Hot Peri Peri Sauce

This homemade hot peri peri sauce recipe adds heat and flavor to your everyday meals. The easy-to-make spicy sauce is the perfect addition to lots of dishes.

What is peri peri sauce?

Also known as piri piri sauce, this is a super-hot African chili sauce made with bird’s eye chilies, garlic, lemon juice, and vinegar. It was made famous by the South African restaurant chain Nando. They use it for many dishes, including their famous chicken.

You can buy it in a bottle, but unless you live in the UK (probably), the bottles are quite small, and the price is high. Not to mention that the homemade peri peri sauce tastes even better than the bottled version.

For some Nando-inspired dishes, check out the Peri Peri Chicken – Nando’s Chicken Thighs, Spicy Peri Peri Chicken Livers, Nando’s Butterfly Chicken, and Nando’s Spicy Rice. And make some Spicy Peri Peri Seasoning as well.

Recipe ingredients and substitutions

How to make peri peri sauce?

• Step #1: Process deseeded and chopped peppers, onions, and garlic in the food processor until chopped but not completely mushy.
• Step #2: Combine chopped vegetables, lemon zest and juice, vinegar, olive oil, sweet and smoked paprika, oregano, pepper, and salt in a large saucepan.

• Step #3: Bring the sauce to a boil.
• Step #4: Simmer uncovered, and occasionally stirring for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are soft and the sauce thicker. Adjust the taste.
• Step #5: Blend with an immersion blender until the peri peri sauce reaches the desired consistency; it should not be completely smooth.
• Step #6: Transfer to jars and let cool completely.

Recipe FAQ

Peri Peri sauce uses

Drizzle it on grilled meats, tagliata steak, shrimp, sausages or baked bratwurst, and vegetables; if you like spicy food, the peri peri sauce makes anything better.

• Make marinades: Rub 1 lb (450 g) chicken wings or legs with salt. Place them in a large bowl. Pour about ¼ of the sauce over the chicken parts and stir well to coat. Grill or bake immediately or marinate in the fridge for a few hours before cooking.
• Stir small amounts of it in sour cream or yogurt dressing for salads.
• Use it to make dips, like our Spicy Peri Peri Dip.
• Make sandwiches, drizzle it on pizza (so good!), and add it to pasta sauces. Try this Cream Cheese Pasta with a few tablespoons of peri peri sauce mixed into it.
• Add some to soup, stews, or chilies; the kick of heat it adds is amazing!

Recipe

Hot Peri Peri Sauce

Hot, homemade peri peri sauce to add heat and flavor to your everyday dishes. This easy-to-make spicy sauce is the perfect addition to lots of dishes.

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Dips, Sauces and Dressings

Cuisine: African, Portuguese, South African

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 20

Calories: 38kcal

Author: Adina

Equipment

• ▢
  Large saucepan
• ▢
  Food processor
• ▢
  Immersion blender

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Ingredients 

• ▢ 2 red bell peppers large, about 1 lb, Note 1
• ▢ 6-7 long red chilies Notes 2, 3
• ▢ 2 onions medium, white or red
• ▢ 7 garlic cloves
• ▢ ½ lemon zest and juice, Note 4
• ▢ 60 ml apple cider vinegar ¼ cup
• ▢ 60 ml olive oil ¼ cup
• ▢ 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• ▢ 1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika
• ▢ 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon fine sea salt more to taste
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ▢ small bunch of cilantro optional, Note 5

Instructions

• Process: Deseed and cut the bell peppers and chilies into pieces. Chop onion and garlic roughly. Process them shortly in the food processor until chopped but not completely mushy. Transfer them to a large saucepan.
• Combine: Add lemon zest and juice, vinegar, olive oil, sweet and smoked paprika, oregano, pepper, and salt. Stir well to combine.
• Cook: Bring the sauce to a boil, lower the heat and simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are soft and the sauce thicker. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom and sides of the saucepan to prevent the sauce from catching.
• Adjust the taste with salt, vinegar, and lemon juice if required. Add the chopped cilantro.
• Blend the sauce with an immersion blender until it has the desired consistency; it should not be completely smooth. Alternatively, use the food processor but read Note 6 first.
• Transfer to jars and let cool completely. After cooling, keep the sauce refrigerated; it will keep for about 2-3 weeks. You can also freeze it (Note 7).

Notes

1. If you want the sauce to be milder, add one extra red bell pepper and use only 4-5 red chilies.
2. The original sauce is made with bird’s eye chilies, which are unavailable around here. That is why I use long red chilies, which are hot but not as hot as bird’s eye chilies.
3. 6-7 long red chilies (depending on size) make a very hot sauce. If you leave the seeds inside, the sauce will be even hotter; remove the seeds fully or partially. Replace some of the chilies with red bell peppers for a milder version.
4. Keep the other lemon half; you might need it to adjust the taste of the sauce after cooking.
5. Cilantro is not a universally loved herb. Use to your taste, leave it out, or replace it with parsley.
6. Caution when blending hot food in the food processor. Do it in batches, place a folded kitchen towel on the lid (hold it with your hand), and increase the speed gradually. Otherwise, you risk the lid actually “exploding” off the food processor. Using an immersion blender for hot liquids/food is probably the best idea.
7. If freezing, don’t fill the jars to the brim, the sauce will expand during freezing, and if the jars are too full, they will crack.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 38kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 0.4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 230mg | Potassium: 79mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 252IU | Vitamin C: 22mg | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 0.4mg

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