to taste
Portuguese chicken:
- 2 kg chicken butterflied (or cut into large pieces)
- 1 cup peeled and diced beetroots
- 1 cup diced pumpkin
- 1 cup diced carrots
Instructions
Peri peri (Piri piri) sauce:
- Combine together oil, crushed garlic, paprika, chili flakes, oregano, vinegar and lemon juice in a bowl. Season with salt. Set aside.
Portuguese chicken:
- Place chicken in a large baking dish. Coat well in marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight if possible.
- Preheat oven to 190 C or 370 F. Place the veggies around chicken. Transfer to the oven and roast for 45-50 minutes or until the skin is golden and chicken cooked through.
- Serve with Portuguese rice.
Video
Notes
- Add more veggies like potatoes and sweet potatoes to level up nutrition
Nutrition
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