Fiery, zesty, and packed with bold, tangy heat, this peri peri sauce delivers a punch of flavour. Whether you’re marinating the most delicious peri peri chicken, drizzling over chips, or using a as dip for bread and vegetables, this recipe delivers a fantastic spicy kick.
Nicky’s Recipe Notes
It took a little bit of time to get the recipe right for my peri peri (piri piri) sauce, but I’ve got to admit, I did kind of pat myself on the back in the end. It’s so amazingly delicious. It’s also pretty darn hot! But that’s the way I like it. You can always reduce the chillies to make it less spicy.
I’m going to admit something else too.
You know I started with the recipe for this sauce?
I totally looked at the ingredients on the back of a bottle of Nando’s Peri Peri sauce. I mean, that’s Peri Peri gold standard isn’t it?
My next step was to cut out all of the weird stuff – you know, the stabilisers and antioxidants. And to swap out the stuff that you can’t buy in the shops like lemon puree (for lemon zest and juice) and rosemary extract (for dried rosemary).
Finally, I wanted to bulk out the recipe (hence the red peppers) and give it a little more depth of flavour (hence the roasting of the peppers, onions, garlic and chillies, and the addition of smoked paprika).
And the result is tongue-tinglingly damn tasty.
Table of Contents
📋 Ingredients
📺 Watch how to make it
Pro Tip
The addition of the dried chillies makes this a HOT sauce. You can use fewer (or even zero) dried chillies if you prefer, but I still recommend adding the serrano chillies and Cayenne. A bit of heat is a must.
🍽️ How to use this spicy sauce
Smear it all over spatchcock chicken to make the best peri peri chicken. You can use it on chicken thighs, chicken legs or chicken breast too.
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Peri Peri Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
Roasting:
- 2 red peppers sliced into large pieces
- 2 red onions peeled and chopped into large chunks
- 2 tbsp neutral oil (I use avocado or rapeseed)
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 cloves garlic peeled
- 2 red serrano chillies deseeded and sliced in half
To add when blending
- 10 dried African birds eye chillies
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- ¼ tsp dried rosemary
- 90 ml (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) neutral oil (I use avocado or rapeseed)
- 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F (fan).
- Place the peppers and red onion on a baking tray. Drizzle on the oil. Sprinkle on the paprika, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, and the salt and toss together.2 red peppers, 2 red onions, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp salt, 2 tbsp neutral oil
- Place in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Add the garlic and serrano chillies and toss together again, then place in the oven for a further 10 minutes.4 cloves garlic, 2 red serrano chillies
- Remove from the oven and transfer to a blender (make sure you pour in all the juices from the tray). Add the dried chillies, white pepper, lemon zest and juice, and the dried rosemary. Blend until smooth.10 dried African birds eye chillies, 1/4 tsp white pepper, zest and juice of 1 lemon, ¼ tsp dried rosemary
- Add the remaining oil and the red wine vinegar and blend again.4 tbsp red wine vinegar, 90 ml (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) neutral oil
Video
Notes
How long will peri peri sauce keep?
Refrigerated in an airtight continer, this peri-peri sauce should keep for 2 weeks.Nutritional Information is approx. – per tablespoon.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Pin It? Frequently Asked Questions
Covered and refrigerated, this peri-peri sauce should keep for 2 weeks.
You can use fewer (or even zero) dried chillies to reduce the heat.I still recommend adding the serrano chillies and Cayenne. A bit of heat is a must.
🍲 More fantastic Sauces and Dips
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