Piri Piri Chicken Recipe

This piri piri chicken recipe is perfect for a summer barbecue. Helen Graves uses the simple technique of spatchcocking her chicken before grilling on the barbecue to ensure it cooks quickly and evenly. The homemade piri piri marinade beats any shop-bought version hands-down.

This is a fantastic recipe for the barbecue, based on the Portugese piri piri preparation. Don’t be put off by the amount of chillies or vinegar here, they mellow out as the chicken cooks, forming an addictive sour and spicy glaze.

Serve with a green salad and chips or rice.

Ingredients

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Metric

Imperial

Chicken

1.7kg chicken, preferably organic

Piri piri marinade

1 tbsp of salt
2 bay leaves
10 red chillies, the long, thin variety
5 bird's eye chillies
1 1/2 tbsp of dried oregano
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tbsp of sweet smoked paprika
1 tbsp of brown sugar
100ml of oil
225ml of red wine vinegar

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First make the marinade. Crush the salt with the bay leaves in a pestle and mortar until you have something resembling a powder

Combine in a blender with the chillies, oregano, garlic, sweet paprika and sugar. Blend to combine. Add the vinegar and oil and blend again to create a marinade

Spatchcock the chicken by removing the backbone. To do this, place the bird breast-side down on a board with the tail towards you. Using a strong pair of scissors or some poultry shears, cut along each side of the backbone to remove it (this requires a little welly as you’re cutting through the ribs)

Turn the bird over and use the heel of your hand to push down on the breastbone so that it’s all one thickness. Alternatively, have your butcher do this for you

Use half the marinade on the chicken, rubbing all over to fully coat the skin. Set the other half aside in a clean bowl. Cover and refrigerate the chicken for a few hours to marinate then bring out of the fridge an hour before cooking

When ready to cook the chicken, prepare a barbecue for indirect cooking by having the coals offset to one side

Place the chicken on the grill away from the coals, breast-side up, and cook for 40 minutes. Regularly brush the chicken with the extra marinade then turn over and cook for 15 minutes more to crisp up the breast

Ensure the chicken is fully cooked before serving with a fresh salad

First published in 2016

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Helen Graves

Helen Graves is Content Editor at Great British Chefs. She's also the author of the cookbook Live Fire: Seasonal Barbecue Recipes and Stories of Live Fire Traditions, Old and New, and the editor of Pit, an independent magazine with roots in live fire cooking. She is based in South East London and loves carbs, cats, crabs and kebabs.

Barbecued piri piri chicken

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