Peri Peri Sauce: Elevating Your Grilled Chicken Game.

Experience the addictive flavors of garlicky, spicy, lemony, and tangy peri peri sauce. This bright and full-flavored version that hits all the right notes.

Okay, I confess. Until recently, I’d never before tried peri peri sauce. The origins of this sauce trace back to Portugal, and through time it became popular in other countries, such as Mozambique, where the infamous peri peri chicken dish originated.

The peri peri sauce derives its flavorful heat from the African Bird’s Eye Chili, which is complemented with an assortment of herbs and spices and a generous tang of lemony freshness to create a balanced and delicious taste.

At the heart of the remarkable global success of the Nando’s restaurant franchise lies the Peri Peri sauce, which has become ingrained in the modern-day culinary culture of the UK and many other parts of the world. The addictive taste of Nando’s Peri Peri sauce is evident from the numerous weekly visits people make to the restaurant.

Unfortunately, there is not a Nando’s restaurant anywhere nearby, but I was recently given the opportunity to try this famous sauce during a recent trip out to Ottawa, Canada. It was there I began to make sense of the wonderfully addictive qualities of peri peri sauce paired with grilled chicken.

Since trying it, I have become slightly obsessed with its flavor profile. So I committed to creating my own version of their sauce. I wanted to make it at least equal to, if not better than, the flavor profile of Nando’s famous peri peri chicken. I purchased a few bottles of the sauce to bring home with me so I could compare my version of peri peri sauce with theirs so that I could get it just right.

Finding the Right Flavors for Peri Peri Sauce

I did extensive research online, searching through countless recipes for peri peri sauce. I tried several various recipes, which helped allow me to tweak my own recipe to help perfect the flavor.

Throughout my research, I found the most authentic peri peri spice blend available on the market. This perfect blend of spices includes Bird’s Eye Chilis, which also bears the name Piri Piri Chili for obvious reasons. This chili is what gives peri peri sauce its kick. While this hard-to-find pepper can be substituted for Thai red chilis, I chose, in the end, to use this beautiful dry peri peri blend created by Spice Station Silver Lake to help make my version of peri peri sauce perfect. 

To make my sauce bottle-ready after a quick cook, I utilized roasted red peppers as a foundation along with grilled onions to enhance the smoky aroma, introduce a hint of sweetness, and thicken the sauce for better brush-ability.

When I tried Nando’s sauce straight from the bottle, I noticed that, like many other commercially produced sauces, it was excessively salty. As a result, I significantly reduced the amount of salt in my recipe, assuming that individuals would be seasoning their chicken before cooking it.

This change proved to be quite successful, and I was very pleased with the results of my experiment.

The Final Verdict

It was a big hit with the kids! Ruby, who enjoys spicy food as much as I do, says it’s her new favorite way to eat chicken. My partner even surprised me! He doesn’t normally go for very spicy foods, but even he claimed it was the most delicious chicken I’ve ever made! 

That’s saying quite a lot, considering the many different chicken dishes I’ve cooked for him over the years. 

Since bottling this batch last week, our family has enjoyed this sauce in a few different ways. From chicken to shrimp and even chicken burgers for a quick meal. I suppose you could say I started an obsession with this sauce among the whole family. 

From Then to Now

Most recently, I started using this amazingly flavorful, spicy sauce on grilled chicken wings! 

You could say I am obsessed with grilling chicken. When I have a craving for chicken, I always grill it. My neighbors must think I’m crazy because not even the brisk winter temps of the North Carolina mountains that I call home will keep me off the grill if I’m making chicken or steak, for that matter. 

This particular method of cooking means never skipping the marinade. After the chicken has rested the sauce for a few hours, I simply start grilling the wings, sealing the skin equally on both sides after sprinkling a little salt on the chicken. 

To prevent cooking them too quickly, I grill the chicken over medium-high heat while continuously brushing on the sauce and turning them every 4-5 minutes. I aim to apply at least three coatings on each side to ensure that the peri peri sauce flavor is fully infused.

The last time we sat down to a peri peri chicken meal, I paused for a moment to take some photographs before taking my first bite. It was just too beautiful; the photographer in me couldn’t help it! But even just writing about it now makes me wish it was on the menu tonight.

Below I’ve provided the recipe to make your very own peri peri sauce. Use with caution and expect to become obsessed with this sauce, just like my family did!

Peri Peri Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 large red bell peppers, char-grilled
• 1 large red onion, char-grilled
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• zest of one lemon, finely grated
• 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika or plain paprika
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 tsp Piri Piri spice blend
• Salt and pepper to taste

Finishing the sauce – once cooked:

• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• zest of one lemon, finely minced
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

1. Roast the red peppers and onions using a gas grill, broiler, or cast iron grill pan. Ensure that the peppers and onions have char marks on the outside, but don’t worry if they are not fully cooked since they will be cooked in the sauce.
2. Chop the peppers and onions and add them to a food processor or blender. If you only have an immersion blender, take the time to puree the ingredients well.
3. Add piri piri spice blend, vinegar, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and lemon zest to the food processor with the grilled onions and peppers, and puree until smooth.
4. Transfer the sauce to a medium saucepan, add bay leaves, and simmer slowly for 20-30 minutes.
5. Let the sauce cool to warm, remove the bay leaves, and then return the sauce to the food processor.
6. Add additional lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and lemon zest, and puree for a few more minutes until very smooth. Slowly pour in the olive oil in a thin stream as the processor is running.

Notes

To prepare Peri Peri Chicken, coat all sides of the chicken, which can be either bone-in and skin-on or boneless and skinless, with a small amount of the sauce. Place the chicken in a glass dish, cover it with plastic wrap, and allow it to marinate for several hours or overnight. Grill the chicken over low heat on a glass grill until it is completely cooked, brushing on extra sauce during the last 5-10 minutes of cooking. Serve the chicken with additional peri peri sauce for dipping at the table.