Portuguese BBQ Peri Peri Chicken (Homemade Nando's Recipe) (2024)

You are here:Home / Recipes / Portuguese BBQ Peri Peri Chicken (Homemade Nando’s Recipe)

BY Karina PUBLISHED June 1, 2017 UPDATED May 30, 2020 | 43 Comments

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Portuguese BBQ Peri Peri Chicken (or Homemade Nando’s Recipe) cooked TWO WAYS! On the barbecue OR in the oven! THE CHOICE IS YOURS!

Bring your favourite Nando’s chicken to the table with thisPortuguese BBQ Peri Peri Chicken Recipe! PLUS the addition of juicy corn cobs in foil packets are charred for added flavour.

Every single time we go to Nando’s, the chicken marinade flavour we all order is the BBQ. It’s the perfect balance of sweetand salty, with added onion or garlicky flavours, plus a slight tang.

I shared a recipe like this one TWO YEARS AGO… only in that recipe I used the BBQ sauce marinade found in supermarkets.

This time, I wanted to try and recreate it for myself.

It’s safe to say…. I think I did it.Portuguese BBQ Peri Peri Chicken for the WIN!

Studying the back of the bottle for dayson end and testing and failing and testing AND FAILING 6 more times, I finally nailed it. Or, at least I’ve come close to it!Also, it wouldn’t be Nando’s chicken without the burst-in-your-mouth corn cobs as a side dish!

The secret is definitely in the sauce. I managed to include just about ALL of the ingredients on the back of that bottle exceptanything with numbers, and came upon a flavour so damn good, my whole family forced us to make this chicken 5 more times. You know, just to be sure, I guess.

I’ve included two cooking methods in the recipe. Both oven and barbecue methods are equally just as good. We tried both on our family and friends, and both methods were given the same thumbs up results.

I prefer barbecue because I LOVE BARBECUE flavours, BUT you can use your oven. Just searyour chicken in a skillet until nice and charred before putting it in the oven. I do NOT recommend broiling(or grilling) in the oven at the end of cooking time. We tried it and the sauce burned on the chicken — even after a minute on a low heat setting. However, you can try it at your own risk!

Let me know what you think if you try this Portuguese BBQ Peri Peri Chicken!

Bring your favourite Nando's chicken to the table with this Portuguese BBQ Peri Peri Chicken Recipe! PLUS the addition of juicy corn cobs in foil packets! AN ORIGINAL CAFE DELITES RECIPE, INSPIRED BY NANDO'S BBQ CHICKEN AND MARINADE!

PRINT SAVE

Prep: 5 minutes mins

Cook: 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Total: 1 hour hr 25 minutes mins

Serves: 6

Ingredients

For The Marinade:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup BBQ sauce
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice (optional)
2-4 teaspoons sriracha*
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
2 teaspoons salt
Cracked black pepper , to taste (optional)

Chicken:

3-4 pounds (or 1 1/2kg to 2kg) whole chicken (Butterflied is preferred)
Salt and pepper to season

Corn (OPTIONAL):

6 corn cobs
3 teaspoons butter (optional)

Instructions

Mix all of the marinade ingredients (except for the Sriracha) together until well combined. Mix in 2-4 teaspoons of Sriracha, taste test, and work up from there until reaching your desired level of heat (or leave it out all together if you don't want any spice at all).
Using 3/4 of the marinade, coat the chicken evenly on the outside, as well as under the skin where possible (the breast especially), until fully coated in sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night if time allows. (I recommend a minimum marinade time of two hours for this chicken. The longer you leave it, the better the flavours.)

FOR THE OVEN:

When ready to cook, arrange oven shelf to the middle of the oven, and preheat to 470°F | 245°C.
Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it sit on a bench top for 20 minutes, or just enough time to take the chill out of the chicken. (I find 20 minutes plenty of time. Don't leave it any longer than half an hour at room temperature.)
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in an oven proof pan or well seasoned skillet over medium heat. When pan is hot, place the chicken, breast-side down into the pan, and sear for a good 5-6 minutes, until the skin becomes golden browned. Flip and sear on the other side for a further 5 minutes.
Add 2 more tablespoons of vegetable oil to the remaining marinade, and pour half of it over the chicken. Use a basting brush to coat evenly.
Place the chicken in the preheated oven, and cook for 20 minutes. Reduce heat down to 400°F (200°C) and roast for a further 35-40 minutes, or until cooked right through to the centre and juices run clear.
(If serving with the corn: completely wrap each cob in foil large enough to cover them, and add the corn foil packets to the same pan as the chicken, half way through cooking time (after 30 minutes). If your pan is too small, arrange them on another pan. They only need 30-35 minutes of cooking time.) Once corn is done, dollop with 1/2 teaspoon of butter per cob (optional).
Once the chicken is done, baste with the pan drippings and serve with any remaining UNTOUCHED marinade to use as a dipping sauce.
Serve with the corn!

FOR THE BBQ:

Place chicken on well-greased grill over medium heat, skin-side down, for 10-12 minutes, until the skin begins to have a nice char on it. Add 2 more tablespoons of vegetable oil to the remaining marinade. Flip and baste with a small amount of sauce (not too much or it will burn on your grill plates). Close barbecue lid and cook for 40-45 minutes, flipping once or twice while cooking, until chicken is completely cooked through and juices run clear.
Follow corn foil instructions above. Place corn foil packets on the grill halfway through chicken cook time (after 30 minutes), turning the corn every 5 minutes or so to ensure an even char.

Notes

*I use Sriracha because it's the easiest chili sauce found for readers worldwide. If you can find peri peri (or piri piri sauce), please use that instead.
2 teaspoons of Sriracha yields a very mild spicy result. So mild we could hardly taste it. Feel free to leave it out if you have doubts, but we love it in there for the flavour enhancement. For a good kick of spice, 1-2 tablespoons is a good start. I started with 2 teaspoons, taste tested, and added extra teaspoonfuls from there until reaching our desired spice level (we loved ours at 1 1/2 tablespoons of Sriracha). For an extremely HOT marinade, add in 3-4 tablespoons. When taste testing, the marinade will be strong. Don't worry, and please don't add any water to dilute it. It will dilute naturally in the oven when cooking through the pan drippings.

**COOK time does not include Marinating time

Nutrition

« Easy Honey Sesame Salmon In Foil

Strawberry Rosé Slushies (Frosé) »

Subscribe to Cafe Delites FOR FREE and Receive Recipes Straight Into Your Inbox!

Reader Interactions

Comments

JennW says
August 06, 2023 at 1:54 pm

I wasn’t really sure about this marinade, but man was it delicious. The flavor was amazing. I couldn’t find bone in breasts so I cubed up boneless; skewered them and grilled them. I wish I would have kept some of the marinade out to brush on the chicken on the grill. This one’s a keeper.
Reply
Tes says
October 31, 2022 at 12:55 pm
See Also
5 Minute Ginger Sauce (Benihana Copycat) - Recipes From A Pantry Sous Vide Tuna Recipe The Capital Grille Filet Oscar Recipe Bricklayer-Style Nachos Recipe

Excellent recipe. Turned out really good. I would recommend increasing tanginess and spicy flavors. Excellent for parties too. Boneless leg and thighs were a bonus and turned out juicy when BBQ’d after overnight marinating. Thank you!
Reply
Dave says
April 15, 2022 at 10:19 am

Thanks so much for this recipe – we used it for chicken leg quarters on the grill tonight and they were delicious.
Reply
Andreea says
March 26, 2021 at 9:49 am

What an amazing recipe!!! My husband asked me to make this weekly haha.
Reply
Serena Chagas says
August 31, 2020 at 8:36 pm
So delicious! We had this marinade with chicken ribs. Even tastier than Nando’s! Thank you.
Reply
Ria Traynor says
July 13, 2020 at 12:05 am

Tried it for the first time and it turned out perfect! My husband, and even my toddler, loved it. Just a little tip for Indonesians: any kind of Saus Sambal will work! I bought the sriracha sauce (imported from Thailand) but the taste is just the same like ordinary Indonesian chili sauce which is way cheaper 🙂
Reply
Muktadir Rahman says
June 06, 2020 at 2:21 am

Awesome! Kids loved it and met their Nandos craving during lockdown infact they said its tastes better.Thanks for sharing your great cooking.
Reply
Sheikh Umer Siddique says
May 09, 2020 at 10:25 am

Extremely happy to try it for 1st time and it was not exactly but far better than the taste of nandos. My family loved it. Added to my favorities cook book. I used 3tbs peri peri sauce instead of srisacha sauce and it wasnt spicy as my 9 year old boy n 5 years old daughter really liked it. Used knorr bbq sauce. Wonderful. Kept refrigerated for 1 hour 30 minutes and then did same as you told. Cooked for 60 mins at 245C.
Reply
Brittani Andrews says
May 05, 2020 at 4:52 am
This sounds delicious and can’t wait to try it. If I were to use leg quarters for this recipe, how long should the cooking time be??
Reply
Dsven says
May 04, 2020 at 10:03 am
Tried this recipe, was a big hit with the whole family. Like some earlier comments stated, I think the suggested oven heat/time was too much…after 30 mins the skin was getting pretty charry so I dropped heat to 450, covered in foil and cooked for another 15 mins, and turned out well. I guess the moral of the story is results may vary per oven, and to keep a close eye on it.
Did find the bbq sauce I used (Diana brand) was a bit too sweet for my liking so any suggestions for a less sweet bbq sauce would be appreciated.
Thank you for sharing this delightful recipe, will be adding it to my regular rotation!
Reply
Cleeo2 says
April 26, 2020 at 4:29 pm

Fabulous!
After marinading, I cooked my chicken pieces covered in my oven on the slow cook setting (or use Crock-Pot) for 4 hours.
Then finished on the grill – grilled both sides and then brushed with plenty of Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce.
Chicken was delish & tender. My family loved it. My answer to giving my Barbecue Chicken flavor on the inside.
Reply
Nicole says
April 18, 2020 at 7:54 am

The BEST Portuguese chicken I’ve ever had. I used about 2 pounds of chicken breasts so when it came to the step of basting before you put the chicken in the oven I just used whatever was left in the ziploc bag that I marinated the chicken in. I didn’t add the two tablespoons of oil to the sauce because I had lots of sauce leftover. I baked at 450 for about 20 mins and the corn I baked for 30 mins. Served it with Portuguese rice on the side. Amazing! Thank you so much!
Reply
Amanda Muirhead says
April 04, 2020 at 7:18 am

This recipes is AMAZING!! 5 star happiness from our whole family, 3 children included. We used the 4tsp of sriracha and it wasn’t spicy at all. I didn’t cook it like you did – just cooked it at 350, then turned it up to 375 and it crisped up beautifully. Thank you for such an amazing. It has been added to the family cookbook!
Reply
Jamie Paget says
March 18, 2019 at 1:00 pm

Fantastic! For those wondering about scorching, I’ve tried this recipe twice now with different bbq sauces- one homemade and one store bought. I really think the burn has to do with sugar content in the bbq sauce. With homemade the chicken came off without a hitch, and the sugars are much lower in my scratch sauce.
This is our new go-to for whole chicken 🙂
Reply
Anis Radin says
December 13, 2018 at 8:49 pm

Great recipe. Did exactly as per instructions but my chicken turned out burnt. Think temp’s too high. Fortunately, breast skin was easy enough to be removed, to show juicy breast meat. Loved it (although I added tbsps of very hot peri-peri sauce!).
Reply
Becca says
September 16, 2018 at 4:26 am
See Also
Beef Braciole Recipe (Braciola)
This looks SO good! Can’t wait to try. As a cooking newbie who’s still learning…. if I were to not do an entire chicken, but rather just some bone-in, skin-on pieces, would that chance the temperature and cook time? If so, what would you recommend? Thanks 🙂
Reply
- Karina says
  September 20, 2018 at 3:53 pm
  I would continue to watch the chicken as you are cooking it to make sure it cooks all the way without over cooking it. A meat thermometer is great to use when cooking chicken or any meat. Thanks so much for following along with me! XO
  Reply
Rita Barnard says
August 23, 2018 at 10:21 am

The problem with the marinade burning is easy fixed. Just barbecue the chicken with just the spices and some olive oil and lemon as a marinade and then just barbecue, and fifteen minutes before it’s finished paint the marinace (worcestershire with tomato sauce) over it. You still get the same nice flavor but it won’t burn
Reply
Will says
August 16, 2018 at 7:27 am
Great sauce recipe for lovely tangy piripiri chicken.
I used thighs, drumsticks and breasts, marinaded them overnight but added chopped coriander (cilantro) and red wine vinegar.
I made additional marinade to baste the pieces when on the grill and used as a sauce to eat them with. Delicious!
Reply
Duarte says
July 22, 2018 at 9:59 am
Tried doing exactly what you said. Checked on chicken halfway through and skin was already burning. 470 for 60 minutes is just too long. Had to remove skins to finish cooking. Are you sure about the time and temperature? Already seared it for 10 minutes in pan. Not the same without the skin.
Reply
- Karina says
  July 23, 2018 at 2:46 pm
  Yes, the time and temperature is correct. I apologize that yours did not turn out. I would recommend lowering the temperature if it baked so quickly as well as the timing. I am so sorry that there was a problem when cooking it.
  Reply
Sam says
May 01, 2018 at 1:35 pm
so, all good to go, but wondering why the chicken has to be cooked for that long…normally chicken breasts on the bbq are about 5-6 mins per side….it calls of 40-45 mins….any reason why that long?
Also, not using skinned pieces…just the plain breast…S
Reply
- Karina says
  May 01, 2018 at 3:22 pm
  This is using a whole chicken not just a chicken breast.
  Reply
Kim says
March 07, 2018 at 1:55 am
Hi Karina, this recipe looks great! You list “yellow mustard” in the ingredients, is this mustard powder or prepared mustard like French Dijon or American Frenchy’s mustard? Want to make sure I get it right as we can’t wait to try it. Many thanks for the recipe.
Reply
- Karina says
  March 10, 2018 at 8:20 am
  Yes, just regular yellow mustard; however, all types of mustard would taste great and add a little fun flavor!
  Reply
  - Ben says
    January 21, 2020 at 4:28 pm
    Sounds delicious! Are you cooking this in the pan with the lid on (inside the oven)? Or uncovered in the pan?
    Reply
Zaksmom says
February 21, 2018 at 11:54 am

Delicious! My entire family loved it, even my
extremely picky 8 year old. Thank you for the recipe.
Reply
Josie Pagado says
February 19, 2018 at 4:14 am
What brand of bbq sauce did you use? Thanks.
Reply
- Karina says
  February 23, 2018 at 4:02 pm
  I LOVE Nandos Peri Peri Barbecue Marinade but if you can’t find that then any BBQ sauce will be great in the marinade. You will LOVE this chicken!
  Reply
kaanaeli moshi says
January 19, 2018 at 7:16 am

This is chicken is so good, I could not stop eating. Thank you for the recipe ?
Reply
Matt says
December 28, 2017 at 8:10 pm
Loved it. Done breasts and legs. Breasts where quiker and better. Will definatley do again!
Reply
- Karina says
  December 28, 2017 at 10:08 pm
  Thanks Matt!
  Reply
Sara says
September 21, 2017 at 3:52 am

I want to try it this week. Thanks Karina for shared. Yummy !!!
Reply
Cristy says
June 28, 2017 at 12:24 pm
Hello thanks for this site
Reply
Terry says
June 18, 2017 at 10:30 pm

My chicken has been in the refrigerator since yesterday will let you know. Cooking it tonight! Can’t wait!
Reply
- Karina says
  June 18, 2017 at 10:31 pm
  Hi Terry, I can’t wait too! I hope you enjoy it!
  Reply
Katie says
June 14, 2017 at 12:24 am
I LOVE YOUR RECIPES!!!!
Reply
Jordan Hansen says
June 04, 2017 at 1:56 pm
Goodness gracious! This looks so delicious, I can’t wait to try out the recipes 🙂
Reply
Barb says
June 04, 2017 at 12:36 am
Canola oil is basically a vegetable oil, and would probably work just fine. I’ve never heard of Nando’s and haven’t tried the recipe, so I’m not going to rate it, just answering a question here. I will say that I love butterflying chickens for roasting, they cook faster and more evenly, and this sauce sounds fantastic.
Reply
Jackie says
June 03, 2017 at 10:21 am
Hi Karina
What brand of BBQ Sauce did you use in this recipe.
Reply
- Karina says
  June 05, 2017 at 7:56 pm
  I use Masterfoods 🙂
  Reply
Celine says
June 02, 2017 at 1:44 am
I have been searching for a Nando’s recipe! I can’t wait to try this! Quick question though, can I substitute vegetable oil with canola oil? Thank you!
Reply
Stan Brumfield says
June 01, 2017 at 11:23 pm

Hi Karina, my name is Stan. This recipe ( Portuguese BBQ Peri Peri Chicken (Homemade Nandos Recipe) is out of this world. When I grilled my corn, I cut up some sweet onions and base with your marinade. I’m going to try a turkey later this year. Have you ever tried a turkey?
Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.