What is Piri Piri?
Piri Piri is associated with hot peppers, notably African Bird’s Eye chilies. Having roots in both Africa and Portugal, for centuries Piri Piri has been a part of both of their cuisine. Read on for our take of piri piri chicken.
How hot is this chili?
Known in Swahili as pepper-pepper, the spice that is so hot it had to be named twice. Most Portuguese cuisines do not like it as hot so it is rated as 50,000 to up to 175,000 Scoville units. In general, it depends on where you go to how spicy the piri piri will be. It is generally more flavorful than spicy and has notes of citrus in it.
So in answer to the question What is Piri Piri, Its basically a delightfully hot, flavorful dish.
While puri puri is very popular at British Restaurants such as Nando’s, there are few restaurants that serve it. So if you crave Piri Piri, or have never tried it but want to, the best way is to grill it at home by purchasing our Piri Piri blend for home use.
Our piri piri blend can be used as either a dry or wet rub, and if you have children who like it a little milder, mix it up with some ketchup.
The Piri Piri Chicken Recipe
This recipe was designed to imitate Nando’s classic barbecue recipe at home.
For the marinade, mix together lemon juice and garlic, salt to taste. Coat the chicken evenly on the outside, as well as under the skin where possible. Let sit in the marinade for 30 minutes on the counter.
For the Piri piri sauce, 1/2 cup olive oil, 3 tablespoons of our piri piri blend, salt, and pepper to taste.
Place your marinated chicken in a preheated oven at 400 degrees and then cook for 30-35 minutes. Turn the chicken halfway and baste with its juices.
Heat a griddle on medium heat. Remove chicken from oven, brush with piri piri sauce and brown on griddle 2 minutes on both sides. Serve with baked corn or quinoa or rice, also drizzled with piri piri sauce.
It does take a bit of work to prepare the sauce properly, but once you’ve tried Piri Piri Chicken, you’ll rarely be content to eat just ordinary chicken again.
Piri piri chicken is absolutely delicious and be prepared to get plenty of requests for more.
