This versatile peri peri sauce, with the ideal balance of tart, fruity, and salty, is a complex and flavorful sauce you can use on almost anything. Dip in it, drizzle it, marinate with it, and spice up your potato salad dressing with it to ramp up your favorite comfort foods.
If you’re into African food and are close to a Nando’s, you might want to try it. Unfortunately, not all of us live within driving distance. So the next best thing is making your own peri peri sauce at home.
The traditional African sauce blends red peri peri (pili pili or piri piri) chilies with fresh garlic, basil, onions, and oregano. Add smoked paprika, salt, lemon, and olive oil to the mix for pure spicy goodness. So easy, and so good.
What to Use Instead of Peri Peri Peppers
Let’s be honest! It’s not easy to find these peppers in Africa, not to mention other parts of the world. But that’s not going to stop us, is it? If you happen to be in Brazil, where they were born, look for malagueta peppers.
The flavor profile of Thai bird’s eye chili peppers comes closest; perhaps that’s why many people call them African bird’s eye peppers. Peppery, citrusy, and slightly smoky flavors balance with the heat level that comes close to habaneros (though habaneros are much fruitier). Cayenne, serrano, and jalapeño peppers also work well if you don’t mind a milder sauce.
How to Make Peri Peri Sauce
- Blend all the ingredients, adding olive oil to facilitate blending.
- Optionally simmer it to thicken it.
Recipe Notes
- You may be able to find peri peri peppers in African, Latin, and Indian grocery stores or your local farmers’ market. You can definitely find them dried and ground on Amazon.
- Ginger adds more zing and spice to piri-piri sauce, along with subtle sweetness and a peppery flavor.
- For a mild sauce, replace the chili peppers with red bell peppers, mild smoked paprika, or any other sweet pepper.
- Double or triple the garlic for a more garlicky sauce.
- Add the zest from your lemon for a little extra citrusy brightness.
Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions
This recipe is an ideal make-ahead because it lasts around 2 weeks in the fridge or up to a year in the freezer. I love freezing the sauce in an ice cube tray, then popping the cubes out into a freezer zip-lock bag. Then I grab a cube or two when I want a little extra heat and flavor.
More Ways to Use Peri Peri Sauce
I love using a scoop of this sauce for marinating chicken and kabobs, adding a tablespoon to roasted vegetables and homemade hummus, and basting meats on the grill (ribs, chicken, or shrimp).
Add a tablespoon or two to a cup of mayo for a burger sauce on steroids, stir in some to a potato salad, and macaroni salad.
More Easy Sauces to Spice up Your Life
Watch How to Make It
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This blog post was first published in June 2014 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video.