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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.
“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!”
Choosing a Chicken
Look for a whole chicken weighing about 4 pounds, and don’t worry too much about whether the package says “fryer,” “broiler,” or “roaster.” The weight matters more than the label here. A much larger bird will need more time in the oven, so choosing one close to the recipe’s size makes the timing easier to follow.
HOW TO MAKE Peruvian Chicken with Green Sauce
Begin by making the marinade. Combine the lime juice, olive oil, garlic, 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.
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 it will thicken up as it sits.
Transfer the sauce to a bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve. Carve the chicken and serve with green sauce.
How Spicy Is the Green Sauce?
With about half the jalapeño ribs and seeds included, the sauce has a medium-hot kick. For a milder version, remove them all before blending, then taste and add a little back if you’d like more heat. Jalapeños can vary quite a bit, so starting mild gives you more control.
Make-Ahead, Freezing & Reheating
The long marinade does some of the planning for you: get the chicken ready the night before, blend the green sauce, and the next day you can concentrate on roasting and sides.
- Prep ahead: Marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight, as directed. You can make the green sauce a day ahead, too; keep it covered in the fridge and stir before serving.
- Store: Refrigerate leftover chicken in an airtight container for up to 3 days, keeping the green sauce separate.
- Freeze: Freeze the cooked chicken in a freezer-safe container or bag for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge. I’d make the green sauce fresh rather than freeze it, since its creamy texture can change.
- Reheat: Place the chicken in a baking dish with a splash of water, cover with foil, and warm in a 325°F oven until heated through to 165°F. Uncover toward the end to help the skin crisp up. Serve the green sauce cold alongside.
Peruvian-Style Roast Chicken with Green Sauce
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup lime juice, from 2 limes
- 4 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 4 lb 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 1 lime
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
For the Chicken
- Combine the olive oil, lime juice, garlic, salt, paprika, black pepper, cumin, oregano, and sugar in a blender or mini food processor. 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 your fingers or the handle of a wooden spoon, gently loosen the skin over the breasts and legs, being careful not to tear it (you want the marinade to stay underneath the skin). Spoon about two-thirds of the marinade evenly under the skin, then spread the remaining third over the outside of the chicken. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position, and preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil for easy clean-up. Spray a rack (preferably a V-shape) with non-stick cooking spray, then place the chicken on it.
- Tie the legs together with kitchen string. Roast for 20 minutes, until the skin is golden.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F (190°C) and continue roasting for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and thigh. If the chicken is 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 the jalapeño peppers, cilantro, garlic, mayonnaise, sour cream, lime juice, salt, and pepper in a blender or food processor and blend into a smooth sauce.
- With the motor running, open the lid and slowly drizzle in the olive oil. It will seem runny at this point; it will thicken up as it sits. Transfer the sauce to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
- Be sure to wash your hands well after handling hot peppers, and do not touch your eyes while working with them.
- The nutritional information does not include the green sauce.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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.
What To Serve With Peruvian Chicken
For the full chicken-dinner treatment, add Mexican rice and black bean salad with corn and avocado, and let everyone help themselves. Crispy potato wedges are another great option—especially with extra green sauce for dipping.
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My Peruvian husband and stepdaughters said this tastes exactly like the chicken at home — even the teenage picky eater had two servings. Thanks for making me look like the cool stepmom!
I almost omitted the jalapeño for the same reason but I decided to try it and followed her instructions to remove all seeds and membrane to remove the heat (“spicy”). The green sauce was fabulous – absolutely no heat in it but the flavor of the jalapeño. This is the first time I’ve tasted the jalapeño in a dish without the unwanted (to me) burning heat. Consider trying it – im so glad I did!
This is one of your best recipes ever! My husband is from Peru and he loves it just like the rest of my family. Thank you so much
Hi Jenn, first of all, your recipes are absolutely amazing! For the green sauce, I would like to substitute parsley and cumin for the cilantro as I am one of those folk who really dislike cilantro. Do you have any recommendations?
Hi Mary, what you want to do is perfectly fine with no other modifications. Enjoy!
Is there a different accompanying sauce you could recommend? None of us can abide cilantro.
You can stick with the sauce – I’d just replace the cilantro with flat-leaf parsley. Hope you enjoy!
One of the best chicken dishes I’ve made, and the sauce is good on EVERYTHING. Definitely a keeper.
I may have already reviewed this recipe as I first made it probably 10 years ago. I work with a large number of Hispanic coworkers and one day we got Peruvian chicken. It was years before it was so widely available. I was hooked and wanted to see if I could make it myself. I found this recipe. It was the very first Once Upon a Chef recipe I ever made. It is fabulous, and even cooked in an oven its pretty darned close to authentic. I haven’t tried the rotisserie on my grill but that is what I plan to do. A few years later I ran across Once Upon a Chef again and am now totally and completely devoted to Jenn and her recipes. I always look to her first if I am in need of a recipe.
I love this recipe. It is just delicious and the sauce can have many uses.
I can’t wait to make this!! One question: since you wait 20 minutes to carve the chicken, and the green sauce is in the refrigerator prior to serving, is the chicken served room temperature in the green sauce served cold? Or do you warm up the green sauce before serving?
Hi Susan, No, the chicken will still be hot when you cut it and the green sauce can be cold or you can take it out of the fridge while the chicken is cooking to get it close to room temperature. Hope that clarifies and that you enjoy!
Great recipe with tasty results. I marinated it overnight and put it on a rotisserie the next day. It turned out moist and delicious. Adding the marinade under the skin really infuses the flavor into the bird. I also love the green sauce and used only half a jalapeno pepper to give it a kick without it being overly spicy.
Made this last evening – totally luscious – possibly the BEST roast chicken we’ve ever done/had and we’ve had many. Because I didn’t follow the #1 rule of cooking to read the WHOLE recipe first, I missed the marinade for 6 to 24 hours part … and only had 4 hours to marinade. It was still divine! And the sauce? Other worldly!! What a delicious way to kick off 2023! Another amazing recipe, Jenn. Big thanks!