Perfectly moist piri-piri spatckcocked chicken that’s bursting with sweet cherry tomatoes for a spicy, smoky, bright and deeply flavored summer supper cooked in single pan!
Why this Recipe Works
- Full of flavor! The piri-piri sauce is spicy, smoky, bright and bursting with cherry tomatoes creating a dish that deeply flavorful.
- Crispier skin and faster cooking time! Thanks to spatchcocking the whole chicken before roasting.
- Perfectly moist and juicy chicken! Ensured by high temperature cooking and a thermometer.
- Minimal clean up! The chicken dish all comes together in a single pan.
How I Developed this Piri-Piri Chicken with Bread and Potatoes Recipe
I love hosting fabulous dinner parties! I throw lavish affairs, building community as we break bread together.
As I was planning my late summer soiree, I knew I wanted a hearty, seasonal chicken dish. Something that could easily come together in a single pan without sacrificing flavor. We were at the peak of cherry tomato season in Cali and I def knew I wanted to take advantage of that!
I’m a very visual person and I love presenting dishes to my guests that are high on the wow factor. I’m all about food as art. A bit of digging in my cookbooks and online kept taking me to a fantastically red chicken dish, piri-piri chicken. And the piri-piri experimentation began.
Wanting to make my dish a full supper, I added potatoes for starch and bread to soak up all the deliciously juicy chicken drippings. Cause if I’m already roasting a whole chicken, ya best believe I’m sneaking lots of bread underneath it. If you’ve never tried this when roasting a whole chicken, I *highly* recommend!!!
I’ve tinkered with it quit a bit and have served this at a number of parties since. Feedback most welcome and hope you enjoy!
Why Spatchcock Your Chicken chicken
Spatchcocking a chicken solves the timing problem of roasting a whole chicken. The white meat (the breasts) cook faster and dry out while the dark meat (legs and thighs) finishes cooking.
So what to do?!?! Please meet the spatchcocking method!!
Spatchcocking refers to removing the chicken’s backbone so that the chicken lays flat.
It’s a skill you’ll wannna have in your poultry repertoire. And once ya spatchcok…. ya may never go back!
Other benefits of spatchcocking include:
- No trussing or kitchen twine required
- Crispy, caramelized skinover the entirety chicken since more skin is exposed to heat.
- Quicker roasting time
- Easier to carve
- Spatchcocking produces even cooking in both the breasts and legs. Worth repeating.
About my Chicken
Know where your chicken comes from!!! And don’t be shy to ask your butcher questions… even lots of them!
This chicken pictured here is from Belcampo Meat Company. They practice regenerative farming. Their chickens are free-range and grow at a slower, more natural pace compared to conventionally raised chickens.
They also operate their own processing facility and track their chickens from birth to our plates.
What is Piri-Piri?
Piri-piri is a sauce with Portuguese roots. The name refers to the variety of chili used; the small fiery African birds eye (piri-piri) chili.Recipes vary from region to region but the common ingredients are chili, lemon, oil, and red bell peppers.
How to Make this Piri-Piri Spatchcocked Chicken
Spatchcock your chicken or ask your butcher to do it. Prep your piri-piri sauce ingredients and blend until smooth. Smother some over chicken to marinade and set some aside. Prep your bread, potatoes and tomatoes. Roast the potatoes in the oven for 20 min and then add the rest of the ingredients and chicken, basting the chicken while it cooks, and adding more cherry tomatoes near the end. The result is a deeply flavorful supper cooked in a single pan!
Just look at that crispy, crackly, blistered skin all over. The key is to make sure the skin is exposed so don’t cover it all with the tomatoes.
Have any leftover sauce? Use this complex and versatile sauce in so very many other ways!
Cooks Tips
- Know where your chicken comes from! When possible, organic, antibiotic-free, air-chilled, free-range chicken
- Buy local and organic tomatoes when possible. If you want to make the dish when tomatoes are not in season… simply omit. I have experimented with canned yet but you are welcome to!
- Remember to baste the chicken while it cooks for the best, most flavorful results.
- The sauce can be made in advance and refrigerated for up to 4 days.
- Leftover chicken will keep in the fridge up to 3 days.
Have ya tried this recipe? I’d love to hear about it and see it too! Please leave a comment below and take a pic and tag it on Instagram with #chefdanielagerson. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see more colorfully delicious food and all sorts of awesome adventures!
Let’s make waves in the kitchen!
Piri-Piri Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes & Potatoes
Ingredients
Piri-Piri Sauce
- 4 cloves of garlic peeled
- 2 shallots peeled & chopped
- 1 red bell pepper seeded & chopped
- 1 piri-piri (birds eychili pepper (or other small red chili peppeadd more to taste
- ½ cup cilantro
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice and zest from 1-2 lemons
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Chicken
- 2 ½ - 3 ½ pound chicken
- 1 pound of baby potatoes cut in half can sub in baking potatoes cut into wedges
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 loaf of sturdy crusty bread (such as baguette or sourdough boulcut or town into 2-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 2 pints of cherry tomatoes 1/3 pint cut in half, optional
- 4 thyme sprigs
- kosher salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Place all the piri-piri sauce ingredients together in the bowl of a food processor or blender; process until smooth. Reserve ½ cup of the marinade.
- Try and season your spatchcocked chicken with salt. Smother marinade over chicken and refrigerate while prepping the rest of your ingredients (can leave in the marinating in the fridge up to 3 hours, take out 30 min before roasting).
- Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Cut baby potatoes in half or if using larger potatoes, cut into wedges. Toss potatoes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 20 min, shaking pan occasionally.
- While the potatoes roast, cube bread and cut half the cherry tomatoes in half (optional to cut tomatoes).
- When the potatoes are ready, increase oven to 450 F degrees. Add the bread cubes and ¾ of the cherry tomatoes to the pan and toss all with the reserved sauce. Either all of it or save some to serve with the chicken. Add the thyme sprigs and place the chicken on top, spreading half the butter on the chicken.
- Baste the chicken every 10-20 minutes, with the pan sauce and spread the remaining butter on the chicken about halfway through roasting, add the remaining cherry tomatoes (that are cut in halat this time.
- Roast for about 40-50 minutes (exact time will depend on size of chicke), until a thermometer inserted in the thickest part reaches 165 Add flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper, garnish with extra herbs and serve with any remaining sauce on the side.
Notes
- Know where your chicken comes from! When possible, organic, antibiotic-free, air-chilled, free-range chicken
- Buy local and organic tomatoes when possible. If you want to make the dish when tomatoes are not in season… simply omit. I have experimented with canned yet but you are welcome to!
- Remember to baste the chicken while it cooks for the best, most flavorful results.
- The sauce can be made in advance and refrigerated for up to 4 days.
- Leftover chicken will keep in the fridge up to 3 days.
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