Every now and then, I find myself wanting chicken but of a different taste than I am used to having. I recently had another craving and thought to make the famous Mozambican peri peri chicken wings.
Origin of Peri-Peri Sauce
While it seems the peri-peri sauce has been associated with South Africa, it has been originally linked to Mozambique, Angola, and ultimately Portugal. So I decided to make this the Mozambican style.
These chicken wings can be paired with my delicious How to Cook Tasty Fried Rice (Nigerian Style). Take time to also learn How to Make Nigerian Fish Pepper Soup.
Peri-Peri Chicken Wings
‘Peri-Peri’ or ‘Piri-Piri’ simply refers to a pepper sauce made up of African bird’s eye chili, red bell pepper, onion, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, brown sugar, and spices. The chicken wings are immersed and marinated in the sauce for hours before being roasted.
Key ingredients needed for Peri-Peri chicken wings
As mentioned earlier, African bird’s eye chili is the star ingredient. If African bird’s eye chili is not within reach, these can be swapped for Thai chilies. The final product is a combination of sweet and sour and this makes its flavour all the more unique.
This recipe is one you can make on a time crunch as it comes together really quickly. I used chicken wingettes but the choice of meat is totally up to you, you can adapt this recipe for your choice of meat.
For another spicy and aromatic dish, explore our guide on “The Best Jollof Rice Recipe on the Internet,” the perfect side dish!
The Making of the Peri-Peri Sauce
The sauce is made by combining red bell peppers, chilis, onions, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, seasonings, and spices and grinding (by hand using a stone grinder) or a blender.
The wings are marinated for an hour (this can be longer/overnight) after which we get on with the roasting process.
Traditional peri-peri recipes require the roasting to be done on an outdoor grill. Considering how cold it is at this time of the year, I settled for the roast option using my Ninja Foodi. It came out with the smokiness I was looking to achieve.
The cooking time will certainly vary depending on the protein chosen. The chicken wings took 40 minutes with 20 minutes on each side after marination. These chicken wings can be enjoyed as a side dish or an appetizer.
Explore other savoury recipes such as How to Make Ghanaian Jollof Rice
More savoury recipes to try:
- How to Make Authentic Birria Tacos (Beef Birria Tacos)
- The Best Nigerian JOLLOF RICE (the secrets…)
- Creamy Tuscan Chicken
- How to Make Somalia’s Delicious Suugo Suqaar (Pasta with Meat Sauce)
Peri-Peri Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 15-20 pieces of chicken wingettes
- 1 large red bell pepper cut up
- 2 Africa’s bird eye chili/Thai chili
- 1 onion cut up
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 lemon
- 2 Tbsp olive/vegetable oil
- Salt to taste
- 1 Tbsp paprika
- 1 Tbsp dry rosemary
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1/2 ground black pepper
Instructions
- Rinse the chicken wingettes thoroughly, drain, pat dry and set aside.
- Combine the red bell peppers, chilies, onion, garlic, brown sugar, paprika, salt, rosemary and black pepper.
- Grate in the zest of the lemon and squeeze in the juice of half the lemon into the mix. Blend or crush them all together until smooth.
- Add in the oil and combine properly.
- Add the marinade into the chicken, combine well and let it marinate in the fridge for an hour or more.
- Transfer to your airfryer and roast @ 375F for 20 minutes each on both sides (40 minutes all together).
- Squeeze on some more lemon juice and enjoy!
