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Peri-Peri Grilled Chicken Thighs

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Peri-Peri Spatchcock chicken is a South African classic.

Nandos, a famous take-out chain is known for the best Peri-Peri chicken.

If you live in Australia or London you are lucky enough to be able to still get your fix. But in the US there are no Nando’s restaurants in my area

So if I want to get my hands on my favorite chicken, I need to make it at home. And this recipe will not disappoint.

I have done it with boneless thighs cause I feel they are the tastiest.

Use this marinade on a full chicken, chicken pieces, or just the breast.

It’s so good. And the good news is I can finally buy my favorite Nandos’s Peri-Peri sauce on Amazon. So you can just marinate your chicken with it to speed up and simplify this recipe.

Hot & spicy kisses xxx MM

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Peri-Peri Grilled Chicken Thighs

  • Author: Melissa Mayo

Ingredients

Scale
  • 4 lbs/ 2Kg of boneless chicken thighs (you can use the breasts)
  • 3 lemons cut in half

FOR THE MARINADE

  • 28 red birds-eye chillis ***
  • Juice of a lemon
  • ½ cup red wine vinegar
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 large red pepper- coarsely chopped
  • 2 TBS paprika
  • 1 ½ TBS oregano
  • 2 tsp coarse salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • ½1 tsp chilli flakes
  • 4 bay leaves

Instructions

Place all the ingredients, except the bay leaves, into a food processor or blender and puree into a paste.

Place the marinade in a Ziplock bag and add the bay leaves. Add the chicken and massage the marinade into the thighs. Marinade the chicken overnight.

Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and bring it to room temperature before grilling. Slice the lemons in half.

Preheat grill. Brush and oil the grill to clean. Turn the grill to medium heat.

Add the chicken to the grill & place the lemons, flesh side down on the grill.

Grill the thighs for 8 minutes then turn them over and grill for another 8 minutes. Check the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with roasted potatoes and garnish with the caramelized lemons.

SERVES 6

Notes

*** A birds eye chilli is a really spicy red chilli common in South Africa. Using 3 will give you a mild marinade and 8 will be extra extra hot. If you cannot find them you can use 4- 10 Thai /serrano chillis depending on how hot you like it.

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I'm Melissa, your host & tour guide.

A Food Network chef, author, mamma, eternal optimist, wannabe-mermaid, spice mixologist, and “dough therapist” (yep, it’s a thing)—

I'm also the founder of Susina Cucina, the gorgeous, Italian cooking school I manifested into my reality. I’m obsessed with Aperol spritzes, travel, and mouthwatering food… especially pizza and pasta.

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