This Portuguese Chicken, called Peri Peri Chicken with Crispy Potatoes is one of those dishes that makes winter a little more bearable. It’s hearty and satisfying and warms the soul with its deep smoky flavors. The prep time is relatively short and the oven does much of the work. During the cold months, I try to utilize the oven as much as possible. It warms the whole house, and just feels good.
There is nothing quite as satisfying as a simple roast chicken, just pulled from the oven, aromas wafting through house, infusing hearth and home with warmth and comfort. Winter has arrived, dropping snow on the fallen leaves. It seemed to happen so quickly this year, the changing of the seasons. My initial reaction, truthfully, is resistance, to the abrupt ending of fall and the beginning of the long winter to come. And yet, I’m lured into acceptance by little things – the sound of the crackling fire, the snowflakes, the stack of books waiting to be read and comforting meals.
Smoked paprika, dried ancho chilies and fresh garlic are at the base of this flavorful marinade. This is a “manly” dish, meaning, in general, men tend to gravitate towards these deep, smoky flavors. It looks spicy, but don’t be deceived – this version is not over-the-top spicy, and I’d only call it a “one-star” on the spiciness scale. It really lets the other flavors come through.
Traditional Portuguese Chicken, also called Peri Peri Chicken (or sometimes Piri Piri Chicken) is made with Piri Piri peppers which actually originated in South Africa, and were imported to Portugal from two Portuguese colonies, Angola and Mozambique, on spice ships. Today, the peppers are used widespread throughout Portugal to make marinades, basting liquids, condiments and hot sauces.
To butterfly, start by placing the chicken (rinsed, patted dry) breast side down on a cutting board.
Using sharp kitchen scissors, remove the spine, cutting on one side and then the other side of the spine. Open the chicken wide and turn over, so breast side is now facing up.
With the back side open and facing down, press down firmly on the breast bone of the chicken to flatten. You may hear some cracking. Press hard.
In a blender or food processor, blend the marinade ingredients into a thick paste. Brush the marinade all over both sides of the chicken, saving the rest for basting while in the oven.
If making the potatoes that go with this, brush marinade on the bottom of your sheet pan. Sweet potatoes would also work well.
Do not use a ceramic or glass pyrex here- use a large, rimmed, metal sheet pan for best results. This enamel pan is deceiving, it is very large.
Layer thinly sliced potatoes, overlapping only slighlty, and sprinkle generously with salt.
Place the chicken, skin side down, tucking the wings under, over top of the potatoes and place in a 425F pre-heated oven.
After 15 minutes, turn the chicken over and roast for another 15 minutes, basting with more marinade after flipping. Continue cooking until chicken is cooked through, and leg reaches 165F. Depending on the size of the chicken, this could be 20-50 more minutes!
Then give a good broil in the oven so skin gets crispy and slightly charred in places. This is important!
The flavorful juices from the Peri peri Chicken and marinade will seep into the potatoes which will have softened and also become crispy, a nice contrast. Place it in the oven.
Hope you enjoy! Leave your comments, adaptions and rating below.
Cheers and love,
Sylvia
PrintPortuguese Chicken and Crispy Potatoes ( Peri Peri Chicken)
Roasted Portuguese Chicken (aka Peri Peri Chicken) – smoky, flavorful and delicious, served over crispy potatoes, with a flavorful cilantro yogurt sauce.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 70 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Main, chicken recipe, sheet-pan dinner
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: Portuguese
Ingredients
- 1 small Whole Chicken (3–4 lbs) or sub chicken pieces ( see notes)
- 1 ½ lbs potatoes (yukon or reds), thinly sliced
Marinade:
- 2 Dried Ancho Chilies-re-hydrated
- 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar, red wine vinegar or lemon juice.
- 1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Cilantro Sauce:
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 bunch Cilantro – finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon coriander
- Cracked pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F
- Rehydrate dried chilies in small pot of boiling water on the stove for 20 minutes.
- Butterfly the chicken: Rinse inside and out, removing innards. Pat dry. Place on a cutting board, breast down. Using sharp kitchen scissors, cut along both sides of the spine, remove and discard. Turn the chicken over, and placing your hand on the breast bone, press down hard with the palm of your hand, to flatten.
- Make the marinade by blending the marinate ingredients into a paste with a blender or food processor. Brush a layer of marinade on the bottom of your large sheet pan.
- Place the thinly sliced potatoes on top of the marinade and sprinkle with a generous pinch of kosher salt, not overlapping slightly but not too much.
- Brush all sides and crevasses of the chicken with the marinade, coating fairly heavily. (You will add more marinade during cooking, so be sure to save the remaining.) Place chicken, skin side down on the potatoes and place in the hot oven.
- Turn chicken over after 15 minutes, and place back in the oven. After 15 minutes, brush more marinade all over the chicken on the skin side, really lathering it up. Return to the oven and bake until cooked through another 15-30 minutes, or until leg/ thigh reaches internal temperature of 165 F. The bigger the chicken, the longer this will take. ( A large, 5-6 pound chicken may take an additional 20 minutes!) To crisp the skin and get it deeply brown, broil for a few minutes. A little char is good here!!! Remove chicken when done and let rest 5-10 minutes before serving. Cut chicken into pieces and serve.
- While chicken is roasting, combine Cilantro Sauce ingredients together, either in a bowl- mixing by hand, or in a food processor. Serve cilantro sauce on the side.
Notes
For a healthier version, use skinless boneless chicken thighs, or breast. Feel free to marinate overnight in a zip lock bag. Cooking time will shorten significantly, so you may have to remove chicken and let potatoes continue cooking to get them crispy.
For WHOLE CHICKENS! The baking time for the chicken will vary depending on the size (weight) of the chicken. This one in the photos was a small 3.5 pound chicken. Larger 5-6 lb chickens will take longer in the oven ( 70-90 minutes). So plan accordingly.
Use a large rimmed metal sheet pan, rather than a glass baking dish so air can circulate and potatoes can get crispy! (This enamel baking dish in the photos is much larger than it looks! )
Keywords: peri peri chicken, peri peri chicken recipe, Portuguese chicken, Portuguese chicken recipe, Portuguese recipes, Piri piri chicken,
Gorgeous! I make something so similar to this, except using lemon and thyme instead of sherry vinegar and coriander. Probably not very authentic, I know. Either way, this looks delicious and beautifully photographed.
I cooked the Donna Hay version last week, which was delicious, but agree with your comment that it needed more oomph. I compared both recipes and would be Interested to know why you decided not to include the lemon juice? I googled other peri peri chicken recipes, and this appears to be a common ingredient. Also, where can you buy dried ancho chillies and what other chilli would you recommend if you can’t buy these in your local supermarket?
Thanks for your feedback…I appreciate it! Dried ancho chilies are fairly common and readily available at most super markets. As for lemon juice compared to sherry vinegar -I think they would work interchangeably here, and I agree, lemon is probably more authentic. But the Sherry vinegar seemed to punch it up even more, and I preferred the flavor overall…but it’s not imperative. 🙂
Stunning photos! The chicken looks amazing, and I just love a one dish recipe! I’m positive my family would love this. Thank you for sharing!
I’m roasting a simple salt/pepper/garlic chicken right now, and it’s nowhere near as pretty as this one! I’m definitely going to have to try this out. love the liberal use of chiles.
Hello.
I’m portuguese and I love you talk about us 😉
Great recipe
Kiss
CláudiaV
This WILL be on my table tomorrow night. Stunning photos and mouth watering recipe. Just found your site through food gawker and will be a follower. =)
Awesome Lisa…please let us know how it turned out!
The real portuguese chicken piri piri is grilled on chalk served with chips and tomato and lettuce salad. But that one seems very nice either!
Dora
This looks soooooo good. Gonna try it with some wings next week.
I have this in the oven…it looks and smells amazing…will let you know the taste…I did not have red wine vinegar…used organic apple cider…never know
muy bueno , bonitas fotos
This was fantastic!
This was fantastic! Thank you!
thanks! Glad you liked!
★★★★★
I just made this tonight. It was delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Awesome, glad you enjoyed!
★★★★★
I made this last night, I used Guajalliaro chiles because they are not spicy and had them at home. And I did not have to deal with a surgery on the chicken since I had only chicken thighs 🙂 It was delicious. I tend to just put potatoes and chicken together to bake with minimal herbs but this was worth to spend the time. Thank you!
I made this over the weekend, and while the flavor was good, the skin remained rubbery and the marinade never changed color – especially after slathering it on toward the end of the cook time. Once the chicken rested and I cut into it, the skin slid off and all we had was mildly flavored meat. I am wondering if starting out at a higher temperature to crisp/brown the skin, then lowering the temperature to cook the chicken would result in the beautiful skin shown in the recipe. Does anyone have any advice or thoughts?
Hummmm…that is perplexing. Sorry about that. All I can think of is …not all ovens cook the same. I have a gas oven, and always preheat it for a good 30 minutes. Perhaps you could try what you suggested, or if you have a broil option….crisping it up at the end with your broiler, so you have a little more control. I will adjust the recipe…thanks for the feedback.
Thank you Sylvia. This is an amazing recipe. I plan to make it again this weekend for guests.
Question. What do you think brining the chicken in a salt water prior would do? I am concerned that it might it make it too salty? Have you ever done this with this particular recipe?
I really like brining chicken when I have the time, but have not brined it for this recipe- my guess is it would be great!
Hi Sylvia,
Instead of using a whole chicken, can I substitute it with chicken thighs or drumsticks? If so, would the cook time still be the same? Also, my family doesn’t like cilantro. What herb can I use to replace the cilantro?
Thanks.
Thighs and legs are great (skin in, bone in). Either leave sauce off completely, serve on the side or sub fresh basil, parsley or mint.
Thanks for this recipe, this is my first time cooking a whole chicken and I was amazed from the result!
Wow – this is amazing – thanks for sharing it – I am definitely going to give it a go the next time I roast a chicken which will probably be Sunday!! Can’t wait!!
Your photos show the chicken going in the oven with skin up but your recipe says skin down first. I followed the photos and hopefully the chicken will come out as good
Photos show skin side down first. It’s best to start with skin side down first, then flip, so skin has time to crisp up at the end.
Hi just wondering if anyone has tried this with a skinless chicken? I have a health conscious husband and we always roast our chicken skinless now. Just wondering if it would work just as well without the skin?
I think it would be a good marinade for skinless chicken, keeping it moist and flavorful… give it a try and let us know!
I just made this and it was fabulous. I had difficulty finding the right chilis (because I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to run around looking) so I bought the unmarked dried chilis that my grocery store had and it turned out really well. Everyone loved it. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks Lisa!
I can’t seem to find Dried Ancho Chilies in Australia?? Can I substitute this for something else?
I just found a website that sells the Ancho Chiles in Sydney http://www.montereyfoods.com.au – just in case anyone else is looking 🙂
Hi! I was lucky enough to find Piri Piri Chilies and I was wondering how many one would use since they seem smaller than the pictures I’ve seen of Ancho chilies. I look forward to trying this out soon <3
That’s great! Are they dried or fresh? I would start with 5 if dried.
They are in a glass jar with brine.
Just wanted to say I make this all the time now but instead of a whole chicken I just use skinless chicken breast for an easy weeknight meal, its delicious. Thanks for the recipe!!
Great, thanks for letting us know!
This looks great, but I’ve a question you might be able to help me with- why the potatoes? I’m portuguese, and while the chicken does correspond with how we eat it, I’ve never in my life eaten roast chicken with potatoes like this, it’s traditionally always chips and rice. I really wonder where the idea of the potatoes started.
that said, they look delicious.
Thanks for the question. I mention in the beginning of my post that I saw a photo of something similar in a magazine called Donna Hay. So that’s where the idea started– and I really liked the idea of cooking it in one pan, and the flavorful marinade seeping into the potatoes. No not traditional….:)
This is a really great recipe! Definitely a keeper. Thank you. I had to substitute guajillo chilies for ancho chilies, but it tasted amazing.
I absolutely love this recipe. I am making this dish tonight (as I did last year) for our Christmas gathering. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed this dish. The potato/chicken combo makes it great because it is all one, flavorful dish. A lettuce salad with blueberries and/or raspberries with Gorgonzola and candied walnuts make a perfect meal. Oh, and don’t forget the cornbread made in a cast iron pan….smashes it out of the park! Thank you so very much.
Thanks for the feedback Lindy, so glad you liked it!!
I have decided to make this for Dinner tonight. My husband is old world Portuguese. I tasted the marinade before putting it on the Chicken, very good flavour. Will let you know how it turns out.
This spice mix is super delicious and the chicken turned out moist and delicious. Thank you for this recipe.
★★★★★
Hi Sylvia. This was amazing!!! Loved it, and so easy. Used fresh chillies as didn’t have dried. Also cut chunky slices of corn on the cob and and chunky pumpkin mixed in with the marinade. The flavors seeped into the veg beautifully. This would be a great dinner party dish Loved the cilantro yoghurt sauce – I could eat this poured on roast veg any day of the week! Great recipe that I will definitely make again. Thanks!
★★★★★
Sounds divine! Glad you made it your own and pumpkin and corn sound amazing!
Looks amazing will be making this tonight.
I have a large amount of paprika in my pantry, not “smoked paprika”. Will there be a big difference if I use the normal paprika?
Also, my girlfriend doesn’t like cilantro, do you recommended another herb for the sauce?
Both cilantro and smoked Paprika really make this dish…so I highly recommend using if possible. You could try Italian parsley for the sauce? and adding chipotle if not using smoked paprika.
Me and my husband really enjoyed this, we didn’t have fresh chilli’s so we just used some cayenne pepper instead! Still gave it a good kick! Many thanks for sharing! I think this will be a favourite.
Thanks for sharing and I love how you improvised!
★★★★★
This was just as delicious tonight as when I made it when you first published the recipe. The broiling at the end really makes the skin perfect.
★★★★
Great to hear, thanks!!!
I made this last night and everyone LOVED it! Being from South Africa I love my peri peri style chicken. Would be interested to know what you would add to punch up the spice level a bit. I normally prefer it a bit hotter but cannot fault the flavour of this marinade. Thank you!
My Aunt made a recipe similar to this Italian style. I love the chicken & potatoes this way. My girlfriend did not like my Aunts recipe.
I know with these great spices she will change her tune. Can’t wait to try it.Either way I win “/
I appreciate the great way you make your entire recipe available for printing .
Thanks!
★★★★★
Do you think this might benefit by being marinated for a few hours prior to cooking? I’m using a large chicken cut into 8 pieces.
★★★★★
Sure! Great either way!
Thank you for sharing this. Amazing flavor., moist chicken, excellent sauce.
.
★★★★★
This is an amazing dish I added 1 chipotle in Adobe to the Marinade as i wanted more kick the potatoes are to die for .
★★★★★
Thanks Beatrice! So glad you enjoyed it!!
Loved making this,just made the chicken this time,but next time will definitely be using the potatoes.It was after searching for Portuguese chicken on Google,that your amazing photos came up,and this led me to your amazing site.
★★★★
Superb blog! Do you have any recommendations for aspiring writers?
I’m hoping to start my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on everything.
Would you suggest starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so
many options out there that I’m totally overwhelmed ..
Any recommendations? Cheers!
★★★★★
I would check out Food Blogger Pro. Everything you need to know about starting a blog is on there. It’s full of great info!They also have a free podcast.
I made this last night for my husband for his birthday dinner. He is Portuguese! It came out really well. I used the small round potatoes like we get at the churrasqueira when we buy Portuguese chicken, instead of the sliced potatoes, as those are his favourites. Will try the sliced ones next time. Was tasty, not too spicy but the depth of flavour was delicious! Will definitely make this again. And its a great recipe for a dinner party, too, as it cooks in the oven while your guests are there so you don’t have to slave over a stove. I roasted some peppers and onions on the grill to go with it. Thanks for the recipe! I think I might even feature it on a blog on our website – a great meal to make when you first move in to your new home. I’d love to cross promote your site – let me know what you think! I have two guest bloggers coming up this week already!
★★★★★
So glad that you liked it and feel free to share on your blog as long as you link back to the recipe itself. Thanks!!!
I love this recipe! Its my go to chicken recipe. The marinade ingredients are well thought out and will give so much flavor to the meat.
★★★★★
This recipe is amazing. It’s very easy to pull off but looks impressive!
I’ve made it twice now, once with chicken pieces (thighs and legs) and once with a whole chicken. I think the whole chicken looks better but both taste great!.
I found it to be a bit on the salty side the first time and cut the salt in half the next time I made it. I’ve also tried both vinegar and lemon juice and find the outcome to be similar.
★★★★★
Thanks Lisa! yes and cutting back on salt is always an option. I’m kind of a saltaholic.
The recipe is perfect, thank you for sharing, we made it this Christmad substituted Kashmiri red chillies for ancho chillies which kicked up the heat a couple of notches. It came out super.
★★★★★
That sounds perfect!
I added 1/2 teaspoon of oregano (dried) to the mix and served with tsatsiki which I had on hand.
Also I used chicken thigh fillets (skinless) to cut down on the saturated fat.
Absolutely delicious.
★★★★★
Glad you adapted to make this your own!