Peri Peri Chicken with Crispy Potatoes

Always looking for tasty new roasted chicken recipes and found this version of a whole roasted peri peri chicken.

Recipe from https://www.feastingathome.com/portuguese-chicken-and-potatoes/

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 70 mins

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 small Whole Chicken (3–4 lbs) or sub chicken pieces

  • 1 ½ lbs potatoes (yukon or reds), thinly sliced

MARINADE:

  • 2 Dried Ancho Chilies-rehydrated (or Regular chili peppers)

  • 2 tablespoons smoked paprika

  • 6 cloves garlic

  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt

  • 1 teaspoon coriander

  • 1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar, red wine vinegar or lemon juice.

  • 1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

CILANTRO SAUCE:

  • 1 cup plain yogurt

  • 1 bunch Cilantro – finely chopped

  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt

  • ½ teaspoon coriander

  • Cracked pepper to taste

  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 425F/ 220C.

  2. Rehydrate dried chilies in a small pot of simmering water on the stove for 20 minutes. Remove stem and seeds.

  3. Butterfly the chicken: Rinse inside and out, removing innards. Pat dry. Place on a cutting board, breast down. Using sharp kitchen scissors, cut along both sides of the spine, remove and discard. Turn the chicken over, and placing your hand on the breast bone, press down hard with the palm of your hand, to flatten.

  4. Make the marinade by blending the marinade ingredients into a paste with a blender or food processor. Brush a layer of the marinade on the bottom of your large sheet pan or large baking dish.

  5. Place the thinly sliced potatoes on top of the marinade and sprinkle with a generous pinch of kosher salt, overlapping slightly but not too much.

  6. Brush all sides and crevasses of the chicken with the marinade, coating fairly heavily. (You will add more marinade during cooking, so be sure to save the remaining.) Place chicken, skin side down on the potatoes and place in the hot oven.

  7. Turn chicken over after 15 minutes, and place back in the oven. After 15 minutes, brush more marinade all over the chicken on the skin side, really lathering it up. Return to the oven and bake until cooked through another 15-30 minutes, or until leg/ thigh reaches an internal temperature of 165 F. The bigger the chicken, the longer this will take. ( A large, 5-6 pound chicken may take an additional 20 minutes!) To crisp the skin and get it deeply brown, broil for a few minutes. A little char is good here!!! Remove chicken when done and let rest 5-10 minutes before serving. Cut chicken into pieces and serve.

  8. While chicken is roasting, combine Cilantro Sauce ingredients together, either in a bowl- mixing by hand, or in a food processor. Serve cilantro sauce on the side.

I was surprised at how easy this was and how much flavor it had. i think by BUTTERFLYING the chicken it cuts the cooking time by quite a lot, so you don’t have to wait for hours for the roasted chicken to be cooked. the marinate was really tasty, i did not have ancho chilies so i just used two regular red chiles and i think it came out just as good, it had a hint of SPICINESS but it wasn’t overpowering. make sure to slice the potatoes thin otherwise it won’t be done at the same time as the chicken, at each turn of the chicken i also turned the potatoes so that all of them would cook evenly. but these potatoes are worth it, they are so tasty from cooking in the marinade juices and chicken fat. i served the chicken with some simple steamed green beans and brussel sprouts to add some green to balance out the meal. but i will definitely be making this again, it is a super easy dish that takes little to no effort. it obviously takes some time for the chicken to cook but once you have it in the oven then its pretty much done, just need to check it a few times until it is cooked. then you just need to cut the chicken into pieces then serve. a DELICIOUS, health meal.

cookingJackie Wongchicken, peri peri, potatoesComment