Peruvian-Style Roast Chicken with Green Sauce
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Enjoy tender, juicy Peruvian-style roast chicken drizzled with a spicy and irresistibly good green sauce.
This 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, juicy and crisp-skinned. 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.
What you’ll need to make Peruvian-Style Roast Chicken
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.
How to make Peruvian-Style Roast Chicken
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 2/3 of the marinade under the skin.
And rub the rest over top. Place the chicken in a bowl and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, 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 degrees 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 green sauce (recipe adapted from the Serious Eats Food Lab by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt).
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. (Also, be sure to wash your hands well after handling hot peppers, and do not touch your eyes while working with them.)
Transfer the sauce to a bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish the sauce with a sprig cilantro, if desired, and serve with the roasted chicken.
Note: The green sauce in this recipe is adapted from one of my favorite columns, the Serious Eats Food Lab by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt.
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Peruvian-Style Roast Chicken with Green Sauce
Enjoy tender, juicy Peruvian-style roast 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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I marinated the chicken yesterday, and my husband grilled them (2-3.5lb birds) tonight on the big green egg. The chicken and green sauce were delicious. I served it with the cilantro rice pilaf recipe in your cookbook and fresh corn. It was a great summer meal! Thanks, Jenn!
Though this recipe looks delicious, I don’t usually make whole chickens or use chicken with skin. Do you have suggestions how to adapt this recipe for skinless chicken breasts?
Hi Dana, If using boneless skinless breasts, I suggest using this marinade (and cooking method) instead. It will go beautifully with the green sauce here.
I love this recipe along with most of your other recipes, especially your Caesar salad dressing. We have very similar tastes! I do adjust recipes as needed to make them keto or gluten free. I will be making this recipe again tomorrow and I am going to try it in my smoker using applewood. I am also going to quarter the chickens, I use 2 chickens every time I cook so that I have leftovers for easy meal prep, and try leaving it marinate about 24 hours.
This recipe is just phenomenal. Instead of putting the chicken in the oven, I put it on a rack in a cast-iron pan with some water and slow roasted it in the bbq grill for a couple hours at the same temperatures. As the marinade drips into the pan, the water steams back up the chicken, keeping it moist and flavourful. The green sauce is just perfect with the chicken and should not be skipped. Paired our meal with Mexican rice and French green beans recipes also from this site.
This recipe looks amazing. Do you think that this recipe would work well with a spatchcocked chicken? Does it make sense to remove the backbone, marinate and then grill or roast? Do you think there would be any difference? I know the cooking time will be different.
Love your recipes.
Hi Donna, a few other readers have commented that they’ve spatchcocked the chicken with success (and either roasting or grilling should work). I’d love to hear how it turns out!
This is my first time EVER leaving a review for anything, but let me tell you, I made the Peruvian Style chicken and it was absolutely delicious. Not to mention that I found this site by mistake. The only thing that I did that was different was I place my chicken on the grill and smoked it some. It was soooooo good. I’ve been trying recipes from the restaurants that I may have eaten from and it has been a wonderful venture for me. Now I will check out other recipes that you have. Thank you so much.
Glad you liked it!
Hi Jenn,
This looks like a fabulous recipe! Can’t wait to try it! Could you please recommend a good roasting pan and rack?
Thanks,
Zahra
Hi Zahra, This is the one I have. Hope you enjoy the chicken!
OMG … this chicken was sooooooooo delicious. My husband said it was one of the best meals I’ve ever made. I marinated the chicken overnight.
I just bought your cookbook … LOVE all your recipes.
Cheers!
Joanne
So glad you enjoyed it (and thanks for your support with the cookbook)! 🙂
Hi! I have a PowerXLAir Fryer that allows you to actually cook a chicken rotisserie style, like at Whole Foods (it doesn’t only air fry). Do you think that would work for this recipe?
Hi Joy, I don’t have an air fryer I don’t know much about using one so it’s hard to say for sure – I’m sorry! If you do try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
This is our absolute go to. We just make the green sauce as a salad dressings in between.
The whole family loves it!
I’ve made this 3 times – fabulous all three times. Once with a whole chicken – so awesome! Next we were headed to a cottage and being unsure of the oven, and for ease of prep and transport, I used boneless skinless chicken thighs – Which we cooked on the bbq – fabulous again. Can’t say enough good about this one.