Peruvian Chicken with Green Sauce
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This Peruvian chicken rivals the juicy, crisp-skinned roast chicken from your favorite Peruvian spot. And the creamy, zesty green sauce? You’ll want to put it on everything!
This Peruvian chicken recipe is my take on Pollo a la Brasa, the delicious roast chicken made popular by so many Peruvian restaurants. The chicken is first marinated in olive oil, lime juice, garlic and spices, and then oven-roasted until tender and juicy with super crispy skin. The accompanying green sauce, which gets its color from cilantro and jalapeño peppers, is spicy, creamy and downright delectable. You can put it on virtually everything, and it even doubles as a fabulous dip or salad dressing.
Before we get to the recipe, a few words on buying a whole chicken. In the poultry department, you’re likely to find birds labeled “broilers,” “roasters” and “fryers.” These labels are based on the weight of the bird, and are meant to suggest a method of cooking. This recipe calls for a four-pound chicken, which is typically considered a “fryer.” This might seem strange since we’re roasting but don’t worry about it—all of these chickens can be used in recipes interchangeably.
“I don’t know I’ve ever eaten a better roast chicken. The rub alone is wonderful, but the sauce??? Oh man, puts it over the top…This recipe is as good as it gets!”
Step-by-Step Instructions For Peruvian Chicken with Green Sauce
Begin by making the marinade. Combine the lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar, paprika, cumin, and oregano in a blender or mini food processor.
Blend until smooth.
Using your fingers or a wooden spoon, loosen the skin over the breasts and legs of the chicken.
Spoon about two-thirds of the marinade under the skin.
Then rub the rest of the marinade over top. Place the chicken in a bowl and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight—the longer the better!
Preheat the oven to 425°F, and set the chicken on a rack in a roasting pan. I like to tuck the wings underneath the bird and tie the legs together so the bird holds its shape.
Roast the chicken for 20 minutes, until the skin is golden, and then turn the heat down to 375°F and roast for about an hour and ten minutes more. Let the chicken rest, covered with foil, for about 20 minutes before carving.
While the chicken marinates, make the spicy green sauce.
Simply combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, cilantro, jalapeños, garlic, lime juice salt and pepper in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil. It will seem thin at first but, don’t worry, it will thicken up as it sits.
Keep in mind that the heat in the sauce comes from the ribs and seeds in the jalapeño peppers. I use about half of the seeds and ribs for a medium-hot sauce. If you’re worried about the heat, you can always leave them out at first and then blend them in to taste. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.
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Peruvian-Style Roast Chicken with Green Sauce
Enjoy tender, juicy Peruvian chicken drizzled with a spicy and irresistibly good green sauce.
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup lime juice, from 2 limes
- 4 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 4 pound whole chicken
For the Green Sauce
- 3 jalapeño chili peppers, seeded if desired (I use about half the seeds for a medium-hot sauce), and roughly chopped (see note)
- 1 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
- 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- ½ cup mayonnaise, best quality such as Hellmann's
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, from one lime
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
For the Chicken
- Combine all of the ingredients except the chicken in a blender or mini food processor, and blend until smooth. Remove the giblets from the inside of the chicken and pat the outside of the chicken dry with paper towels; place in a bowl, breast side up with the legs facing you. Using the handle of a wooden spoon or your fingers, loosen the skin from the flesh over the breasts and legs, being careful not to tear the skin or push all the way through (you want the marinade to stay inside the bird). Spoon about ⅔ of the marinade evenly underneath the skin, and spread the remaining ⅓ evenly over the skin. Marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position, and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil for easy clean-up. Spray a rack (preferably a v-shape) with non-stick cooking spray and place the chicken on top. Tie the legs together with kitchen string. Roast for 20 minutes, until the skin is golden. Turn the heat down to 375 degrees, and continue to roast for about an hour and ten minutes more, or until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and thigh. (Keep an eye on it -- if it's browning too quickly, cover it loosely with foil.) Tent the chicken with foil and let rest for about 20 minutes. Tilt the chicken over the roasting pan to release the juices, then transfer to a cutting board. Carve the chicken and serve with green sauce.
For the Green Sauce
- Combine all of the ingredients except the olive oil in a blender or food processor and blend into a smooth sauce. With the motor running, open lid and slowly drizzle in olive oil. It will seem very runny at this point but, don't worry, it will thicken up as it sits. Transfer the sauce to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Note: Be sure to wash your hands well after handling hot peppers, and do not touch your eyes while working with them.
- Note: The nutritional information does not include the green sauce.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 614
- Fat: 43 g
- Saturated fat: 10 g
- Carbohydrates: 7 g
- Sugar: 3 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 49 g
- Sodium: 694 mg
- Cholesterol: 340 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Made this again tonight but only had boneless breasts, so I cut them up for kebabs and marinated them. Since the lime wouldn’t be ideal for white meat, I subbed tequila for the marinade liquid, grilled them on my grill pan and served with the amazing green sauce and pita bread. Super tasty and can’t wait to enjoy the leftovers, too!
I made this recipe for my wife last night, substituting a pre-roasted ham for the chicken, because I only had a ham, and I skipped the salt.
It came out “okay.” My wife wasn’t much of a fan though, but she doesn’t like ham. She also said it could use some salt, so it would’ve been nice if the recipe had mentioned that it was a crucial ingredient.
For people who don’t feel like making the Aji Verde sauce, ketchup seems to work fine.
Thanks.
Is this a joke? With all the ham recipes out there, you pick this? A recipe that is intended to be made with chicken? And then you say it came out “okay”. Of course it only came out okay – it’s a recipe meant for chicken.
Then you say your wife wasn’t a fan but that she doesn’t like ham. Did you tell her that maybe it’s because you were supposed to use chicken? Then you decided to omit the salt just for your wife to say that it needed it. Maybe you should’ve just left it in considering it’s part of the recipe? There’s no need to state that salt is a crucial ingredient – if an ingredient is in a recipe, it’s safe to say that it’s pretty crucial.
Lastly, suggesting ketchup would work in place of the green sauce is irrelevant, because you used ham.
It’s bizarre and disappointing that you left a 4 star review when you made a completely different dish. Might I suggest making the recipe as intended? It really is incredibly delicious and definitely one of my favorite ways of making chicken.
Hi Jenn,
My husband and I are planning to cook dinner for a college student group affiliated with our church. There will be around 60 young people at the dinner. I would like to make this chicken dish because it is something we have enjoyed very much in the past. Can you guide me as to how to make this with either boneless, skinless chicken thighs or chicken thighs with skin and bone intact? Which would be better?
Hi Carolyn, For bone-in thighs, I’d keep the oven temp the same and start checking them for doneness at about 50 to 55 minutes. (And I’d place the chicken pieces on a rack so the skin can crisp up.) For boneless thighs, I’d bake them at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes. For either of these, you can check doneness with an instant-read thermometer (the internal temperature should reach 165°F at the thickest point). Hope everyone enjoys!
This meal was delicious.
I love jalapenos, my husband doesn’t like too much heat. I don’t know what size your jalapenos are, but three seems like a lot. Peppers can vary in heat, but that’s a lot. I used half of a large pepper and it was plenty hot, even for me. I had half an avocado in the fridge, so I added it to smooth out the heat. It was delicious.