It’s hard not to love the fresh heat of Pirri Pirri sauce. While it’s traditionally paired with chicken, like I’ve done here, it’s equally delicious with pork or fish. I’d even be happy serving it with beef and lamb. Just remember to stick to the ‘tender’ cuts.
Pirri Pirri Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 red capsicum (bell pepper)
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 chicken thigh fillets
Instructions
- For the sauce, whizz the capsicum (pepper) with the chilli, smoked paprika, lemon juice and 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in a food processor or blender. When smooth, taste and season.
- Trim the chicken thighs and bash out using the palm of your hand until the thighs are roughly even in thickness.
- Place thighs in a bowl and cover with half the sauce. Marinate for a few minutes or up to 48 hours (if marinating for more than an hour keep refrigerated).
- Heat a little oil in a pan and cook the thighs for 3-4 minutes on each side or until no longer pink in the middle. Serve thighs with the other half of the sauce.
Variations
carnivore – any tender cuts of meat or fish will work well here.
can’t find smoked paprika? – just skip it or use regular paprika.
vegetarian – replace chicken thighs with thick slices of halloumi or eggplant. Skip the marinating and pan fry halloumi until golden on both sides and serve with the sauce.
vegan – replace the chicken thighs with thick slices of firm tofu or seitan. Sliced eggplant would also be lovely – just cook until tender.
grilled peppers – make the pirri even more intense and smoky by using 2 grilled and peeled red peppers instead of the fresh capsicum.
carb lovers / more substantial – serve with burger buns or flat bread.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
red capsicum (bell pepper) – will keep in a plastic bag in the fridge for over a week. For longer can be frozen (chop first for easier defrosting)
dried chilli & paprika – will keep in the pantry.
whole lemons will keep for weeks at room temperature or for longer in the fridge.
chicken thigh fillets – see packet for use by date. Usually keep for a few days in the fridge. Freeze for longer storage. Best to wrap the try in a ziplock bag or other freezer proof bag before freezing.
Leftover Potential
Lovely if shredded and served cold tossed in a salad. Also good on sandwiches or wraps.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
Love the freshness of this, Jules! Hope it starts to get a little more play from your other followers. I usually bake the thighs on the higher heat of some of your newer recipes. Have made it several times and enjoyed with rice, roast potatoes, salad, green beans, your beautiful broccoli and of course, your ‘Best Ever’ Tabbouleh.
Oh yum Melanie! I need to make this soon too
That capsicum sauce is so good. Smoked paprika definitely gives it that added piquancy. Mmm. Had this dish with garlic flatbread and shredded mixed veg (which I wilted with a dash of olive oil). So tasty. Thanks for another winner, Jules!
You’re welcome Amrita!
We really enjoyed this recipe. I was worried because at first taste my sauce was extra bitter, possibly because my red pepper was a little underripe, but once cooked it was delicious. I used chicken breast cutlets simply because I had some on hand, and we grilled them on an outdoor grill because the weather is warm here and I didn’t feel like heating up the kitchen. They were perfect and so fast. Even the toddler gobbled them up!
Awesome Jennifer!
Surprisingly good! Thank you so much!
Welcome 🙂
My sister recently received a bottle of pirri pirri as a birthday gift from a local spice shop. Before that day I had never heard of it! I can’t remember all of the ingredients, but it seems this recipe will be quite similar without having to have the spice blend and I’m looking forward to trying it.
Wonderful!
I struggled with this recipe. The chicken tasted very rubbery. I am not accustomed to using chicken thighs–maybe the quality of the chicken? I used medium high heat to brown. Also I didn’t have time for the meat to marinade more than 5-10 minutes. Any advice?
Hi Corrine!
Sorry to hear you had a rubbery chicken experience. There are usually two causes to that… overcooking and chicken quality.
Increasing the marinating time won’t make a huge difference.
If you think you cooked it the right amount of time, then the best option is to try a new chicken supplier. Thighs are different in texture if you’re used to chicken breast. I prefer them because they tend to have better flavour and be more moist.
Does that help?
Jx
Yes, I’ll give it another try with a different brand of chicken and make sure I don’t over cook. Thanks Jules.
Great Corrine!
Let us know how you get on 🙂
Jx
Fantastic! Simply fantastic! I tend to avoid red sauces because they usually contain tomatoes, but I’m so glad I read and tried this. And it is SO simple! I highly recommend using the smoked variety of paprika, and cook it just as long as she says in the video, NO MORE, and your chicken will be lovely and moist. Would love to know how to get that blender for my daughter-in-law as she lives in very tight quarters and could really use something like that!
So glad you liked it Chris!
Smoked paprika is a favourite ingredient around here 🙂
The blender is the ‘bamix’ brand… and it’s really handy. I tend to use it for pureeing soups and making spice pastes / sauces like this one.
Jx
I normally hate bell peppers (capsicum) and I debated a long time whether to make this recipe or skip it and replace it with another one from your site. But I have two goals with this meal plan service: 1, to eat healthier. 2, to try new things.
So, I decided to have a go. My food processor can’t puree things as smoothly as yours, but if it could I think I would have given this recipe 5 stars. The chicken tasted great and was so moist! And it was so easy to make. But I didn’t like the occasional red bell pepper chunk I would come across, though that’s the fault of my equipment, not your recipe. I wonder if using my immersion blender would be better next time…
The husband and I made the pirri pirri chicken with tabbouleh yesterday and LOVED it!
I actually had the sauce with tempeh, because I had it in the fridge, and he used chicken breasts (only marinated them for about 15 minutes). I also used a jar of roasted capsicum instead of fresh, again because I had it in the fridge, and the flavour of the sauce was amazing – and this is coming from someone who usually claims to hate capsicum! Making the sauce using the bamix was too easy and resulted in minimal clean up. The tabbouleh was the perfect, fresh accompaniment. AND I have gestational diabetes and my post-dinner glucose reading was perfect! I even had the leftovers with a little rice today with no issues. So big winner all-round in our house