Description
This Piri Piri Chicken recipe results in crispy, smoky chicken that is tender and juicy, with the most flavorful peri peri marinade! Bake it over potatoes and serve with the Green Sauce!
Ingredients
- 1 small Whole Chicken (3-4 lbs) or sub chicken pieces ( see notes)
- 1 1/2 lbs potatoes (Yukon or reds), thinly sliced ( 1/4 inch thick)
Marinade:
- 2 dried ancho chilies -rehydrated
- 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground 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
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- Cracked pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F
- Chilies. Rehydrate dried chilies in a small pot of simmering water on the stove for 20 minutes. Remove stem and seeds.
- Chicken. 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 breastbone, press down hard with the palm of your hand to flatten.
- Marinade. Make the marinade by blending the marinade ingredients into a paste with a blender or food processor.
- Assemble. Brush a layer of the marinade on the bottom of your large sheet pan. Place the thinly sliced potatoes on top of the marinade, sprinkle with a generous pinch of kosher salt, and overlap slightly, but not too much. Brush the chicken with the marinade, coating all sides and crevices fairly heavily. (You will add more marinade during cooking, so save the rest.) Place chicken, skin side down on the potatoes. Open side up.
- Bake. (Allow 60 mins total) Place in the oven on the middle rack for 15 minutes. Turn the chicken over and return it to the oven. After 15 more minutes, brush more marinade over the chicken on the skin side, really lathering it. Return the chicken to the oven and bake until cooked through, another 15-30 minutes, or until legs, thighs, and breast all reach an internal temperature of 165 F. (It is OK if the thighs go over.)
- Note: 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. You can continue to cook the potatoes or crisp them up ( with broiler) while resting the chicken and cutting it into pieces.
- Green sauce. While the chicken roasts, combine the cilantro sauce ingredients in a bowl, mix by hand, or blend in a food processor. Serve cilantro sauce on the side.
Notes
For a lighter version, use skinless, boneless chicken thighs or breast. Feel free to marinate overnight in a Ziploc bag. Cooking time will shorten significantly, so you may have to remove the chicken and let the potatoes continue cooking to get them crispy.
Whole chickens. Baking time will vary depending on the chicken’s size (weight). 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.
Tip: 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! )
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 485
- Sugar: 2.2 g
- Sodium: 1295.2 mg
- Fat: 15.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 30.2 g
- Fiber: 4.6 g
- Protein: 54.3 g
- Cholesterol: 165.5 mg
