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Grilled Peruvian Chicken

 
Peruvian chicken is easily made with a flavor filled marinade, and a great green sauce. Don’t miss this one!

Peruvian Grilled Chicken

(This is an updated post, but still with old pics, from 2014.)

Peruvian chicken seems to be the rage right now, or maybe it has been the rage and I’m just finding out.  I’m always looking for a good, simple chicken recipe and one that requires the grill and no oven is so much the better.

Yes, I have got the perfect chicken. Loaded with flavor, it is easily dribbled with green sauce or simply leave it on its own. This grilled chicken is easy to prepare and could take the place of that roasted chicken from your store’s rotisserie.

Make this into chicken salad or enchiladas or shred it for use in tacos, but my favorite way is with the Peruvian green sauce. With or without though, this is one flavorful chicken that is loaded with a bit of heat, some spice and some smoke.

I know summer is almost here because I’ve already had to fill the grill with gas. Or should I say, Manservant had to fill the grill with gas.

Peruvian Grilled Chicken before grilling

Yes, the first nice days of Spring found me grabbing the first chance I had and heading to the grill. Hopefully by now, warmer days have found you and your grill starting to see some action too.

This grilled chicken is made to serve with one of the most popular recipes on my blog, Peruvian Green SauceYou are probably wondering  what came first – the green sauce or the chicken. 

Truth is, it doesn’t matter. Both are great!

Yes, that green sauce rocks. Not too creamy and not too rich, this sauce has loads of flavor and can be put on just about everything. Better than ketchup, I say!

Peruvian Grilled Chicken on the grill

I believe it was designed especially for this chicken, but the fun thing is that it works with so many other foods.

Peruvian chicken begins with making your own chile rub. Though this isn’t necessary, it does give so much flavor to the marinade.

From there it is a matter of mixing up the marinade with the chili rub and smearing it into and all over your chicken. Let this sit as long as you can bear it!

Indirect Grilling:

If you haven’t ever smoked a chicken on a gas grill, this recipe is a great way to learn how. Indirect grilling is the way to go with this spatchcocked bird, which simply means that the entire grill is preheated, and then one side is turned off.

The foil packets of smoke chips are placed on the side that is still on and the chicken is placed on the side that is turned off. Towards the end of the cooking time the chicken is then placed on the “on side”  to finish cooking.

Peruvian Grilled Chicken with Green Sauce

Don’t feel like smoking? Simply add a teaspoon or so, of liquid smoke to the marinade to simulate the smoking process. And if you don’t like smoke, just skip this step!

We love this Peruvian grilled chicken and we especially love it with Peruvian green sauce made with jalapenos, lime, garlic and cilantro.

Peruvian Green sauce

This grilled chicken recipe is a great one to add to your summer grilling series! Yes, they will be asking for seconds!

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Peruvian Chicken with Green Sauce

Grilled Peruvian Chicken

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 1 review
  • Author: Abbe Odenwalder
  • Prep Time: 20 Minutes
  • Cook Time: 60 Minutes
  • Total Time: 80 Minutes
  • Yield: 4 - 6 Servings 1x
  • Category: Chicken
  • Method: Grill
  • Cuisine: Peruvian/American

Description

Grilled Peruvian Chicken is simply made with a tasty marinade and a bit of grilling. You do like grilling, don’t you?


Ingredients

Scale

1 whole chicken

Rubbing Mixture:

2 T white vinegar

2 T soy (This gives color and salt and no taste of soy.)

1 T olive oil

1 T lime juice

1 T chopped garlic

2 T spice mixture (below)

Hickory or Mesquite Chips for smoking

Chile Spice Rub


1 1/2 t ground cumin


1 t salt


1/4 t cayenne


1 T mild Mexican red chile


1/4 t ground coriander


1/4 t turmeric


1/2 t oregano


1/4 t onion powder


1/4 t ground black pepper


Zest of 1/2 of a lime


Instructions

  • Begin by mixing together the chile rub. Now combine with rubbing mixture ingredients.  If you have any chile rub left, it is great on everything!
  • Begin with a whole chicken.
  • Now if you are like me, you will have a pair of kitchen shears. If you aren’t like me, you need to get some. Trust me on this. They are one of my favorite tools in the kitchen. Once you get used to having them around, you will wonder why you had never owned them before.
  • Now wash that bird and throw away the insides. Unless you want to keep the insides. Sometimes I do, but then I never end up using them! Dry the bird well.
  • Now turn it over so the backbone is up. Take your shears and starting at either end, cut alongside the backbone to remove it. Now cut up the other side of the backbone. You should now have a spatchcocked chicken in front of you, which means your chicken can be laid flat. Press on the breast bone to flatten it more.
  • Spatchcocked chickens  work really well on the grill. Tuck the wings of the chicken around to the back and now you have a very open chicken.  Run skewers from the bottom to the top if you want extra stability.
  • Smear the rub all over the chicken. Under the skin. Over the skin. Let it sit as long as you can to soak up all that spice. But no worries. The rub imparts a lot of spice so a long marinating period is not necessary, though it will give it more flavor.
  • When you are ready to cook this bird, preheat both sides of your grill to high.
  • While it is preheating, prepare a foil packet of smoke chips. I used hickory, but if I had had mesquite I would have used those. Take a double thickness of foil and put a large handful of chips on one side. Now fold the other side over and fold up all the edges twice to make a foil packet. Take a fork and poke some holes in the top. Of course, you could skip this step and not smoke this bird, but you are missing out on adding a bit of richness and flavor. Once you start grilling this way you will want to add a touch of smoke to everything!
  • Once the grill is preheated, turn one side off. Leave the other side on high. Oil the grill grates on both sides and please make sure they are clean. Put your foil packet of chips on the side that will remain hot.
  • Put the bird, meat side down and sideways on the grill with the dark meat towards the hot part of the grill. Keep the lid down. Let cook for about 35 minutes or until the white meat reaches 110 degrees. (Yes, the meat thermometer is also one of my favorite kitchen tools. It prevents a dried up bird or an overcooked piece of meat.)
  • Now flip the bird over so the skin side is down and place it on the hot side of the grill,  keeping the white meat to the cool side of the grill. Cook 10 to 15 minutes more and use your thermometer to check for doneness or until the bird reaches about 145 degrees. Don’t let it burn!
  • Remove from grill when temperature is reached. Cover with foil and let rest about 10 minutes. Serve with green sauce or not.

 

 
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lisaiscooking

Monday 15th of June 2020

I love the color of the chicken from the rub! Perfect for summer grilling. And, the sauce sounds delicious.

mimi rippee

Saturday 13th of June 2020

This looks fabulous, both the chicken and the sauce. I've been trying to locate the ingredients for a sauce I had in Peru called Uchucuta, I think that's how it's spelled. It was fabulous - I put it on everything. It uses tamarillos or sachatomates, an herb called hucatay, which i found on amazon. Anyway, it was incredible. It also has green chiles and cilantro, but looks different from yours. I'm sure I've mentioned this to you before cause I'm obsessed with the idea of making it. I'll keep plugging along...

Healthy World Cuisine

Friday 12th of June 2020

Abbe, this looks mouthwatering! We have the oddest grill ever and it naturally has cold spots and how spots so will have to give this recipe a try. with a couple of rock Cornish hens we have in the freezer. That green sauce sounds amazing. Could eat that just by the spoonful.

sherry

Thursday 11th of June 2020

this sounds so delicious abbe. great flavour combo. love garlic and lime together. that green sauce looks fabulous.

John / Kitchen Riffs

Thursday 11th of June 2020

Hard to believe but we have yet to fire u the grill this year. We should christen the season with this wonderful recipe. :-) Really nice -- thanks.