peruvian chicken + thee green sauce

from the blog...

If you didn’t know this before, I’m from Silver Spring, Maryland…I love Maryland, I can talk about it all day lol.

We have a pretty great food scene in the DMV area but there’s this Peruvian takeout spot called Sardi’s and it is just...AMAZING! It’s traditional rotisserie chicken with Peruvian spices. It’s so juicy, tender and the spices are throughout every bite of chicken. My mouth is watering thinking about!

The Peruvian chicken is served with this spicy, garlicky, cilantro-y green sauce for dipping and it’s..just..heaven!

Well, I’ve tried a ton of different recipes and none of them leveled up to Sardi’s, which they prob use a secret ingredient, butttt i decided to try and master this with this recipe and combine different ingredients from the research I’ve done. I must say, this is pretty damn good! Try it below and please, please, please let it marinate for at least 24 hours!

Note: you don’t need to do this with a whole chicken, feel free to use bone in/skin on chicken breasts or chicken thighs! Whatever you’re feeling like, do it!

Ingredients

• 1, (3-4lb) chicken, spatchcocked

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce

• 8 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon oregano

• 1 teaspoon cumin

• 1 teaspoon coriander

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

• a pinch of nutmeg

• 1 teaspoon each of kosher salt & pepper

• 1 lime juiced & zested

• 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Green Sauce

• 3 garlic cloves

• 2 jalapeno peppers

• 1/3 cup mayo

• 1/3 cup sour cream or whole milk greek yogurt (optional..i like the richness of the sour cream/yogurt

• 1 bunch cilantro

• 1 lemon, juiced

• 1/4 cup or so of extra virgin olive oil (I don’t use this much but more so eyeball it)

• kosher salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Green sauce: combine all ingredients in a blender or good processor. set aside

2. Chicken: combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Be sure to taste your marinade that it’s seasoned to your liking. pour over the chicken and massage all the marinade in the chicken, be sure to get under the skin. stick it in the fridge for 24 hours to really let the marinade get all up and through the chicken!

3. Pre-heat the oven to 475. When your chicken is ready to cook, take it out the fridge and bring it to room temp (about an hour).

4. In a cast iron pan, roast your chicken on 475 for 20 minutes to get the skin crispy then lower the stove to 350 and continue roasting until the internal temp of the chicken reaches 165 degrees but about an hour or so.

5. Let your chicken REST for 10 minutes before serving. You never want to cut the chicken immediately because the juices will run our. Letting your chicken rest allows the juices to fully settle in and be throughout the chicken.

6. Serve with rice & beans and the Peruvian green sauce…YUM!

NOTE: Highly suggest buying a meat thermometer like this one here!