Peruvian Chicken is a mouthwatering dish marinated in lime, chilies, and fragrant spices. It’s incredibly easy to make and can be grilled or oven-roasted.
It has become one of my all-time favorite keto chicken recipes!
I am absolutely obsessed with this Peruvian Chicken recipe. Don’t be alarmed, it’s perfectly normal for me to become obsessed with certain foods. I think it’s par for the course for recipe creators!
But I fell in love with this one from the first bite. It’s succulent and juicy, and full of bold flavor. You can serve it with a creamy green sauce, but it’s also wonderful just by itself.
I’ve made it multiple times and I fall a little more in love each time. And I think you will too!
Why you will love this recipe
Accessible ingredients: Classic Peruvian Chicken takes some specialized ingredients, including aji panca paste and aji amarillo paste. But I wanted to make my keto version more convenient so I opted for standard grocery store ingredients. If you want a more authentic recipe, check out Chili Pepper Madness.
Easy to make: The marinade comes together in about 3 minutes, and then you allow the chicken to absorb the flavors for 1 to 4 hours.
Bold flavor: Between the lime, the chili pepper, and the spices, your tastebuds will be singing! And you can easily adjust the heat to your like by including or excluding the seeds of the chilies.
Low in carbohydrates: This easy keto dinner recipe comes in at 2.2 grams total carbs!
Optional cooking methods: Peruvian chicken is delicious grilled over an open flame or roasted in the oven. I’ve included instructions for both!
Ingredients you need
- Lime: Get fresh limes for this recipe, as you use both the zest and the juice. Bottled juice simply cannot compare!
- Olive oil: I used extra virgin olive oil. You can swap in another liquid oil, like avocado oil, if you prefer.
- Tamari: Tamari is my go-to for soy sauce, because it’s entirely gluten-free and has a deeper, more intense flavor. So you can use a little less of it and keep the carbs in check.
- Hot pepper: I swapped in a medium jalapeño for the Peruvian chili pastes, but I left the seeds in for more heat. You can adjust this by using a hotter pepper, such as thai chilies or habaneros. Or you can leave out the seeds from the jalapeños for less heat.
- Garlic: Chop the garlic cloves a bit so that they blend up better in the marinade.
- Spices: Paprika, cumin, coriander, and oregano give the marinade it’s unique flavor.
- Hot sauce: Once you’ve blended the marinade, give it a little taste. Use a dash of hot sauce like Cholula or Tapatio to increase the heat a bit, if you like.
- Chicken thighs: I like bone-in, skin-on thighs for this Peruvian chicken recipe, but drumsticks work as well. They do cook through a little faster so be mindful if you are grilling them.
- Salt and pepper
Most Peruvian Chicken recipes include a creamy green sauce for drizzling. I have made my cilantro sauce optional because the chicken is so flavorful on its own.
Step by Step Directions
1. Add the marinade ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until well combined. It doesn’t need to be perfectly smooth but you don’t want large chunks of chili or garlic.
2. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in a dish and pour the marinade over top. Turn the chicken to coat and then let it marinate for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.
3. Grill or bake the chicken. For the grill, you want indirect heat so that the chicken cooks through without burning the outside. For the oven, bake the chicken at 400ºF until cooked through, about 35 minutes.
4. Blend the ingredients for the cilantro sauce, if desired, and drizzle over the cooked chicken as you serve.
FAQ and Tips
Also known as pollo a la brasa, it is a popular grilled chicken dish with a fragrant combination of lime, spices, and chilies. It can also be oven-roasted, and is often served with a creamy cilantro sauce.
This recipe is keto friendly. Some recipes call for honey in the marinade but I use no sweeteners whatsoever and it’s absolutely delicious. And it has only 1.8g of net carbs per serving.
Store any leftovers in a covered container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Boneless, skinless chicken
You can also use boneless chicken for this recipe, if you prefer. Keep in mind that it will cook through a lot faster on both the grill and in the oven.
What to serve with Peruvian Chicken?
To make this a full keto meal, try one of these delicious sides:
- Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice
- Coconut Cauliflower Rice
- Zucchini Fritters
- Caramelized Brussels Sprouts
- Twice Baked Spaghetti Squash
More obsession-worthy chicken recipes
Peruvian Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- 3 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon tamari
- 1 medium hot chili pepper chopped
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- Dash hot sauce optional
- 6 bone-in chicken thighs
Cilantro Sauce
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 cloves garlic coarsely chopped
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoon water
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Chicken
- In a blender or food processor, combine the lime juice, olive oil, tamari, chili pepper, garlic, paprika, cuming, coriander, oregano, salt, and pepper. Blend to a coarse puree.
- Adjust seasonings to taste, and add a little hot sauce if desired.
- Place the chicken in a single layer in a large dish and pour the sauce overtop. Turn the chicken a few times to coat. Let marinate for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.
- Set up your grill for indirect heat on one side. Place the chicken thighs, skin-side down, directly over the heat first. Let cook, watching carefully for flares, until the skin is nicely browned and has grill marks, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Flip the thighs and grill over direct heat for another 4 to 5 minutes, then move to indirect heat until the thighs register at least 165ºF on an instant read thermometer.
Creamy Cilantro Sauce (optional)
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Adjust seasonings to taste.
- Drizzle over the chicken at the table.
Nelly says
definitely a keeper. I am Peruvian and I can honestly say “my compliments to the chef”. My family loved the recipe. Thank you for always coming up with amazing recipes.
Carolyn says
That’s such a lovely compliment, thank you!
Valari Zimmerman says
OMG! This is the best chicken recipe I’ve ever made. we just purchased a top of the line Webwr grill after years of having low end hand me downs and I’m so blown away by how perfect t these thighs cooked and so happy this is the recipe I chose to break in the grill. sooooo delicious. Portland summers go by quickly but I will be braving the elements to grill these all year long!
Kathy says
I’ve use this recipe for the marinade twice recently. Both times my husband and I loved it. The first time I made it, I was looking for inspiration for some chicken breast cubes that I planned to cook in the airfryer and this marinade worked great. Last night I used it as a marinade for lamb kabobs on the grill. Both times, delicious! I’m sure if I followed the full recipe and used the marinade for chicken thighs, it would be awesome, because, you know, it’s Carolyn. I will do this soon, I promise. Thank you!
Carolyn says
Glad you are enjoying it!
Kristen says
I made this for my family and they were saying it was a winner winner chicken dinner so it did great, they don’t often say this.
Khandy says
Better than the NYTs! I make this all the time and this is one of my go to recipes for family and friends. So flavorful!
Carolyn says
Wow, thanks so much!
Jessica says
We had Peruvian for the first time last week and I wanted to try to make it at home, so I found this recipe and we absolutely LOVED it! Way more than the restaurant too. Thank you!
Jennifer says
This was wonderful! My husband and 16 yr old son loved it too. I plan to make this again soon – for dinner guests next time! (However, I did not include the hot chili pepper in the marinade because I was afraid it would be too spicy).
Vanessa says
Made this tonight for dinner. It was excellent! Thanks for an easy week night meal
Susan says
Made this today – A really GREAT recipe. I did the pickled onions, green sauce, and chicken. Everyone loved it.. a couple of comments on the heat, my peppers were rather large, so perhaps I could have cut back. Due to the weather, I opted for the oven cooking method which worked great -I placed it on a cookie sheet with a rack inserted, and the cook time was very accurate. Not a complicated recipe but a lot of steps, so plan ahead. I will absolutely make this again. Thakn you #AlldayIdreamaboutfood for another AWESOME recipe
Allison says
HO-LEE COW what a banger! I actually had all of the ingredients to make the marinade on hand and now I can’t believe I could have been eating this deliciousness for years if I had just combined them in the right way. Almost skipped the cilantro sauce but BF said to go for it and that was a great decision. Only change was swapping yogurt for mayo in the sauce. The chicken and the sauce were both just bursting with flavor. This one is going in the regular rotation for sure.
angela Meissner says
Very tasty!!
Christina says
Excited to try but have a stupid question – does the lime zest go in the blender with the lime juice and all the other ingredients, or added after? I will be making this tonight!
Carolyn says
Yup, goes into the marinade!
Jennifer says
The whole family loved this chicken! I made the sauce with parsley instead of cilantro. I should have made a double batch of the sauce because it’s so good!
Carolyn says
Parsley is great… you made something akin to chimichurri, which I adore!
Diane says
Absolutely amazing dish!
I used one small chilli minus the seeds and in the cauliflower rice used 1tbsp of butter and a little olive oil to stop the butter burning.
Everything was so tasty and this is on my keeper list.
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it!
Michelle says
Wow, this was delicious! And the cilantro sauce took it over the top. Thank you!
Roberta says
I have a bottle of it already open in my pantry and was wondering if I could use it for the hot sauce… Thank you for another appealing yet easy recipe to prepare a satisfying dinner, as always we find here 😉