Peri Peri Chicken – Nando's Chicken Thighs

5 from 1 vote

Delicious piri piri/ peri peri chicken, or Nando's chicken thighs, an easy homemade spicy version of the popular restaurant dish.

Prep Time15

Cook Time50

Total Time1 5

Course: Poultry

Cuisine: Portuguese

Servings: -6

Calories: 541kcal

Author: Adina

Remove the seeds of the chilies (or leave them, if you would like the dish to be very hot). Chop them roughly and place them in a food processor.
Roughly chop the garlic and green onions/scallions. Add them to the food processor together with the parsley, torn bay leaves, ground coriander, sweet paprika, sugar, salt, lemon juice, and olive oil. Process until you obtain a rough paste.
Cut the chicken into 8 pieces or divide the chicken legs at the joint. Place them in a large ceramic or glass casserole dish. Add the peri peri sauce and massage it well into the chicken. Cover the dish with cling film and let marinate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Take the chicken out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking it.
In the meantime preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Arrange the pieces on a large and lightly oiled baking tray, skin side up.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, basting the chicken with the pan juices and marinade every 15 minutes or so.
Bake until the juices run clear. To see if they do, stick a toothpick or a skewer into the thickest part of the chicken leg, the juices that come out should be completely clear, no pink or red allowed.
Serve with one of the side dishes suggested above.

You can use a whole chicken, which should be cut into 8 parts. Alternatively, use 6-8 whole chicken legs (depending on size), which should be divided into thighs and drumsticks at the joint.
The red chilies I used were not particularly hot. The Bird's eye chilies were very hot, so I only used 1. Take more or fewer chilies, according to taste and how much heat you can manage.