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 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.
I did spatchcock the bird and rested it on onion slices. Resulted in onions basically braised in the juices and rub- free side!
This recipe is as good as it gets! Well done!!!!
Delicious! I made this today and it was absolutely delicious. I made a few modifications. First, I didn’t have a proper rack so I grabbed the little oven rack from my toaster and placed it vertically on the oven rack so that the grills were perpendicular. Second, the thought of doing a whole chicken overwhelmed me. So, I did a half chicken with the skin on. I cut the ingredients to my liking, keeping the full quantities for spices. Third, I added some mint, cumin, extra garlic and a green chili to the green sauce. The cumin kicked it up a little in flavor, though I know some folks might find what I did overpowering. I just love garlic and cumin.
Another delight!
This is absolutely divine! The sauce is so versatile as well. We’ve made it so many times now it’s a staple of our house
Hello,
Would it be okay to cook the chicken in a roasting pan without a rack?
Sure — you just won’t have crispy skin on the bottom.
Thanks!
Your recipes are always delicious 😋
This recipe is so so good. The chicken is so juicy and delicious. We loved it!
This looks amazing! Question is about the mayo. Can I omit that? Add more sour cream or yogurt?
Thanks Jenn!
Yes, I think you could get away with subbing sour cream Greek yogurt for it. You’ll want to cut back on the lime juice a bit though, as that adds additional tang. Hope that helps!
We had this for Thanksgiving and it was amazing!! Didn’t have sour cream so used Greek yogurt, otherwise made it exactly how it was written. Will do again and again…
I’m not Jenn, and I’m sure you’ve made this long-ago now, but if anyone comes across this recipe with the same question – YES, it 100% works great with plain Greek yogurt in place of sour cream. I’ve done it with both whole milk and the low-fat/5% Greek yogurt – I prefer the whole milk, but the 5% is pretty good too. I’d probably avoid the fat-free kind, though I haven’t tried that myself.
I don’t do as Jenn recommends and scale back the lime juice, and I haven’t noticed it being too tangy but I tend to like tangy foods so if you’re more sensitive to that, probably a good idea to scale back a bit.
I’m not much of a chicken lover, but this was A+. Thanks Jen.
Hi Jenn -I’m a BIG fan of your wonderful recipes and when I saw this one I thought I would love to make it for my family, but our son-in-law is severely allergic to dairy. Thought I was home free until I saw the 1/4 C of sour cream – 🙁 – is it possible to make the sauce without it??
Bonnie, so glad you like the recipes! I wouldn’t omit it, but you can replace the sour cream with a non-dairy version or non-dairy yogurt.
My friend and her family have been RAVING about this dish. Knowing my passion for cooking, and love of all things Jenn Siegel recipes, FINALLY made the time to prepare this. It was NO exaggeration to say this is one of the most jaw dropping good recipes I’ve ever made. Thanks, AGAIN, Jenn!!!
I followed the recipe exactly with the exception of a half the jalapeño for the sauce and it was delicious! I also served it with the Mexican rice. My family loved it and we will definitely make again! Thank you Jenn!