Nando’s Portuguese Chicken and Rice – one pot recipe

Chicken and rice cooked together in one pot is seriously good. The rice absorbs all the juices from the chicken and any vegetables you use, plus broth flavourings. The flavour combinations are endless. Today, we’re doing Nando’s Portuguese-style chicken and rice, complete with a drizzle of Peri-naise. So good!

Nando’s Portuguese chicken and rice

A friend of mine calls this Portuguese biryani. Which, I know, right now there are 1 billion Indians crying. To any Indian readers – sorry! I’d disown her, but she has dirt on me.😅

In her defence, it was meant as a compliment. Biryani, as every Indian knows, is the world’s best chicken and rice. So for this humble recipe to get mentioned in the same breath, well, that’s flattering!

But, today’s recipe isn’t Indian-flavoured at all. It’s a shameless Nando’s copycat. It’s their dry rub Peri Peri seasoning on chicken, with the Nando’s spicy rice – that bright yellow rice with onion, capsicum and a hint of spice. Except way better. The Nando’s version I tried for “research” was meh*. Homemade is so much tastier!

* To be fair, I have been told by reliable sources that Nando’s in Australia is very underwhelming compared to overseas, particularly in the UK and SA (where it originated).

Ingredients in Nando’s Portuguese Chicken and Rice

Nando’s is well known for their Peri Peri sauce which calls for blitzing capsicum (bell peppers) with herbs and spices (see recipe here). Today, we’re doing a copycat of the Peri Peri dry rub which is much faster to make, uses pantry staples and sticks better to the chicken for the method of cooking we’re using in this dish.

1. NANDO’S Portuguese-SEASONED chicken bites

Here’s what you need for the Nando’s Portuguese seasoned chicken. It’s essentially a streamlined take of their Peri Peri dry rub (I didn’t use silicon dioxide, acidity regulator and other scary sounding ingredients listed on the packet).

• Chicken thighs – Juicier cut than breast so the chicken bites are more flavourful after the 15 minute steaming + 10 minute resting time. Actually, if I only had breast, I’d probably cook it all the way through, remove, then put it back into the pot when tossing the rice (the rice will warm the chicken through easily).

• Simple Portuguese seasoning for chicken – Pantry staples! As noted above, shameless copycat of Nando’s own dry rub and also the Portuguese seasoning from Herbie’s. 🙂

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    Herbs and spices – Paprika, garlic powder (substitute fresh garlic), dried oregano, coriander, brown sugar and cayenne pepper for touch of warmth (feel free to omit).

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    Wet ingredients (to make a paste so it coats the chicken) – olive oil and lemon juice (substitute with apple cider vinegar, or other clear vinegar).

2. portuguese rice (nando’s spicy rice copycat!)

And here’s what you need for the rice. Nando’s rice is called “spicy rice” but I question the use of the word “spicy”; I really couldn’t taste any. For mine, I use the smallest hint spiciness from the chilli flakes, but you can absolutely skip it if you want.

• Basmati rice – The long grains of basmati rice are great for one-pot rice cooking as it is a less sticky variety of rice so you get nice fluffy rice.

  Long grain rice will also work great, and medium grain too. Jasmine and sushi rice are stickier but will work ok here. The recipe as written is not suitable for brown rice, risotto, paella rice, quinoa, faux rice, minute rice, designer rice (black rice, purple rice, wild rice etc).

• Onion, garlic and red capsicum (bell pepper) – The vegetables and aromatics that add tasty flavour into this rice. Don’t skip these!

• Turmeric powder – for the lovely yellow colour and warm toasty flavour.

• Chilli flakes (red pepper flakes) – Optional, for a touch of warmth like the rice at Nando’s (it’s called Nando’s Spicy Rice!).

• Frozen peas (OPTIONAL) – Not present at Nando’s. I added it because otherwise it’s a giant pot of yellow!

• Chicken stock (broth) – Tastier than water. 🙂

3. Peri-naise – or other sauce options

The rice and the chicken is tasty as it is. But a little drizzle of Peri-naise takes it over the top – I’m talking just 1 tablespoon, not much. There’s something about the combination of a little creamy sauce and hot steamy golden rice……Nando’s figured this out decades ago. I’ve just caught on!

I’ve popped the Peri-naise recipe here in a separate recipe card because it’s worthy. I’ve linked a whole bunch of recipes to it that you will want to use it for. I used the quick dry spices version (the other option is based on a homemade Peri Peri Sauce, use that when you’ve got it :-).

OTHER QUICK SAUCE OPTIONS

Even a drizzle of plain mayonnaise (Kewpie!) would go a long way here. To make it pink, mix with a little sriracha (for grown ups) or ketchup (for the young-ones / spice wimps). Sweet chilli sauce straight from the bottle would work well here too, as would your favourite chilli crisp (combine that with kewpie!).

How to make Portuguese Chicken and Rice

This is a one pot recipe where uncooked rice gets cooked in the pot at the same time as the chicken. Though, I do insist on searing the outside of the chicken first (but keeping it raw inside), then removing before sautéing the onion and capsicum else by the time the rice is cooked, the chicken is way overcooked and dry.

1. Nando’s Portuguese seasoning for chicken – Mix the seasoning ingredients in a bowl, it should be like a paste, then toss with the chicken. Set aside while you prep for the rest of the recipe. It doesn’t need marinating time but if you wanted to, you could pop it in the fridge overnight.

2. Peri-naise – Mix the ingredients in a bowl. (In reality, I do this while the rice is cooking).

1. Sear chicken – Heat the oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat, then sear the chicken until the spices are sizzling on the surface of the chicken and you get a bit of colour, but it’s still raw inside. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon to leave the fat behind.

   The chicken won’t brown because the pot is too crowded. If you want golden chicken, cook the chicken in two batches (I don’t, because I’m going mid-week easy today).

2. Sauté – Still on high, cook the onion and garlic for a minute, then add the capsicum and keep stirring for another 1 1/2 minutes until the onion is softened.

1. Everything in – Add rice and stir to coat it in the tasty oil. Then add everything else – the stock, turmeric, peas etc, and put the chicken back in along with any liquid pooled in the bowl.

2. Steam 15 minutes – Bring the liquid to a simmer, then lower the heat so it’s simmering gently and pop the lid on. Cook for 15 minutes – no peeking, no stirring!

   Stove strength for rice cooking – You need enough heat so the liquid is simmering gently, not rapidly (base will burn) but also if the heat is too weak and the water is not simmering, the rice is just sitting in hot water, bloating rather than cooking. You need bubbles, just small ones! (See video when I peek under the lid).

1. Rest 10 minutes – At the 15 minute mark, all the liquid should be absorbed – tilt pot to have a quick check (be quick, don’t want too much steam to escape!). Then, with the lid on, remove the pot from the stove and rest for 10 minutes.

   This step is vital for rice cooking – the rice grains finish cooking properly and the wetness on the surface of the rice grains gets absorbed so your rice ends up fluffy rather than wet and mushy.

2. Fluff, drizzle and serve – Fluff the rice to mix the chicken through, then divide between bowls. Drizzle with a little Peri-naise (don’t skip this), sprinkle with green onions then serve!

Side note – The chicken gets stained a lovely golden colour rather than staying the dramatic Portuguese red it started off as. But the flavours are still stuck to it!

This just about qualifies as a “complete dinner” in my books, containing a whole onion, capsicum and a cup of peas (yes, onion counts towards your daily vegetable intake!). However, for some easy extra veg options, I’d suggest adding a finely diced carrot and/or fennel (sauté with the capsicum), roughly chopped kale (add it with the peas) or right at the end you could toss the rice with baby spinach (it will wilt very quickly).

Also, side note, this reheats very well! Being a fluffy-rice dish like biryani, it doesn’t congeal into a block of rice when cool. If the rice seems a little dry, just sprinkle with water before covering to reheat and it will steam back to perfection.

In any case, a drizzle of the Peri-naise can save anything.

Hope you enjoy! – Nagi x