Piri Piri Chicken - Curious Cuisiniere (2025)

Home » Europe » Portuguese Recipes » Piri Piri Chicken and Verdelho Wine Pairing

Piri Piri Chicken is roasted with a spicy citrus marinade that makes it the perfect meal for your next summer cookout!

Hot Sauces Grow In Popularity

WhileChristopher Columbus first introducedchili peppers to the Old World, it was the Portuguese colonists who took inspiration from their colonies in Angola and Mozambique in South Africa and brought the hot chilies, and sauces using them, to wide popularity in other parts of Europe and Asia.

Piri Piri (or Peri Peri) is the Swahili word for ‘pepperpepper.’ The marinade for this chicken is heavy on the spicy African Bird’s Eye chilies with a bright citrus accent.

Making Piri Piri Chicken

This dish is incredibly simple: chicken is marinated in a hot chili marinade and then grilled. The entire concept is incredibly similar to that of Jamaican Jerk Chicken, however the flavor is vastlydifferent.

While Jamaican Jerk Chicken hits you with an intense heat carried by deep and dark flavors of allspice and herbs, Piri Piri Chicken brings on the heat in a brighter, more subtle way.

Piri Piri sauce consists of a blend of chilies, oil, garlic, herbs, and lemon juice. The acid adds a brightness to the heat and helps to tenderize the meat as it marinades. Don’t get us wrong, the heat is still there (African Bird’s Eye Chilies are hot ones!), but it is lightened and accented by the bright, citrus-y flavor of lemon.

Pairing Piri Piri Chicken with Portuguese Wine

We paired our Piri Piri Chicken with a Verdelho from Herdade do Esporao. Verdelho is a white grape that is grown in Portugal, most commonly on the island of Madeira. The Verdelho grape is one of thedryer of the four main grapes used to make the different types of Madeira wine. Did you know that Madeira wine isn’t just that sweet, amber wine used only for cooking in the States? We’ll admit, this was a new discovery for us. There are Madeira wines that range from sweet and fruity to dry and clean. We’ll be thinking about that the next time we see a bottle of Madeira wine. But, we digress.

The Verdelho grape produces a drier white wine with prominent flavors of citrus fruit.The wine was crisp and full of flavor. It would have been a perfect wine for sipping on a lazy summer afternoon.

When paired with the chicken’s heat and citrus flavors, the wine took on a beautifully complementary role, accenting the flavors of the marinade and providing a clean and refreshing finish to each bite.

Take a look at the pairings below for a taste of the flavors of Portuguese wine!

• Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla is sharing “Vinho Verde Caldeirada with Pluot Port Granita”
• David from Cooking Chat shares “Grilled Pork with Portuguese Potatoes and Kale”
• Jade of Tasting Pour is pairing “ Portugal’s Green Wine with Stew Fresh from the Sea.”
• Jeff from food wine click shares “Perfect Pairing with Port”
• Lori from Draceana Wines features “Portugal: Not just for Port. Who Knew?”
• Martin of Enofylz Wine Blog tempts us with “Taste of Portugal:Grilled Fish Setubal Style and 2008 Torre de Tavares Encruzado”
• Nancy from Pull That Cork pairs “Amêijoas na Cataplana with Soalheiro Alvarinho”
• Wendy creator of A Day in the Life on a Farm shares “A Tawny Port from Portugal served with Grilled Figs topped with Goat Cheese”

David of Cooking Chat started this event in June of 2014, and every month since then this group of wine and food lovers have had a great time! For more background, check out the original post announcing Wine Pairing Weekend. You can seethe full list of past and upcoming #winePW events here.