Lemony Grilled Chicken with Piri Piri Sauce

Chicken on the grill is a summertime favorite. But lemony grilled chicken with piri piri sauce takes grilling to a whole new level. Piri piri is Swahili for pepper pepper. The main pepper is the African Birdseye, a hot pepper registering about 150,000 units on the Scoville scale. This dish takes the heat down by balancing it with a less traditional red pepper for sweetness. A South African staple, piri piri can now be found all around the world. If you’re looking to spice things up this grilling season, give this recipe a try! By the way, this sauce is great on shrimp, too!

Yield: 8 Servings

Total Time: 1 Hour 10 Minutes

Prep Time: 25 Minutes

Cook Time: 45 Minutes

Ingredients

1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 bird’s eye chilis
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
4-pound chicken, neck and giblets discarded
Olive oil cooking spray

Directions

In a blender, blend together bell pepper, garlic, chilis, black pepper, paprika, fresh lemon juice, and sea salt until smooth.

Cut out the chicken backbone and discard. With your hands, press each piece of the chicken until flat and rub each with about one quarter cup of the sauce.

Set up your outdoor grill and preheat to medium high until hot. Clean it and spray with cooking oil spray.

Grill the chicken for about 1 hour, brushing with the remaining sauce after every 20 minutes.

Transfer the grilled chicken to a chopping board and let rest for about 15 minutes before carving.

Serve the lemony grilled chicken with piri piri with the remaining sauce.