Peri Peri Sauce Recipe and Peri Peri Chicken Q-View!!!

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tallbm

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[h1]Peri Peri Sauce and Peri Peri Chicken![/h1]
Q-View ENJOY!!

Peri Peri Sauce in squeeze bottle.


3 pounds of Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs (sale at Costco)  grilled with sauce mopped on towards end of grilling and then more added on top when plated.


All grilled and mopped chicken along with plated chicken and sweet potato fries, all in one shot.
Ok everyone, I was excited that Disco's TV cooking show debut had Piri Piri Chicken in it and so I asked if he would like me to post my Peri Peri Sauce recipe (same thing different word spelling/pronunciation).

What is Peri Peri Sauce?

This is a recipe for a Peri Peri sauce like that which is in a restaurant (kinda fast food'ish) in the UK, Australia, etc. called Nando's. This stuff is amazing. Think of Peri Peri Sauce like a new kind of hot sauce that is applied as though it were a BBQ sauce BUT it is not sweet. Sounds completely weird right?

It has a great tangy and savory flavor profile with the smokey pepper flavor along with some spice from the peppers and  tangyness from the lemon juice. It is a unique kind of sauce that you must try, and know that it is ADDICTIVE!!!

Where did this recipe come from?

Well Peri Peri Sauce has a history you should look up but the short answer is that I encountered Portuguese Peri Peri Chicken while in Australia and loved it so I had to make the sauce. This recipe is inspired by the Portuguese Peri Peri Chicken dish and the flavor of the Nando's Peri Peri sauce and chicken. 

Finally, know that every recipe I found online was just plain wrong when compared to the Nando's sauce and in no way did/could ever match up to the ingredients list on the Nando's Peri Peri sauce bottle. All of the recipes online used WAY too much oil and called for a lot of red bell pepper (red bell pepper is not in the ingredients list for Nando's sauce so I omitted it). This recipe is much much closer to the reality of the bottled sauce and tastes really close as well.

Here it goes:

Peri Peri Sauce Recipe
A Nando's Peri Peri sauce clone.

Serving size: 16-18 floz of sauce, good for about 2 whole chickens when NO sauce is used as a marinade
Heat Level: In my opinion is half as hot as Tabasco sauce. Make hotter if you like by adding more chili peppers

Ingredients:
  • 30 Chili Tepin peppers (can substitute with Chili Pequin but probably a bit less than 30 peppers, you investigate to find out.  Nando's makes theirs with African Birdseye and some Serrano.  Chiletepin is a birds eye pepper in Texas, Mexico, California, etc. so it works well)
  • 1 Cup of Onion or 1 Small Onion or .5 Large Onion, coarsely sliced or diced (any kind of onion except green/spring should do)
  • 1.5 tablespoon minced garlic or 3 good sized cloves minced/chopped
  • 1 tablespoon Paprika (any kind, I used smoked because it's what I have)
  • 1 teaspoon Salt (this is not a salty sauce)
  • 1 tablespoon Sunflower/Vegetable/Canola oil (no olive oil, sunflower oil is awesome and is what is used in Nando's sauce)
  • 16 floz Water (same as 2 cups)
  • 4 floz (same as half cup) Distilled White Vinegar (do NOT substitute a different vinegar here)
  • 4 floz (same as half cup) Lemon Juice (real stuff NOT from concentrate, I fresh squeeze 2-3 large lemons to get 4 floz or use Italian Volcano brand organic lemon juice because Costco sells it and it is real, NOT from concentrate)
Cooking Directions:
  1. Use a 5 qt (large) smooth bottom Saute pan or pot that has a big diameter, this will reduce things down more quickly due to the surface area 
  2. Heat the 1 tablespoon of Oil in pan/pot on medium high heat (75% max heat) for about 25-30 seconds
  3. Add Onions, Garlic, and Peppers, saute until Onions get softish and/or somewhat translucent
  4. Add 16 floz of water to pan/pot
  5. Add 1 tablespoon of Paprika, and 1 teaspoon of Salt to pan/pot, and stir seasonings in evenly
  6. Simmer all until thickens and almost all liquid is gone. Should look like consistency of a not very thick gravy.
  7. Remove from heat once desired consistency is met and let cool for a minute or two until safe to pour into Blender or food processor.
  8. Add Distilled White Vinegar and Lemon Juice to blender/food processor
  9. Add contents of pan/pot to blender/food processor
  10. Blend for more than 30 seconds on liquefy setting
  11. Sauce is done so stick in a jar or bottle or whatever you want to store it in in the fridge
Peri Peri Chicken Recipe:
  • 1 large Chicken cut up and skin removed  from all cuts EXCEPT wings (can also spatchcock a chicken or half one as well)
  • 1/4 cup of Salt
  • 4 cups Water
  • 2 tablespoons Garlic Powder
  • 2.5 tablespoons Onion Powder or Dehydrated Onion
  • 1 tablespoon Black Pepper
Brineing Directions:
  1. Make Brine: Take 1/4 cup of Salt and 1 cup of water and add to blender, blend until salt is dissolved
  2. Add all chicken and brine to a 1 gallon ziplock bag or in a large bowl
  3. Add 3 remaining cups of water to ziplock bag or large bowl until full
  4. Let chicken marinate in brine for 2hrs or more in fridge
  5. This will take care of all salt content needed for the chicken so no need to season chicken with salt while cooking
Cooking Directions:
  1. Throw chicken on a hot grill away from flame
  2. Quickly season both sides of chicken with garlic powder, onion powder/dehydrated onion, and pepper (no salt!)
  3. Grill chicken with indirect heat
  4. When chicken is 80-90 done, liberally baste both sides of chicken with Peri Peri sauce and grill directly over heat/flame to get a char
  5. Baste both sides of chicken again with Peri Peri sauce and continue to grill over flame but do not burn, just make sure the sauce is getting some flame at this point if the chicken is good and cooked
  6. Remove chicken and serve
Plating and Eating:
  1. Add as much Peri Peri sauce as you like to the chicken when on your plate
  2. Also add Peri Peri sauce to sides: french fries, grilled corn, and/or rice, etc.
  3. Peri Peri sauce mixes really well with ketchup.  So mix away if are eating fries and chicken, don't be afraid to let them touch or to swirl them together as you eat
  4. Check yourself into rehab because you will now be addicted :P
Notes:
-Warning this is addictive stuff!
-Adjust spice up or down by adding/reducing peppers

-Mix the sauce in ketchup and dip fries and chicken in to eat, WOW!

-Sauce is good on basically anything hot sauce or bbq sauce can go on (eggs, potatoes, rice, fries, chicken, sandwiches, salads, etc. etc.)

-On ebay you can get your hands on dried African Birdseye Peppers for a decent price and they are the real pepper used in the sauce.  Chiletepin peppers are not so price friendly online but I have access to them being here in Texas so I went with it and man was it a good call for a substitute birds eye pepper!
 
 
Everything looks delicious!

Thanks for posting the recipe!

Point!

Al
 
Point for the recipe!

Disco
Thanks guys.  If you get a chance feel free to try it out.  I'm sure any relatable red pepper would work.  I think any red birdseye and/or tabasco peppers would be the best substitutes for the pepper to be used to make the sauce.  Just try and figure out how to adjust the heat with different peppers so you don't burn yourselves alive :)
 
 
Point for the recipe!

Disco
Disco I mentioned that I would post a PH level for the Peri Peri Sauce recipe above.  Well I just broke into a quart of the sauce I pressure canned and grilled a spatchcocked chicken (with breast bone and ribs removed).

This isn't a lab test or anything but this is a good PH tool I am leveraging to know where my homemade sauces stand for bottling, storing, and such.  Follow this info at your own risk and if you are concerned make the sauce and eat within 2 weeks :)

Here is a pick of my calibrated PH measuring device showing a PH of 2.9 for the sauce which I pressure canned almost a year ago:


Here is the lovely char grilled Peri Peri chicken that was for dinner today! (the quarters separated from the spatchcocked chicken towards the end while flipping and grilling for char)


 
Thanks for the details.

I am growing some pequin ( Thai ) peppers this year. They should work for this.
 
Thanks for the details.

I am growing some pequin ( Thai ) peppers this year. They should work for this.
I think you will be happy with what comes out.  It is a truly unique sauce and sooooo addictive.  I ate that one meal for dinner and now I want it all week hahahaha :)
 
TallBM,

Great write up with a good sound recipe and some fine looking chicken. Points for that.

I've been making Piri-Piri sauce for many years using a base recipe that I got a couple decades ago from an old chef in Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique, and the ingredient list is very similar to yours. I also use African Birds Eye peppers from Mozambique. The Chiletepin peppers you use, though a little lower on the Scoville scale, sound like an excellent substitute. I don't use Serranos like Nando's does, but I do add some Cayenne to the mix.

You point out a couple good things by saying to use only distilled white vinegar, and not to use olive oil. I tried cider vinegar once and it basically ruined the sauce. Also, when I first started making the sauce I used olive oil as the old guy's recipe simply said "oil". I noticed that, after a week or two in the refrigerator, it started developing an off flavor that was slightly rancid. A chef friend pointed out that the olive oil was probably the culprit and suggested that I use vegetable oil, or as you suggest, sunflower oil. Sunflower oil is what I've used since, and all's been good.

In moments of urgency, however, I keep a couple bottles of Nando's original on hand. They opened a location about 4 miles from my house last November, and it's a hard place to stay away from.
 
 
TallBM,

Great write up with a good sound recipe and some fine looking chicken. Points for that.

I've been making Piri-Piri sauce for many years using a base recipe that I got a couple decades ago from an old chef in Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique, and the ingredient list is very similar to yours. I also use African Birds Eye peppers from Mozambique. The Chiletepin peppers you use, though a little lower on the Scoville scale, sound like an excellent substitute. I don't use Serranos like Nando's does, but I do add some Cayenne to the mix.

You point out a couple good things by saying to use only distilled white vinegar, and not to use olive oil. I tried cider vinegar once and it basically ruined the sauce. Also, when I first started making the sauce I used olive oil as the old guy's recipe simply said "oil". I noticed that, after a week or two in the refrigerator, it started developing an off flavor that was slightly rancid. A chef friend pointed out that the olive oil was probably the culprit and suggested that I use vegetable oil, or as you suggest, sunflower oil. Sunflower oil is what I've used since, and all's been good.

In moments of urgency, however, I keep a couple bottles of Nando's original on hand. They opened a location about 4 miles from my house last November, and it's a hard place to stay away from.
Man it's good to hear I'm right on with what a chef in Africa does for the dish as well!

Do you grow your own African Birds Eye or buy them dried online?  I saw a vendor on eBay selling 1 kilo bags for what I figure is a pretty good price (approx $30 if I'm correct).

If not where do you buy your African Birds Eye peppers?

Yeah the distilled is the only way to go.  I think all other types would cause some unexpected weirdness with the amount lemon juice used.

Olive oil can get rank on you.  I also find people WAY too often overuse olive oil.  It has its place and its place isn't a substitute for veggie oil.  I think people see that olive oil has better cholesterol characteristics and just try to sub it for all oil.  I don't think they know that Canola oil is in the same category as olive oil with the cholesterol and is an oil you can liberally substitute for most other oils.  I like sunflower oil.  It's what Nando's calls for, is an oil that is actually better for you than olive oil, and the flavor won't interfere with dishes like olive oil can/will.  Sunflower oil just let's every other flavor shine in a recipe while being about as awesome for you as any oil can be.  I really like sunflower oil in my small number of hot sauce recipes I have settled on.  It will be my go to oil as I work up more sauce recipes calling for oil to saute or add directly to a sauce.

I wish a Nando's was near me.  I had to figure out Peri-Peri sauce recipe just to relive the glory days when I ate Nando's once a week while in Australia for over 9 months lol.

If I make any tweaks I may reduce the water content to make it a little thicker.  I also will likely waterbath can the sauce in the future rather than Pressure can it.  I didn't have my PH measuring device when I canned my batch of Peri Peri sauce but I do now.  I think the Pressure Canning process pulverized the sauce so much that it made it even thinner.  I would like it to be the consistency of Cholula hot sauce or maybe a little thicker.  The flavor was still there though.

Next sauce is to try and replicate is Rudy's BBQ Sause.  It is great and the online "clone" recipes I have found are not too close :)
 
 
Man it's good to hear I'm right on with what a chef in Africa does for the dish as well!

Sounds like you're on the right track with your version of the sauce. I checked my ingredient list and it contains white vinegar, SF oil, salt, fresh lemon juice, garlic, shallot, cayenne, smoked paprika, and ABE peppers. On occasion, I tweak it with a little oregano and thyme.

Do you grow your own African Birds Eye or buy them dried online?  I saw a vendor on eBay selling 1 kilo bags for what I figure is a pretty good price (approx $30 if I'm correct).

If not where do you buy your African Birds Eye peppers?

I tried growing them once many years ago, and that was a flop. I get mine from a good friend in Chicago who owns a wholesale specialty food importing firm. For a 500g bag, my price is pretty good as it's usually a nice lunch or a couple cocktails after work. I'm somewhat leery of buying something like this on eBay because, unless your an expert, you don't know with any certainty if you're getting the real thing, and where it's produced. I've seen the containers that the peppers I get come in and they're stamped "Product of Mozambique". I didn't see the eBay ad you referred to, but I did see one offering ABEs from Malawi, I think, for $9.95 an ounce. Moving up to a kg of those would set you back around $350. 

Yeah the distilled is the only way to go.  I think all other types would cause some unexpected weirdness with the amount lemon juice used.

Olive oil can get rank on you.  I also find people WAY too often overuse olive oil.  It has its place and its place isn't a substitute for veggie oil.  I think people see that olive oil has better cholesterol characteristics and just try to sub it for all oil.  I don't think they know that Canola oil is in the same category as olive oil with the cholesterol and is an oil you can liberally substitute for most other oils.  I like sunflower oil.  It's what Nando's calls for, is an oil that is actually better for you than olive oil, and the flavor won't interfere with dishes like olive oil can/will.  Sunflower oil just let's every other flavor shine in a recipe while being about as awesome for you as any oil can be.  I really like sunflower oil in my small number of hot sauce recipes I have settled on.  It will be my go to oil as I work up more sauce recipes calling for oil to saute or add directly to a sauce.

I wish a Nando's was near me.  I had to figure out Peri-Peri sauce recipe just to relive the glory days when I ate Nando's once a week while in Australia for over 9 months lol.

Nando's has started a slow invasion and are now in 3 or 4 U.S. markets. Between May 2015 and Nov. 2016, the opened 11 locations in the Chicago area.

If I make any tweaks I may reduce the water content to make it a little thicker.  I also will likely waterbath can the sauce in the future rather than Pressure can it.  I didn't have my PH measuring device when I canned my batch of Peri Peri sauce but I do now.  I think the Pressure Canning process pulverized the sauce so much that it made it even thinner.  I would like it to be the consistency of Cholula hot sauce or maybe a little thicker.  The flavor was still there though.

I generally run all of the ingredients through a processor to form a chunky paste then add water or sometimes, stock, to thin. I add a little more than needed,  then simmer to reduce to my desired thickness. From there, I run it through the blender to smooth it out. I've never tried canning the sauce, however.

Next sauce is to try and replicate is Rudy's BBQ Sause.  It is great and the online "clone" recipes I have found are not too close :)

I'm not familiar with Rudy's sauce. Let us know how it turns out.
 
 
How many ABE's do you use for a quart of sauce in your recipe?

Also are they fresh or dried?
For a quart, I would use around 20. Remember, true ABEs are significantly hotter that the chiletepins you use. On the Scoville heat unit scale, they're ranked at 150,000-225,000. The chiletepins are at 50,000-100,000.

The peppers I use are dried. Where you're located, you can probably get chiletepins both fresh or dried. Which do you use?
 
 
For a quart, I would use around 20. Remember, true ABEs are significantly hotter that the chiletepins you use. On the Scoville heat unit scale, they're ranked at 150,000-225,000. The chiletepins are at 50,000-100,000.

The peppers I use are dried. Where you're located, you can probably get chiletepins both fresh or dried. Which do you use?
Thanks for the info, that gives me a good idea of how many ABE's to add when the day comes that I make the sauce with them.

I have gotten all of my chiletepins fresh.  They are so tiny they freeze well and are good frozen for a long time as well so I just freeze mine.  I could probably get dried but over the past couple of years I've been lucky to just get them fresh and go from there.  I love those little peppers! 

My recipe is no hotter than Tabasco sauce which isn't very hot to me on food.  I would make my Peri Peri sauce a little hotter but I'm not the only one eating it so I make it more of what I feel is a medium heat level.  I know people who are sensitive to hot stuff and they can usually handle this sauce when it is mopped on the chicken at the end of the grilling process.  They would have a bit of a tougher time splashing the sauce on the chicken when the chicken is on their plate but they seem to enjoy the flavor solely added during the mopping and grilling.

This sauce is outstanding on eggs and potatoes for breakfast and making breakfast toast sandwiches with it and everything else that goes on a breakfast toast sandwich.
 
 
Thanks for the info, that gives me a good idea of how many ABE's to add when the day comes that I make the sauce with them.

I have gotten all of my chiletepins fresh.  They are so tiny they freeze well and are good frozen for a long time as well so I just freeze mine.  I could probably get dried but over the past couple of years I've been lucky to just get them fresh and go from there.  I love those little peppers! 

My recipe is no hotter than Tabasco sauce which isn't very hot to me on food.  I would make my Peri Peri sauce a little hotter but I'm not the only one eating it so I make it more of what I feel is a medium heat level.  I know people who are sensitive to hot stuff and they can usually handle this sauce when it is mopped on the chicken at the end of the grilling process.  They would have a bit of a tougher time splashing the sauce on the chicken when the chicken is on their plate but they seem to enjoy the flavor solely added during the mopping and grilling.

This sauce is outstanding on eggs and potatoes for breakfast and making breakfast toast sandwiches with it and everything else that goes on a breakfast toast sandwich.
It's good you can get your chiletepins fresh. If I could get ABEs fresh I'd do the same as you and freeze them. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen.

Piri Peri is so tightly associated with chicken but your right as there are so many other uses for it. It's great with shellfish such as shrimp, clams, mussels, etc. I also use it to flavor many soups and stews and occasionally add it to plain white rice as it cooks.

There are also some traditional Portuguese dishes I make where the sauce plays a prominent role. One is a pork and clam dish known as Carne de Porco à Alentejana, and the other is a chickpea and Portuguese sausage soup called Sopa De Grao à Alentejana. For casual fare, I use the sauce in a fantastic sandwich known as Prego no Pão which features skirt steak that's spent a few hours in a garlic infused marinade, then quickly grilled with the sauce, thinly sliced, and served with caramelized onions on a roll. Outstanding!
 
 
It's good you can get your chiletepins fresh. If I could get ABEs fresh I'd do the same as you and freeze them. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen.

Piri Peri is so tightly associated with chicken but your right as there are so many other uses for it. It's great with shellfish such as shrimp, clams, mussels, etc. I also use it to flavor many soups and stews and occasionally add it to plain white rice as it cooks.

There are also some traditional Portuguese dishes I make where the sauce plays a prominent role. One is a pork and clam dish known as Carne de Porco à Alentejana, and the other is a chickpea and Portuguese sausage soup called Sopa De Grao à Alentejana. For casual fare, I use the sauce in a fantastic sandwich known as Prego no Pão which features skirt steak that's spent a few hours in a garlic infused marinade, then quickly grilled with the sauce, thinly sliced, and served with caramelized onions on a roll. Outstanding!
Wow that all sounds awesome!  I look forward to the posts when you make those dishes :)
 
Seems everything is referenced to Nando's....so why not buy their sauce? It's what I will do. I like their chicken.
I have bought it but it comes in such small bottles and for as much as I eat the price it wasn't feasible.

That last hen I grilled was 5.5 pounds and took a little more than a pint of sauce for mopping and then splashing on afterwards.   I would have to buy 4 bottles of the sauce which would run me over $12 for sauce to use with a $7 chicken.  Forget even trying to marinate with it lol :)

I really need the volume.  Other's may be able to get by on a single bottle but no way I can :)
 
Thanks for the recipe. I bought a bottle of nando's yesterday and it is a small bottle. If it's as good as it sounds, it will not last at all.

I might have to make a decent amount. Thanks again.
 
Thanks for the recipe. I bought a bottle of nando's yesterday and it is a small bottle. If it's as good as it sounds, it will not last at all.

I might have to make a decent amount. Thanks again.
I hope you enjoy the Nando's sauce, it is awesome!

Yeah that bottle is very very small.  If you were to ever eat in one of the Nando's restaurants you would see that when they mop the chicken on one side the first time they would basically use up 1 small bottle worth of sauce hahaha.  

I don't see the reasoning why they sell such small bottles in the grocery store other than the $$$ of it all.  At the restaurant they use the sauce so liberally and the bottles they have on the table are like quart size or better for you to splash a little sauce or drown everything on your plate.  I think Nando's may even marinate their chicken in the sauce too.

Everything I mention above is why I went ahead and figured out the recipe to this point.  You just need a bunch of peri-peri sauce when eating this dish.

Enjoy!
 
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