Nando’s Portuguese Chicken and Rice [One Pan Recipe]

All the delicious flavours of Nando’s Peri Peri Chicken and Nando’s Spicy Rice in one pan! This homemade Nando’s Portuguese Chicken and Rice one pan recipe is quick, easy and delicious – better still, there’s only one pan to wash up. This recipe is set to be a new family favourite!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Fusion, Portuguese, South African

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1

Servings people

Calories 712kcal

Author Eb Gargano

Ingredients

Homemade Nando’s Peri Peri Marinade

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (or to taste – see Note 1)
4 cloves garlic crushed or grated
Juice of 2 limes
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoons oregano
½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
Black pepper to taste

Nando’s Portuguese Chicken and Rice One Pan

8 chicken thighs bone in & skin on
1 onion cut into 8 wedges, then each wedge cut in half
3 bell peppers (I use 2 red and 1 green) cut into 2cm pieces
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt and black pepper to taste (see Note 2)
1 tablespoon olive oil
750 ml chicken stock (from a cube is fine - I use Kallo Organic)
250 g long grain rice
Fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Mix together all the Homemade Nando’s Peri Peri Marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Place the chicken thighs in the bowl of marinade, turning to coat each piece of chicken with marinade.
Cover and marinate the chicken for 1 hour in the fridge, if you have the time. Alternatively, just continue with the recipe.
Preheat your oven to 220C / 200C / gas mark 7 / 425F.
Place the onion pieces, pepper pieces, turmeric, smoked paprika, black pepper and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a roasting dish. Use your hands (or a large spoon) to mix everything together.
Place the marinated chicken thighs on top of the vegetables and spoon any remaining marinade over the veggies.
Cover the roasting tin with foil, then place in your preheated oven for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, crumble your stock cube into a large jug and pour in 750ml boiling water. Stir and set aside for later.
After the 15 minutes is up, remove the roasting tin from the oven and place on a heatproof surface, then remove the foil.
Remove the chicken thighs to a plate. Add the rice into the dish and pour in the chicken stock. Mix the veggies, rice and stock to ensure everything is well combined.
Next, place the chicken thighs back on top of the rice and push down slightly, so they are partly submerged, but the skins should be above the stock. Tip any juices from the plate into the roasting tin.
Re-cover with the same foil, then place the roasting tin back in the oven and cook for a further 15 minutes.
After the 15 minutes is up, remove the roasting tin from the oven and remove the foil.
Then place the uncovered roasting tin back in the oven and cook for a further 20 minutes to crisp up the chicken skins.
After the last 20 minutes is up, remove – check the rice is cooked to your liking (see Note 3) – and serve – either on its own or with a side salad and/or with more of your favourite Nando’s sides.

Notes

Adjust the quantity of chilli flakes to suit your personal preferences. Personally I like to use 1 teaspoon here, which comes out medium hot, but if you prefer a milder taste try ¼ to ½ a teaspoon… or leave them out altogether. And of course, if you prefer things hot – go for 2 teaspoons… or more!
I find that the stock cube makes the rice salty enough for my tastes, so I only add black pepper at this point.
Cooking time will depend on the specific brand of long grain rice you use. Typically in British supermarkets you will find the standard long grain white rice is ‘easy cook’. I use Tesco Easy Cook Long Grain Rice, which yields perfectly cooked fluffy rice when cooked as above. Tesco advise cooking their long grain rice for 15 minutes. If your brand’s instructions advise you to cook the rice for longer than this, you may need to cook this dish for longer and/or use more stock to achieve perfectly fluffy rice.
Suitable for freezing.
Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition