Peri-Peri Rice

Peri-peri rice is an easy way to make rice something special. This rice is deliciously spicy and is perfect served alongside chicken, or included in a rice bowl or as part of a wrap. It's easy to customize by adding more peppers, peas, or vegetables.

I love elevating rice to make something special. It's so easy to customize and add new flavors to. This sesame rice has become a favorite in our house, but when we want a spicy rice, we make this peri-peri rice. It's got just the right amount of heat paired with some chicken and veggies.

Ingredients:

• Rice - long grain rice or basmati rice are both delicious options
• Olive oil
• Onion
• Chicken stock
• Peri-peri sauce

What is peri-peri?

Peri-peri (or piri piri) sauce is a type of hot chili sauce typically made with African birdseye chilis. It's spicy and is used in Portuguese and Southern African cooking. It was also made famous by the Nando's chain of restaurants. You can make homemade per-peri sauce or find one you love.

I used Nando's medium sauce for this peri-peri rice, but there are other options too! Check out this post comparing Trader Joe's Peri-Peri to Nando's Peri-Peri sauce.

How to make it more (or less) spicy:

For my peri-peri rice, I used the medium heat level of Nando's peri-peri sauce. For me, this made a spicy rice that was perfect when paired with something else (like chicken). However, if I was eating the rice on its own, I'd tone down the spice level slightly.

If you want to make your peri-peri rice more spicy, you can use a spicier peri-peri sauce. You can also add red peppers to your rice to up the heat level.

If you want to make your peri-peri rice less spicy, cut the amount of peri-peri sauce in half, and just use 1 tablespoon instead of 2.

Customize it!

• Instead of chicken stock, you can use vegetable stock or water.
• Add in peas. If adding frozen peas, add after the rice is cooked. Stirring the hot rice with the peas should cook the peas perfectly. Replace the lid after stirring and let sit for several minutes before serving.
• Add in cooked peppers. I would cook the peppers at the same time as the onions. Red bell pepper is delicious here!
• To give the spicy rice more color, you can add smoked paprika and/or ground turmeric.
• If you're a lover of garlic, add some minced garlic! Saute the garlic 30 seconds before adding the chicken broth.

Serving suggestions

• Serve the peri-peri rice topped with shrimp or chicken (and maybe your favorite vegetable). It would be delicious paired with these green goddess chicken bites or these air fryer roasted cherry tomatoes.
• Use the peri-peri rice as part of a wrap with chicken or other protein and lettuce.
• If you like, you can add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to the rice for additional brightness.

How to make the peri-peri rice:

First heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent and starting to brown. Watch carefully so it doesn't burn.

Add the chicken broth and peri-peri sauce.

Heat to boiling, then add rice. Stir to combine.

Add the lid to the pot, turn the heat to low, and cook for 20 minutes, or cook according to package directions. Once liquid seems mostly absorbed, turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

Remove lid and fluff the peri-peri rice with a fork.

Serve as desired.

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