My version of this hot sauce includes hot chili peppers from one of the Asian vendors at my local farmers’ market. They carry a lot of fresh produce (vegetables and fruits) that are hard to get in a regular grocery store. So check out your local farmers’ market for unexpected treats. You can find this chili pepper (or a close relative) in Asian, Latin, and some Indian markets, but you could also use jalapenos. The traditional African sauce blends chilies with fresh garlic, red chili pepper, basil, onions, and oregano. Add smoked paprika, salt, lemon, and olive oil to the mix for pure spicy goodness. This tangy and savory hot sauce is pleasantly intense. However, if you don’t care for a lot of acidity in your pepper sauce, try my African pepper sauce. Enjoy!
Recipe Ingredients
How to Make Peri-Peri Sauce
Puree the red peppers, jalapeno pepper, chili peppers, garlic, basil, oregano, and onions in a food processor or blender. Blend. Add olive oil to facilitate blending. Then add smoked paprika, lemon juice, black pepper, and vinegar and mix well. Adjust for salt and seasonings. Refrigerate and use when ready.
Recipe Alternatives
Recipe Tips
Make-Ahead, Serving, and Storage Instructions
This recipe is an ideal make-ahead because it lasts about 2 weeks in the fridge. I’ve heard it will last for six weeks because the vinegar acts as a preservative, but my jar is always empty before two weeks are up. To freeze it for later, pour the sauce into ice cube trays. As soon as it freezes solid, pop the cubes into a freezer ziploc bag for tablespoon portions of hot sauce. You can freeze it for up to six months.
How to Use Peri Peri Sauce
The spicy goodness of this hot sauce pairs excellently with roasts, skewers, burgers, wraps, and fried foods. Peri-Peri marinated chicken skewers and peri-peri chicken are two classics. But you can replace the hot sauce in any recipe with peri peri sauce for a delicious twist. Nashville hot chicken and African meatballs in tomato sauce are excellent dishes to add a spoonful to.
More Easy Sauces to Spice up Your Life
Watch How to Make It
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”XGbJ5cf5″ upload-date=”2021-08-09T13:41:59.000Z” name=”Peri Peri Sauce” description=”Peri-Peri Sauce is a blend of African bird’s eye chili that is mostly grown in African countries. It is sour, a little sweet, and slightly salty- making it a really complex and versatile sauce that you can use on almost anything.” player-type=”collapse” override-embed=”false”] This blog post was first published in June 2014 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video
title: “Peri Peri Sauce” ShowToc: true date: “2024-10-30” author: “Randy Lawton”
Why We Love this Peri Peri Sauce Recipe
Peri Peri Sauce is a popular South African hot sauce made famous by the chicken chain Nando’s. If you’re not in the know, Nandos makes spicy-hot grilled chicken doused in Peri Peri sauce that is utterly irresistible! You can buy Peri Peri sauce in the grocery store, even the Nando’s brand, but it’s fun and surprisingly easy to make it at home. It is great to customize for heat, depth of flavor, and even consistency by changing the type of chile pepper used, the amount of additional herbs and spices, and the liquid content. Whip up a batch at home in only about 30 minutes and use it to add some serious pep to simple chicken or seafood dishes!
Ingredients You Need
Fresh red chilies – African bird’s eye chiles are traditional Onion – sweet yellow or red onion with some bite Garlic – whole cloves Extra virgin olive oil – or other high-heat and natural-tasting oil like avocado or canola oil Fresh basil leaves – for a fresh but slightly peppery taste Balsamic vinegar and apple cider vinegar – using both create a deeply tangy and flavorful sauce that isn’t too rich. You can use red wine vinegar or lemon juice in place of apple cider vinegar if desired. Granulated sugar – to balance the heat Other spices – smoked paprika, dried oregano, salt
How to Make Peri-Peri Sauce
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Set out a large rimmed baking sheet. Remove the stems from the red chili peppers and shake out all the seeds. Peel the garlic and onions. Place the garlic cloves on the baking sheet and slice the onion into large wedges. Lay the onion wedges on the baking sheet. Drizzle the top of the chilies, onions, and garlic with oil. Salt generously. Roast the chilies and aromatics in the oven for 12-15 minutes until soft and slightly charred around the edges. Allow the roasted vegetables to cool. Then scoop the roasted ingredients and the oil into a blender jar or food processor. Add the basil, balsamic vinegar, sugar, smoked paprika, apple cider vinegar, and dried oregano. Purée until very smooth. Check the consistency of the hot sauce. It should be thick and equal to about 1 ½ cups of sauce. At this point, you can jar the sauce, or add water to thin out the sauce. If you like a thinner hot sauce, add 3 to 10 tablespoons of water. Purée again.
Top Recipe Tips
Thai red chiles are a form of cayenne chiles and are VERY hot. If you can’t find (or handle) Thai red chiles, any type of red chiles will work. I used Fresno chiles, which are still hot, but not as hot as Thai chiles. Yet you can use a combination of hot red chiles and red bell pepper to reduce the heat. When working with hot peppers, using gloves is a good idea to keep the oil from working into your skin, and then later rubbing your eyes or nose. If your sauce is too hot, you can roast additional red bell peppers to puree into the sauce. You can also add a little tomato sauce to reduce the heat.
Ways to Use Peri Peri Sauce
If you’re using any sort of spicy red pepper this sauce will be very hot. It is amazing to use for Peri Peri chicken, of course, but you can also use it in marinades, on Middle Eastern plates, curry bowls, even on Mexican dishes! Light proteins marinated in Peri-Peri are great to cook in any number of ways! Try baking, roasting, grilling, air frying, or smoking chicken wings, shrimp, or white fish. Then enjoy it as an entree or add to other dishes for a fiery meal with lots of flavor.
Looking for More Classic Condiment Recipes? Be Sure to Try:
Hot Honey Recipe Best Ranchero Sauce Garlic Parmesan Sauce Chamoy Sauce Homemade Buffalo Wing Sauce
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