Make Nando’s Peri-Peri Chicken at home
The Nando’s restaurant is one of my favorite places to eat in the whole world! I think they make the best grilled spicy chicken, secret ingredient being the African birds eye chillies, which they use to create their unique Peri peri sauce. The Nando’s restaurant first found its roots in South Africa and spread to other countries in Africa and can now be found all over the world.
Unfortunately here in Texas we do not have a Nandos restaurant. Here in the US, I’d have to travel to Chicago, Virginia, Maryland or Washington DC (which I probably would just to get me some real authentic Nandos chicken, BTW) For a long time I searched for a copycat recipe and finally came across one which came pretty close to the real deal at Nicko’s Kitchen.
I was actually mindblown. Thanks to Nicko’s kitchen, I was able to recreate this masterpiece in my own kitchen and guess what??, so can you!!! I did not have a few of the ingredients he used in his recipe on hand but I managed to find equally good substitutes in my pantry. I also changed a few of the measurements to suit my own taste but nothing too drastic. Also, while Nicko basted his chicken, I preferred to marinate mine overnight. You can check out Nicko’s recipe right here and my version down there .
P.S Nicko also gives you a guide on how many birds eye chillies to use to get your desired level of heat
3-4 Birds Eye Chillies (Mild) 4-6 (Hot) 6-8 (Very hot!)
Are you a fan of the Nando’s Peri Peri chicken? Let me know if you try this.
Ingredients
- 6 chicken leg quarters
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into chunks
- 4 garlic cloves
- 4 birds eye chilies
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. paprika
- ½ tsp. ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp. regular distilled vinegar
- 1 lemon, juiced
- ½ cup vegetable oil
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on high for about 5 minutes to make a bright orange mixture.
- Marinate the chicken pieces in the mixture for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Pre heat oven to 400 degrees F or 205 degrees C.
- Line a baking sheet with foil paper and spray generously with non-stick cooking spray.
- Arrange the marinated chicken pieces on the baking sheet and bake for about 45-60 minutes.
- Enjoy!