Frango Piri-Piri
Spain 2026 · On land · Zubir Churrasqueira, LisbonA charcoal dish, not a smoke one — basted in chilli butter until the skin chars.
Start cookingIn JD’s words
Zubir Churrasqueira in Lisbon — off the ship by now and back on land. Piri-piri chicken is what a churrasqueira does: a bird split and flattened, cooked over charcoal and basted in chilli butter until the skin chars. The butter baste was the part worth bringing home — the richness came from the butter, the sharpness from lemon and vinegar.
The restaurant's version was a touch salty, so this one goes lighter: unsalted butter in the baste, a light hand in the marinade, and taste before adding any more. The baste adds salt of its own every time it goes on.
Written for a 2.2 kg bird, which is what came home from the butcher. Pick your own chicken's size above the ingredients and the amounts follow it — rounded to what you can actually measure — along with the time on the grill. Cooking time is not simply scaled: it is worked out between two sizes this has actually been cooked at, and the probe still has the final say.
As written it is medium-hot. For milder, deseed the bird's-eye chillies, or use half as many.
Written for a Kamado Big Joe, because charcoal heat is what gets you close to the real Lisbon thing. No kamado? A kettle barbecue set up two-zone does the same job. An oven will give you a good roast chicken, and not this.
The method
Cook it unhurried.
- 01
Spatchcock
Cut out the backbone with kitchen shears, flip the bird over and press firmly on the breastbone until it cracks and lies flat. Pat it dry. Slash the thickest part of each thigh and drumstick once or twice, so the marinade gets in and the legs cook at the same pace as the breast.
- 02
Marinate
Whisk the marinade ingredients together and rub them all over the chicken, including under the breast skin. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours. Overnight is best — much past 24 hours and the lemon starts to turn the surface mealy.
- 03
Make the Piri-Piri Butter
Melt the butter with the olive oil over a low heat. Add the garlic and chillies and cook gently for a minute, without browning. Stir in the lemon juice, vinegar, paprika, sugar and salt and simmer gently for 3 to 4 minutes. Pour about a third into a separate bowl now and set it aside for the table — the rest is for basting, and it will touch raw chicken.
- 04
Make the Green Sauce
Pulse everything to a rough sauce in a blender or food processor, not a purée. Taste and adjust the salt and lemon. It keeps in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.
- 05
Light the Big Joe
Take the chicken out of the fridge 30 to 45 minutes before it goes on. Lump charcoal, two-zone: the heat deflector on one side and open coals on the other, stabilised at 180–190°C. No smoke wood — this is a charcoal dish, not a smoked one.
- 06
Cook Indirect
Wipe off the loose pieces of garlic and chilli — they scorch over the coals later. Chicken skin-side up over the deflector, legs pointing toward the hot side, lid closed. Baste with the butter every 12 to 15 minutes. This size of bird takes about 55–70 minutes — aim for roughly 65°C in the breast before moving it onto the coals.
- 07
Char Over the Coals
Skin-side down over the direct coals for 3 to 4 minutes, then flip for 2 to 3 minutes more, basting as you go. Stay with it — the butter will flare. Pull it at 74°C in the breast and 82°C in the thigh. Go by the probe, not the clock.
- 08
Rest and Serve
Rest for 10 to 15 minutes, loosely tented. Gently rewarm the reserved butter, brush some over the bird and squeeze over the lemon. The rest of the warm butter goes on the table for dunking.
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