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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Thank you again Batzion for your advice. Is your father’s name Zion?
Judy, if you get limes from your cousin, ask for more than you need for this recipe because you can freeze whole limes and lemons and then grate them (the whole thing) over many dishes such as salads, fish, chicken, veggies — wherever your imagination takes you.
I really hope you are able to make this dish because it is spectacular, and you can use whatever sauce you have left over on other things.
Thank you for writing kathy d. Have a good weekend. And to everyone else.
Thank you for replying. Jen I think I sent you a message that belongs on here. Could you repost it for me?
Batzion thank you. I don’t live anywhere near Jerusalem. Not a town for me. Too many frumers. I don’t even go to the market in Tel Aviv. In my supermarket we get ordinary stuff and you should see the prices we are expected to pay for fruit. Almost $40 for a pound of peaches. We should not buy st that price but we do. Years ago tomatoes were sooooo expensive that we did stopbbuying them and they reduced the prices. We should do what Egypt did. When the price of bread went up they rioted. Also years ago. Well we’ll struggle along. My cousin in the north has limes in his garden. I’ll see if I can get from him. Shabbat Shalom.
Hi Judy. Have you tried the Shuk (Mahane Yehuda Market) in Jerusalem? They have many fine fruits, vegetables and spices from all over. Usually, you can sample to see if it’s what you want.
Israel does have habanero peppers (hotter than jalapeno — you could reduce the amount). They are grown in Moshav Ein Yahav in the Northern Arava but should be available just about anywhere.
Also, Israel does grow limes. The most famous are the Jaffa limes which are in demand around the world.
I used a blender instead of a food processor, and it worked out fine.
I hope this helps you.
Kiryat Ono, Israel. If you know Israel then it’s near Bar Ilan university. Tel Hashomer hospital and not too far from Petah Tikva.
Sorry, no I don’t know Israel at all. You must be in a small town, because from what I’ve read, Israel produces all kinds of fruits and vegetables and tons of other delicious things. Jalapeños, I don’t know….but there must be some other kind of medium chili pepper that you can find. Do you have outdoor markets where you live?
I can’t get limes in my area. Lemons I presume. Don’t think we have ‘jalapeño’ peppers here. Just ordinary ones. I don’t have a food processor :'( . I hate this country! We should be able to get everything other countries have as long as it’s kosher.
Judy, Lemons are fine if you can’t find limes. Just omit the jalapeno and use a pinch of ground cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes. If you don’t have a food processor you can use a blender.
Can I leave out the herbs? I’m so not partial to them. Surprise we get hellmans mayo here and I use it.
Judy, where do you live? Can you say?
This recipe is very good. I have made this several times already and everyone who tries it at my house loves it. The sauce goes really well with the chicken and gives it a nice flavor.
Thanks
Do you think I could do this recipe with chicken quarters with the skin still on? Would I just roast the equivalent weight in chicken quarters and treat it like a whole bird? This is probably a dumb question, but I’ve just begun experimenting with chicken — before this my only experience was with boneless, skinless chicken breasts and thighs.
Hi there, Not a dumb question at all! You can definitely do this recipe with bone-in chicken quarters with the skin on — and yes cook time would be about the same if you stick to the same weight. Hope you enjoy it!
My husband and I don’t eat cilantro, I’m wondering if parsley would be an ok sub?
Hi Sue, Parsley would work just fine. Please come back and let me know how it turns out.
I did it with parsley and this chicken is heavenly good. the sauce turned out yummy, and my husband loved it all. thanks