Flavour infused and juicy on the inside. Deep red and crispy on the outside. AND garlicky buttery rice. For just 10 minutes of active effort? Yes please!
I know I shared a baked chicken recipe last week but this is so good, I didn’t have the patience to wait longer!
I saw Peruvian rotisserie chicken being made on a cooking show once and unsurprisingly, it was added to my ever growing list of “things to make”.
Do you keep a list of “things to make”? I actually have 4 5 lists. “Make for blog”, “Clients” (being recipes I create and shoot for clients), “Meals” (being my normal meals), “Ideas” (that list where 95% of the things on it never get made) and “ABSOLUTELY MUST TRY”.
This chicken made the “ABSOLUTELY MUST TRY” list instantly. Straight to the top of the queue! As soon as I saw the recipe, I knew it was my type of food. Easy to make, every day ingredients and kapow! flavours.
I’ve never been to Peru, but from the research I’ve done, this chicken is known as Pollo la Brasa (Peruvian Blackened Chicken) and is by far the most popular chicken dish in Peru.
Traditionally, this is made like a rotisserie chicken over charcoals. So this version I’m sharing doesn’t have that lovely smokey flavour but there’s certainly plenty of flavour from the marinade to make up for it!
Soy sauce is a surprising ingredient in the marinade for this recipe. I was very interested to read about Chinese and Japanese influence on Peruvian cuisine owing to waves of immigration starting in the 1900’s. I love that Peruvians embraced the new ingredients the early immigrants introduced, like soy sauce.
I decided to serve this with a buttery garlic rice. Not sure if it’s strictly Peruvian, but honestly, it goes with it so well and is so delicious that you can eat it plain. Seriously!
I must have read 20+ recipes for Peruvian Roast chicken. And unsurprisingly, every single recipe is different! As with every traditional dish, there is no single recipe. The key ingredients that are common across all recipes are soy sauce, garlic, paprika, cumin and something to add tag (lime or vinegar).
So I made my own guided by those recipes I read – I’ve referenced a few in the recipe. The marinade is actually very straight forward and it’s a matter of just getting the proportions right to suit your palette. I like strong flavours so the marinade for mine is probably stronger than other recipes. I also up the flavour a bit to compensate for the absence of the charcoal flavour.
Hope you consider trying this!! – Nagi x
PS I roasted this in the oven to get the beautiful even browning on the skin you can see in the photos but it’s also really delicious cooked on the BBQ or even on the stove.
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Peruvian Chicken with Garlic Butter Rice
Ingredients
- 2.5 lb (1.2 kg) chicken pieces (Note 1)
Marinade
- 1 tbsp garlic powder OR 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tbsp paprika powder (preferably smoked but plain is ok)
- 4 tbsp soy sauce (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp lime juice , fresh (1 lime)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Garlic Butter Rice
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 onion , finely diced (white, brown, yellow)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups long grain rice , uncooked
- 2 cups chicken broth / stock
- 1 cup water
- 2 - 4 tbsp butter (Note 3)
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Place the Marinade ingredients in a small bowl and mix until lump free.
- Place the chicken in a ziplock bag (my preferred method) or non reactive bowl and coat with Marinade. Marinade for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight (24 hours) OR freeze it straight away, then it will marinade while it defrosts.
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Place chicken in a baking dish, skin side up. Slather leftover marinade onto the skin. Roast for 45 minutes or until deep burnt-red golden brown in colour.
- Rest for 5 minutes before serving with Garlic Butter Rice and a green salad.
Garlic Butter Rice
- Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and cook for 5 minutes until onion is translucent and sweet.
- Add rice and stir so the rice becomes translucent. Add broth and water, then cover and turn heat down to medium low.
- Cook for 12 to 15 minutes until the liquid has JUST evaporated, then remove from stove and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
- After resting, add the butter and stir the rice to fluff it up and disperse the butter.
Recipe Notes:
- Peruvian Roasted Chicken with Yellow Potatoes - Pollo a la Brasa
- Peruvian Grilled Chicken
- The Food Lab: Peruvian-Style Whole Grilled Chicken 6. Nutrition for chicken assuming 5 servings. This does not take into account the fat that renders out during roasting that remains in the pan so the actual calories will be considerably less. I estimate it is between 60 and 100 calories less, assuming you don't drink the pan juices!
Nutrition per serving for the rice, assuming 6 servings (that's quite generous servings!).
Nutrition Information:
Love this on the BBQ with thigh fillets and a yogurt based dipping sauce on the side.
Absolutely amazing. For my kids who do not like meat on the bone, I used chicken breast and they loved it! This is going on my christmas lunch menu 😀
Came out delicious..being out of lemons, I liberally substituted apple cider vinegar.
WOW this is good! It makes an excellent make ahead lunch recipe, too! We’ve eaten it all week and we still can’t get enough of it. Simple, flavorful, and filling. Amazing!
Did the chicken and garlic rice, gorgeous! Haven’t had a recipe of yours that we haven’t enjoyed but this one goes in to the top ones!
This was delicious! I like the addition of soy sauce, there’s such a big Asian influence in Peru I feel like it’s a must. I added some green sauce to it and served with tostones. Thank you so much
Omg my family reckon best chicken recipe. Did a coriander lime olive oil salsa on top. They want the meal a regular. Rice butter plenty of it in rice cooker salad on the side
Marinated the chicken overnight and baked it for lunch with the garlic butter rice. It was delicious, will definitely make it again. Thanks!
Can you do this with a whole chicken?
A truly delicious recipe that was a hit for the entire family. My husband is a chef and he couldn’t stop raving on about it. Chicken was moist and flavourful. I served it with your cilantro and coconut rice and your salsa recipe. Will be making this again and again.
Thank you Nagi, Was looking for an old chicken and rice recipe and found , your web sit site . am making it for dinner.
Will keep you posted. Arigato
Hi Nagi,
This recipe is amazing. I marinated for 2 nights because I was busy on the day I supposed to cook it. I doubled the recipe but I forgot that so I baked for the same time the recipe called for. Do I increase the baking time? Anyway the chicken came out so soft and juicy. The meat is just cooked, no pink but soft. I think I will increase another 5 minutes. I had chicken with cole slaw and garlic butter rice.
So far every recipes I tried here successful the first time and easy and quick to make. Thank you very much Nagi, please keep posting 😀
When it says “stir so the rice becomes translucent”, does that involve sauteeing for a few minutes? Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Will you be making a video to go along with this recipe? Garlic still states: “crushed” if you want to change it to minced? I can not star it yet as I have not tried it, but will do so later. After making the recipe(s), how do I come back to “star” them, or do I just make another comment”
Florida, USA
Hi David! I have a long term vision to have a video for every single recipe on my site so the answer is YES, eventually! I can push this one up the schedule 🙂 N x PS Fixed! Thank you!
Okee Dokee. Thank you. Please let me know when it is ready. Be safe.
Having this tonight, again!
I barbecue the chicken and it’s fantastic, a big favourite with everyone, and the rice is awesome!
Thanks for another great recipe.
Hi Nagi
I love your recipes and I’m cooking this tonight (chicken is in marinade now).
Q. Do I bake the chicken covered with a lid or uncovered?
Thanks
Dom
Uncovered. Sorry for the delay responding!
Tried it. Loved it. ‘Nuf said <3
That’s so terrific Saleha! I’m so pleased to hear that, thanks for sharing your feedback! N x ❤️
This was another great food! Loved the earthy flavors. But with the temperature in the mid-80s I didn’t feel like butter rice. I ended up using your cilantro lime recipe. They went well together. Thank you!
Mmmm! Sounds amazing J-Mom! So pleased you enjoyed this!
This looks so good! Do you think it’d be possible to cook the rice in a rice cooker – and if so, how would I adapt it for the rice cooker?
Thanks so much!
Hi JL! After the onion is cooked, add some of the liquid into the pan then pour it all into the rice cooker, and add remaining ingredients. 🙂
We call this here in Peru : Pollo al sillao. Sillao means soy sauce.
Ohhhh!!! I love knowing the real name, thanks Evelyn!