Eat: This quick and easy Portuguese piri piri chicken starts with a soak in a tangy marinade.
Piri piri chicken is a spicy staple of the Portuguese grill. This recipe is adapted for the oven, using boneless, skinless thighs, but you could certainly use this marinade with bone-in chicken and cook it on the barbecue for more authentic grilled flavor.
Spicy and tangy, the traditional marinade is a mixture of piri piri (or bird’s eye) peppers, citrus or vinegar, garlic and parsley. Smoked paprika adds fabulous smoky aromas and flavors even without the grill.
This simplified recipe starts with chile paste, rather than whole peppers. Portuguese or Brazilian markets carry jars of chile paste — often labeled as “crushed peppers,” the ingredients are usually just chiles and salt — but you can substitute any basic red chile pepper paste you have on hand. Just choose one with the fewest additional ingredients. Or you can make your own by pureeing red chiles with a bit of water, tempering the heat as needed by adding red bell pepper.
Fried or roasted potatoes are the classic accompaniment for piri piri chicken. Parcook the potatoes — steam or microwave them — until they are tender but not yet cooked all the way through before adding them to the sheet tray so both the potatoes and chicken are ready at the same time. You could even toss vegetables like asparagus or broccoli on the sheet tray for the last 10 minutes for a complete one-pan dinner.
Sheet Tray Portuguese Piri Piri Chicken and Potatoes
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
6 to 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs 1½ pounds Yukon gold potatoes, cut into thick wedges and par-cooked Chopped parsley and lemon wedges to garnish
Marinade:
1 large shallot, or a thick wedge of onion
2 to 3 garlic cloves, peeled
½ cup Portuguese chile paste
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
¼ cup oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup chopped parsley
DIRECTIONS
In a blender, combine all the marinade ingredients — except the parsley — and puree. Stir in the chopped parsley.
Toss the chicken thighs in the marinade and let it sit for several hours or overnight. Heat the oven to 425degrees. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper or foil. Remove the chicken from the marinade, shaking off any excess, and add the chicken to the prepared pan. Toss the par-cooked potatoes with a drizzle of oil, season with salt and pepper, then arrange the potatoes around the chicken.
Roast for about 25 minutes, until chicken is fully cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Turn on the broiler and broil chicken and potatoes for several minutes to give the chicken a bit of char before serving.