If you’ve been to Nando’s Peri Peri, you may already be familiar with this fragrant and flavorful sauce that’s also known as pili-pili, piri piri, or piri-piri sauce. If not, you’re about to be wowed by this peri peri sauce recipe that can elevate nearly anything that’s savory on your plate.
Peri Peri sauce is a fairly simple blend of chile peppers, bell peppers, vinegar, sugar, and herbs that makes for an amazing marinade or dipping sauce. Use it to give a boost to your chicken wings, marinate your meats in it, or make classic peri peri chicken. You can even mix it up to make a delectable dip.
No matter how you use this sauce, you are guaranteed to fall in love with its ability to transform so many savory meals!
What is Peri Peri Sauce?
Peri peri sauce is a spicy sauce made from spicy peppers. It originated in Mozambique but quickly spread to South Africa and beyond.
The chile-based sauce is often paired with chicken but with layers of flavor, from sweetness to acidity, it’s also a delectable way to dress up other proteins and veggies.
What Makes This Sauce Delicious
Peri peri sauce is such a crave-worthy concoction that you’ll be wanting to slather all your savory meals with it.
- Complex flavor. This recipe combines sweet ingredients with plenty of heat as well as fresh flavors. The depth of flavor in this recipe is unmatchable.
- Easy and accessible. All of the ingredients are easy to find and the recipe couldn’t be more short and sweet.
- Affordable. Most of these ingredients are probably already in your pantry, but if they’re not, you can easily find them at a reasonable cost at most stores.
Ingredients
This list may look a little long, but you’ll probably have most of these easy ingredients on hand already!
- Small Red Chile Peppers – These peppers provide the signature heat of the sauce. Choose the variety that you prefer. If you’re not sure which to choose, take a look at the Scoville Scale to determine how much heat you want to incorporate.
- Red Bell Pepper – These sweet peppers balance out the head of the chile peppers.
- White Onion – This aromatic adds its signature flavor to the sauce. Feel free to substitute other varieties like red onions.
- Fresh Garlic – Garlic adds a pleasant pungency to the sauce.
- Fresh Basil – This fresh herb helps to give the sauce a bit of herbaceousness.
- Fresh Oregano – Oregano adds even more herbal flavor. I love using fresh herbs, but in a pinch you can substitute dried oregano instead.
- Smoked Paprika – This spice adds smokiness and creates a more complex flavor profile.
- Vegetable Oil, Extra-Virgin Olive oil, or Other Neutral Oil – Oil helps to create a smooth sauce.
- Red Wine Vinegar – Vinegar balances out the sauce with its acidity.
- Fresh Lemon Juice – The brightness of citrus helps to freshen up the sauce’s flavor.
- Lemon Zest – Lemon zest adds concentrated lemony flavor to the sauce.
- Coarse Kosher Salt – Salt brings out the flavors of the other ingredients.
- Sugar – Sugar imparts some sweetness to the sauce, adding to its complexity.
What To Serve Peri Peri Sauce With
While chicken is the popular pairing for peri peri sauce, you can also use it with loads of other dishes from proteins like pork, beef, or seafood to roasted vegetables. It’s also a great spread for burgers, sandwiches, paninis, and tacos. And, of course, Peri Peri Chicken!
You can also mix peri peri sauce with mayonnaise, sour cream, or Greek yogurt to make a delectable dip or toss it into your favorite stir-fry for added flavor.
How to Make Peri Peri Sauce
With just a couple of steps, you can easily make this sauce that’s chock-full of flavor.
- Add ingredients to blender. Add the chiles, bell pepper, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, paprika, and oil to a large food processor or blender and pulse until it the mixture becomes pasty.
- Blend until paste forms. Pour the rest of the ingredients into the paste and pulse again until completely combined. Be sure that it remains chunky.
- Enjoy! Serve immediately or place in an airtight container and store.
Variations
While this recipe is a solid version of the sauce, you can change it up in tons of different ways.
- Chili Peppers – Switch up the peppers to make your sauce more mild or to give it a spicy kick. If you want to get super authentic, seek out African bird’s eye chilies. African bird’s eye are super spicy little red chilies that make this sauce sing. You can also look for Thai red chilis, a red chili pepper that is similar to cayenne.
- Roasting – For the bell peppers, try roasting them first. Roasted red pepper (or other varieties) gives the sauce even more flavor.
- Herbs – Try using different fresh herbs like cilantro, parsley, thyme, or rosemary.
- Citrus – Switch up your citrusy flavor by using orange or lime juice and zest.
- Spices – Use other spices or spice blends like cumin, coriander, ginger, or curry powder.
- Sweeteners – Experiment with different sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar.
- Fruit – Add fruits like mango, pineapple, or peaches for a sweet and nuanced flavor
- Nuttiness – Include toasted nuts like almonds, cashews, or peanuts or try using sesame oil in place of a neutral oil. Or, try adding nut butter like almond butter or peanut butter for a creamy, nutty sauce.
- Umami – Boost the umami flavors by adding ingredients like soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, miso paste, or fish sauce.
- Heat – Adjust the heat level by adding hot sauce or chili paste to taste. Or, add black pepper for gentle heat.
- Smokiness – Add more smoked paprika or a dash of liquid smoke for more smoky flavor.
Storage and Freezing
This sauce will last you weeks, making it the perfect condiment to keep on hand for dressing up meals whenever you want.
Since it stores well, peri peri sauce is perfect for making ahead of time — just keep it in the fridge or freezer.
How to Store Peri Peri Sauce
Store peri peri sauce in an airtight container or mason jar in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Can I Freeze Peri Peri Sauce?
Freeze peri peri sauce in a resealable freezer bag or freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
Common Questions About Peri Peri Sauce
Peri Peri sauce is a blend of hot Chiles, sugar, vinegar, herbs, and oil to create a spicy sauce with complex flavors.
The Mozambique Portuguese are credited with creating the sauce, though you can find it throughout South Africa.
Peri Peri sauce is always spicy, given its chile pepper base. But it also has tangy, salty and sweet flavors, making it a complex and amazing sauce to add to proteins and veggies.
Other Savory Sauces
A good sauce is the perfect way to elevate any meal. Here are a few of our favorites that we know you’ll love too.
Homemade Eel Sauce Recipe
Red Robin Campfire Sauce Recipe
Spicy Marinara Sauce
Peri Peri Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 5-6 small red chile peppers such as serrano peppers, habanero or jalapeno peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup red bell pepper roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup white onion roughly chopped
- 2-3 cloves fresh garlic roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh basil packed
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil or other neutral oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- In a large food processor or blend, combine the seeded chiles, red bell pepper, white onion, garlic, basil, oregano, paprika and oil. Pulse until a coarse paste forms.
- Add the vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and sugar, pulsing 2-3 more times to combine, but not to make a smooth paste. It should be chunky.
- Transfer to an airtight container and chill for up to 5 days. Stir when ready to use.
Nutrition
What incredible smoky flavor! I used this for a wing sauce and dang it was so good! Thank you!
It’s all about the sauce and you can’t go wrong with making this one. Thanks!
Yes! I’ve been looking for a good sauce for my peri peri chicken dish and this one is perfect! Savory and delicious!
It adds the perfect amount of heat and flavor to any dish. The balance of tangy and spicy is spot on. I can’t get enough of it!