Make your own peri peri, or piri piri, sauce at home with this recipe. A traditional African sauce made from African Bird's Eye chilies, perfect for making Peri Peri Chicken and so much more!
Homemade Peri Peri Sauce Recipe
If you have not tried Peri Peri Sauce, this is one you need to put on the list.
What is peri peri sauce? Peri Peri sauce is a traditional South African sauce made by Portuguese settlers to the area made with spicy African Bird's Eye chili peppers. It is also known as piri piri, or pili pili. It's perfect for any spicy food lover.
What You'll Love About My Peri Peri Sauce
- I use African Bird's Eye chili peppers for authentic, fiery flavor, though you can use other peppers available to you as demonstrated in the video recipe. This sauce delivers genuine heat that's true to its roots.
- This sauce is incredibly versatile, perfect as a marinade, dip, or condiment. Its ready to help you elevate chicken, seafood, and more with spicy zest.
- It's simple and fresh! We're using fresh ingredients and minimal fuss, a quick and easy way to spice up your meals..
You may have heard of the world's most famous brand of Peri Peri sauce - Nando's. This is a homemade version that is fairly similar.
Homemade Peri Peri sauce (or should I say Homemade Nando's?) is simple enough to make.
It requires no actual cooking, just some chopping and processing of the ingredients. It's an oil-based sauce, at least it is with our version, ideal for dipping, and it goes GREAT with chicken and seafood.
Featured Reader Comment
"I LOVE this stuff! I made it with ripe red jalapeños with a few ghost chilis thrown it to kick it up a bit. My favorite so far is on fried chicken but it's great for cooking on the grill or broiler. Great mixed with Buffalo wing sauce!" -- Bob
Let's talk about how to make peri peri sauce, shall we?
Peri Peri Sauce Ingredients
- Chili Peppers. African Bird’s Eye peppers are traditional, but you can sub with other red peppers available to you, including red bell peppers. Roasted red peppers are wonderful here. Try it with fiery habanero peppers, ghost peppers, or a mix.
- Fresh Garlic.
- Smoked Paprika.
- Fresh Herbs. Cilantro, basil (or use fresh oregano, which is more common).
- Olive Oil. Or vegetable oil.
- Lemon Juice.
- Salt. To taste.
How to Make Peri Peri Sauce - the Recipe Overview
Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender. Process to form a smooth sauce to your preferred consistency. You can strain out some of the excess liquid if you'd like, or just use it as-is.
Enjoy! Refrigerate until ready to use.
BOOM! That's it. It's an incredibly easy recipe to make.
What to Serve with Peri Peri Sauce
Peri Peri sauce goes particularly well with grilled chicken of any kind. Peri peri chicken is the most common use for it, and I love it for peri peri chicken wings or peri peri chicken on the grill.
However, it's also wonderful with seafood, such as shrimp or whitefish. Try it on grilled vegetables!
Recipe Tips & Notes
If you can't source African Bird's Eye chilies, you can sub in an equivalent amount of red peppers of your choice.
I have made this with long red cayenne peppers, red jalapeno peppers, and fingerling peppers, even red habanero and ghost peppers, all to similar results.
Traditional ingredients also call for a variety of herbs, though ours incorporates basil and cilantro. You might try oregano, tarragon, or rosemary. Nando's uses a rosemary extract for their herb flavoring.
You'll find regional differences throughout Africa and Portugal.
Storage
Peri peri sauce should keep a few months easily in the fridge, or even longer.
It's all about the acidity. To be technical, target level pH for shelf stable foods is below 4.6 pH, but should probably be lower for home cooks, around 3.5 or so, to account for errors.
It is not recommended to process sauces with oil in a water bath.
This Recipe Is In our Cookbook - FLAVOR MADNESS
Did you know that you can find this recipe in our new cookbook FLAVOR MADNESS? It's waiting for you on PAGE 52.
Hot Sauce Bottles
Here is a link to some bottles I like (affiliate link, my friends!): Swing Top Glass Bottles, 8.5 Ounce - Set of 4. If you like the smaller bottles that most hot sauce makers use, here's another link: Hot Sauce Bottles, 5 Oz - 24 Pack.
Amazon Affiliate links, my friends! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you'll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don't forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I'll be sure to share! Thanks! -- Mike H.
Peri Peri Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound red chilies chopped – African Bird’s Eye peppers are traditional, but you can sub with red peppers available to you
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika you can sub in other chili powders
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/4 cup chopped oregano (I enjoy fresh basil as a substitute)
- 1/2 cup olive oil or vegetable oil
- Juice from 1 lemon
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender. Process to form a smooth sauce to your preferred consistency.
- Enjoy! Refrigerate until ready to use.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
This sauce is gluten free.
This recipe was updated on 3/19/25 to include new photos and a video. It was originally published on 2/10/16.
robert J adams says
made this with a little extra heat from 1.5 habaneros - It is terrific and I keep looking for ways to use it.
thanks
Mike Hultquist says
Outstanding! Nice level of heat! Enjoy, Robert.
Douglas says
Loved the recipe made my mouth watering ,cant wait to prepare the sauce.
Mike Hultquist says
Enjoy, Douglas!
Matt says
I got hooked on Peri Peri in the UK at Nando's. I smoke the red pepper and red onion on my smoker to get some of that rich smoky goodness and add homemade chipotle - everyone should have this!!
Mike Hultquist says
I hear you, Matt! Great stuff for sure.
Ross says
Can I make this sauce without using oil as I’m on an oil free diet?
Mike Hultquist says
You surely can, Ross. Enjoy.
Becky Quoos says
Holy hotness! I ordered the chilies online. it came with the seeds mixed with the dried chilies. I'm trying desperately to tone it down. It's good, but way too hot. Help a girl out?
Mike Hultquist says
Becky, sorry to hear. The best way to beat the heat with a batch like this is to make another batch with NO chilies, then combine them. Or incorporate more of the other ingredients in a similar fashion. Dilution.
Peggy says
Excellent recipe. To make it more wine friendly I used red bell peppers and deseeded Thai chilies - 5 for slightly spicy, 2 for mild.
Mike Hultquist says
Glad you enjoyed it, Peggy!
Peggy Perry says
I love this recipe. To make it work better with wine I used a raw red bell pepper and 5 thai chilies that i deseeded.The sauce makes anything taste good. We used it with commercial Thai curry paste to make shrimp & coconut milk soup. It was great as a sandwich spread with sliced chicken.
Mike Hultquist says
Wonderful! I love to hear this, Peggy! Very happy you enjoyed it!
Dani says
why there is no onions in the ingredients?
Mike Hultquist says
You can add onions if you'd like. See some of the other comments.
Tiago says
Quick correction: the peri-peri sauce is originally Portuguese, not African. As is the chain Nando's (started by a Portuguese immigrant in South Africa)
Mike Hultquist says
Tiago, it was made by Portuguese settlers in Africa after discovering local bird's eye peppers. This particular version is more like the Nando's brand of sauce. There are many ways to make it.
Morne Steffens says
Nando's is a proudly South African brand. whether the founders came to SA a few hundred years ago to settle here or not. It is now a SA brand. Thanks for the recipe. These chillies grow wild in my garden!
Pam says
I had a bag of jalapeños so used those then followed the recipe. What a fantastic sauce! Had it tonight on grilled steaks and tomorrow I have chicken wings to use in the grilled wing with piryi piri sauce! Yummy
Mike Hultquist says
Glad you enjoyed it, Pam!
Sean says
I put some thyme and ghost. It's fantastic. I have made 2 batches in a week. I put it on sandwiches, eggs, pizza, and I eat it with a spoon. I swear it's a drug!
Mike Hultquist says
Awesome to hear, Sean! Glad you love it! I know, pretty addictive.
Bob says
I LOVE this stuff! I made it with ripe red jalapeños with a few ghost chilis thrown it to kick it up a bit. My favorite so far is on fried chicken but it's great for cooking on the grill or broiler. Great mixed with Buffalo wing sauce!
Mike Hultquist says
Sounds awesome, Bob! I love it!
Doug says
Can you tell me how many ml of sauce this recipe makes?
Mike Hultquist says
About 350 ml.
Solomon says
Hello, silly question, but how many cups will 1pound of red chili peppers be?
Mike Hultquist says
Approximately 2 cups, but it depends on how you cut them, etc, so it's best to go by weight.