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    Home » Sauce and Stew Recipes » How To Make Piri Piri Sauce

    Published: May 27, 2019 · Modified: Jun 24, 2020 by Ajoke

    How To Make Piri Piri Sauce

    Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

    Make your own piri piri sauce or peri peri sauce from scratch from the comfort of your kitchen with this recipe. This piri piri sauce is versatile that you can add it to just about anything.

    What is Piri Piri?

    Piri Piri or peri peri is a type of pepper that originated from the Carribean, then in southeastern Africa and was made popular by the Portuguese.

    Piri Piri is synonymous to hot pepper and it is called differently depending on the country it is being used. The Portuguese call it Peri Peri while piri piri is common in English as it can be found in African chilli.

    overhead shot of piri piri sauce.

    Piri Piri Sauce (Peri Peri Sauce)

    Piri piri sauce is Portuguese in origin and it is a versatile tangy (marinade) hot sauce made from piri piri pepper. The hot pepper is the major ingredient in making the sauce with other common ingredients like red pepper, lemon etc The authentic piri piri sauce would call for paprika, oregano, onions, garlic, bay leaves, salt and lemon juice. The ingredients used for this sauce these days allows for flexibility.

    Here is my own version of this delicious sauce, I use this hot sauce all the time. You can also go wild with what you use the sauce with. As mentioned earlier this hot sauce is not only versatile but delicious too. you might just find yourself adding it to anything and everything. Well, I did and that includes sandwiches too.

    Use this hot sauce in place of your regular hot sauce or sriracha. The flavour and the level of heat in my peri peri sauce are just spot on. I won’t assure you of the authenticity of this sauce as I have never been to Portugal (where it originated from) but one thing I can tell is that this piri piri sauce is better than Nando’s.

    Related post: If you love making your own sauce at home then you would love this green sauce recipe or this super easy tomato sauce.

    Ingredients 

    4-5 birds eye chilli

    3 mixes chillies (about 60g)

    ½ tsp ground bay leaf

    1 tsp salt

    4 cloves garlic

    black pepper

    1 tbsp chilli flakes

    1 tbsp Oregano

    Juice of 1 lemon

    ⅓ cup malt vinegar

    1 large red bell pepper

    ½ cup vegetable oil (substitute with any unflavoured oil)

    piri piri sauce or peri peri sauce ingredients.

    How to make Piri Piri sauce

    • roughly chop the onion, red bell pepper, put all ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree. Check for salt and seasoning and adjust accordingly. This hot sauce would make about 2 cups
    • Use the sauce as desired or store in an airtight container and refrigerate until you are ready to use.

    How to store 

    • This peri peri sauce would keep for up to a month in the fridge in an airtight jar.

    What to use this on

    This homemade hot sauce can be used on absolutely anything and not just chicken alone. Slather Piri Piri sauce on chicken and grill or put on an open fire.  Add it to sandwich filling, this is perfect on any meat it touches. A great marinade for chicken and meat.

    piri piri chicken.

    Click for Piri Piri Chicken recipe

    overhead shot of piri piri sauce.
    Print Recipe
    5 from 1 vote

    How To Make Piri Piri Sauce

    Piri piri sauce or peri peri sauce is Portuguese in origin and it is a versatile tangy (marinade) hot sauce made from piri piri pepper. the hot pepper is the major ingredients in making the sauce with other common ingredients like red pepper, lemon etc The authentic piri piri sauce would call for paprika, oregano, onions, garlic, bay leaves, salt and lemon juice.
    Here is my own version of piri piri sauce, I use this hot sauce all the time.
    Prep Time10 minutes mins
    Cook Time0 minutes mins
    Total Time10 minutes mins
    Course: Homemade sauce
    Cuisine: African, Continental
    Keyword: homemade piri piri sauce, how to make piri piri sauce, peri peri sauce, piri piri sauce
    Servings: 2 cups
    Author: Ajoke
    Cost: £3

    Equipment

    • Food processor

    Ingredients

    • 4 pieces birds eye chilli
    • 3 mixes chillies about 60g
    • ½ tsp ground bay leaf substitute with 2 bay leaves
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 4 cloves garlic
    • 1 tsp black pepper
    • 1 tbsp chilli flakes
    • 1 tbsp Oregano
    • Juice of 1 lemon
    • ⅓ cup malt vinegar
    • 1 large red bell pepper roughly chopped
    • ½ cup vegetable oil substitute with any unflavoured oil

    Instructions

    • Roughly chop the onion, red bell pepper and put all ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree to smooth paste. Check salt and seasoning and adjust accordingly.
    • Use the piri piri sauce as desired or store in a tight container and store in the refrigerator. Refrigerate until you are ready to use. This peri peri sauce would keep for up to a month in the fridge

    Notes

    This piri piri sauce would make about 2 cups

    If you made this recipe, don’t forget to leave me feedback. Tag me @myactivekitchen on Instagram and save away to your Pinterest

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    Chicken Piri Piri »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Gerard says

      May 29, 2021 at 10:47 am

      5 stars
      Brilliant recipe. Thank you.

      Best chilli wishes - from the southern tip of Africa! Continued success ...

      Reply
    2. George Gale says

      December 01, 2020 at 1:54 am

      Looks interesting–but I don’t know what “3 mixes chillies” means. Unknown term in the US, sorry.

      Reply
      • Ajoke says

        December 01, 2020 at 7:35 am

        Hello George, so sorry about that. It is jalapeno, a mixture of red and green one. Here in the UK, it is labelled mixed chillies. The recipe would be adjusted to suit both worlds. Thank you

        Reply
    3. Christy says

      June 01, 2019 at 1:19 pm

      This sounds wonderful! What side dishes would one pair with peri peri grilled chicken?

      Reply
      • Ajoke says

        June 04, 2019 at 2:14 pm

        Thank you Christy. I would pair this chicken Piri Piri with Spinach rice (recipe on the blog) potato wedges or chips. You can even have it as salad.

        Reply
        • Christy says

          June 04, 2019 at 2:26 pm

          Thanks! I'll give this a try next week.

          Reply
      • Yets says

        August 28, 2019 at 2:27 pm

        Please do you have pictures of birds eye red chilli and the 3 chilli mixes?

        Reply
        • Ajoke says

          September 16, 2019 at 9:20 pm

          Hello Yets. The recipe will be updated soon with pictures of chillies used. Kindly bear with me.

          Reply
    5 from 1 vote

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    Hello, my name is Ajoke, and welcome to my food world,  I love to cook in my lively little kitchen. Join me in the adventure of cooking what we all call warm, hearty, and quick meals...

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    Hello, my name is Ajoke, and welcome to my food world,  I love to cook in my lively little kitchen. Join me in the adventure of cooking what we all call warm, hearty, and quick meals...

    More about me →

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