Cook Like A Chef30 Minutes

Piri-piri chicken with charred lemon and chicory

Name: Piri-piri chicken with charred lemon and chicory
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 large whole chicken; 300g fine sea salt; 3 litres water; For the dry rub:; 2 tbsp smoked paprika; 1 tbsp dried thyme; 1 tsp chilli powder; 1 tbsp dried oregano; 1 tbsp garlic powder; 1 tbsp onion powder; For the piri-piri sauce:; 2 onions, peeled and quartered; 2 tomatoes, halved; 5 garlic cloves, peeled; 2 red chillis, whole; 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 tbsp honey; Zest and juice of half a lemon; For chicory salad:; 6 heads of chicory; 60ml Extra virgin olive oil; 1 tsp wholegrain mustard; Juice of half a lemon; Sea salt and black pepper; To garnish:; 1 lemon, cut in half

Mark MoriartyFrom the series · Cook Like A Chef

30 min totalServes 4Easy

Time30 min

Serves4

SkillEasy

ShowCook Like A Chef

Method

Begin by preheating the oven to 180c.

Now to prepare the chicken. Using a sharp knife, carefully remove the legs from the chicken. Using a boning knife, remove the bone from the thigh and drumstick and set aside the meat for another dish (you can ask your butcher to do this for you).

Back to the chicken crown. Carefully remove the back bone using a kitchen scissors then turn the chicken over and flatten with the heel of your hand to level it out.

In a bowl, whisk the water and salt together until it is dissolved. Place the chicken in this bath for 1 hour before removing and patting dry.

To make the piri-piri sauce, place the onion, tomatoes, garlic, chilli and olive oil on a tray and roast in the oven at 220 for 30 minutes until golden brown and soft. Then transfer to a blender with the honey, lemon juice and lemon zest and blend to a smooth sauce.

Back to the chicken. Mix the dry rub ingredients together, then season the chicken evenly with them. Place the chicken on a tray and cook for 35 minutes at 200c. Brush the piri-piri sauce onto the chicken at this point and cook for a further 5 minutes before removing from the oven and resting for 10 minutes.

As the chicken is resting, chop the chicory and season with the olive oil, mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Place the lemon halves in a hot pan on a dry heat and cook for 1 minute until blackened on the flat side.

Slice the chicken breast and serve with the chicory and charred lemon

Cook's notes

Brining is a restaurant habit worth stealing, and the ratio needs to be exact — weigh the full 300g of salt into 3 litres of water and whisk until it's completely dissolved. Pat the chicken thoroughly dry afterwards or the skin won't brown.
Don't discard the boned-out legs — on the show they go straight into the fridge and become the Kung Pao chicken later in the episode, which is exactly how a professional kitchen thinks about a whole bird.
Roast the sauce vegetables until they're genuinely golden and soft; that colour is where the smoky piri-piri character comes from. Make a large batch — it keeps in the fridge and works brilliantly as a glaze on almost anything.
Brush the sauce on only for the last five minutes — it's honey-sweetened and will scorch and turn bitter if it goes on too early. Then rest the chicken a full ten minutes before carving.
When I dress the chicory on set I whisk a small spoon of honey in with the mustard and lemon — it softens the bitterness without losing that freshness.

Serve with The charred lemon and dressed chicory are built into the plate — squeeze the blackened lemon over everything. Some plain rice or warm flatbread mops up the extra sauce, and a cold lager or a chilled rosé suits the chilli heat.

Make ahead & storage The piri-piri sauce keeps a week in the fridge and is well worth making in a bigger batch for other dishes. Leftover roast chicken keeps three days; reheat gently or shred it cold through a salad or a wrap.

30 Minutes

Recipe by Mark Moriarty · From the series Cook Like A Chef · Photography © Appetite Media
Published 13 July 2026 · Updated 15 July 2026

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