These Peruvian Chicken Drumsticks are perfect on their own but absolutely explode with flavour when coated with the spicy, green sauce!
Shake things up on game day, spice up your next barbecue with friends or make family dinner something to remember.
Move over ranch, dill, and blue cheese… we have a new sauce in town, and it is freaking delicious! So good that we double the recipe, then serve it with fresh vegetable and/or plain chips.
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Watch how this recipe was made here.
Ingredients
- Chicken drumsticks
Chicken Marinade
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Lime juice
- Garlic cloves
- Crushed hot chili peppers in oil
- Kosher salt
- Paprika
- Smoked paprika
- Black pepper
- Cumin
- Dried oregano
- Honey
Green Sauce
- Jalapeños
- Cilantro
- Garlic
- Greek yogurt
- Avocado
- Sour cream
- Lime juice
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
Garnish, optional
- lime zest
- chopped cilantro
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Marinate the Chicken
Add all the chicken marinade ingredients (except the chicken) into a food processor, then blend until smooth.
Pat the drumsticks dry with paper towels, then place in a resealable bag (or bowl). Pour over the marinade and toss to ensure the chicken is well coated. Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 4 hours.
Prepare the Green Sauce
While the chicken marinates, prepare the Green Sauce. Combine all the green sauce ingredients (except for the olive oil) in a food processor (I used a Vitamix) and blend until smooth. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil with the motor still running, then transfer the sauce to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Grill the Chicken
Preheat the grill on medium heat (approximately 400F).
Remove the drumsticks from the marinade and place on the top rack of the preheated grill, close the lid and cook for 20 minutes (I use the top rack to limit flare-ups. If a top rack is not available, turn off a burner to create an indirect cooking zone and place the drumsticks in that area).
When the 20 minutes have elapsed, flip the drumsticks (exchanging the positions of the drumsticks with one another for more even cooking). Close the lid and cook for another 15 minutes.
Move the drumsticks to the lower rack, directly above the heat source burner and cook over medium heat until the chicken has a nice char and is cooked through. Approximately 15 minutes, flipping every 3-4 minutes. The internal temperature should be at least 165F.
Garnish and Serve
Remove the drumsticks to a platter and serve with the green sauce. Garnish with chopped cilantro and lime zest, optional.
To experience the whole flavour of this dish, dip the chicken in the green sauce or spoon it over the chicken and enjoy.
Equipment Used
These Peruvian Inspired Spicy Chicken Drumsticks were grilled on my 36″ Hestan freestanding Grill. Proud Hestan Ambassador. Opinions in this post are always my own.
Variations:
1. Peruvian Roasted Chicken with Spicy Cilantro Sauce
Since we really enjoyed the grilled Spicy Peruvian Drumsticks, I thought I'd try the recipe with a whole roasted chicken… and it did not disappoint!
For the whole roasted chicken follow the instructions for the the marinade and the green sauce in the recipe card. One whole chicken replaces the drumsticks.
See the full recipe in the recipe card notes below.
2. Peruvian Party Ribs with Spicy Green Sauce
We love this recipe so much, that we decided to make 40 minute, party ribs out of it!
These pork baby back ribs are marinated as per the recipe and the cooked hot and fast to develop a delicious char, that it refreshed by the sauce.
Prefer less char? Cook them indirect for 45 minutes, then just finish them for 10 minutes to develop a nice crust (turning often of course!) Watch how they were made here.
📖 Recipe
Peruvian Chicken Drumsticks with Spicy Green Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 to 16 chicken drumsticks
Chicken Marinade
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup lime juice freshly squeezed
- 4 large garlic cloves chopped
- 1 tablespoon crushed hot chili peppers in oil
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3 teaspoons honey
Green Sauce
- 2 jalapeños charred, skin removed, then roughly chopped (seeds optional)
- 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- ½ cup Greek yogurt
- ½ avocado chopped
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 ½ tablespoons fresh lime juice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Garnish, optional
- lime zest
- chopped cilantro
Instructions
Prepare the Marinade
- Add all the chicken marinade ingredients into a food processor, then blend until smooth.
- Pat the drumsticks dry with paper towels, then place in a resealable bag (or bowl). Pour over the marinade and toss to ensure the chicken is well coated. Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 4 hours.
Prepare the Green Sauce
- While the chicken marinates, prepare the Green Sauce. Combine all the green sauce ingredients (except for the olive oil) in a food processor (I used a Vitamix) and blend until smooth. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil with the motor still running, then transfer the sauce to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Grill the Chicken
- Preheat the grill on medium heat (approximately 400F).
- Remove the drumsticks from the marinade and place on the top rack of the preheated grill, close the lid and cook for 20 minutes (I use the top rack to limit flare-ups. If a top rack is not available, turn off a burner to create an indirect cooking zone and place the drumsticks in that area).
- When the 20 minutes have elapsed, flip the drumsticks (exchanging the positions of the drumsticks with one another for more even cooking). Close the lid and cook for another 15 minutes.
- Move the drumsticks to the lower rack, directly above the heat source burner and cook over medium heat until the chicken has a nice char and is cooked through. Approximately 15 minutes, flipping every 3-4 minutes. The internal temperature should be at least 165F.
Garnish and Serve
- Remove the drumsticks to a platter and serve with the green sauce. Garnish with chopped cilantro and lime zest, optional.
- To experience the whole flavour of this dish, dip the chicken in the green sauce or spoon it over the chicken and enjoy.
Rate this Recipe
- Last step! If you make this, please leave a review letting us know how it was! Every review helps us so much! Have a great day – James & Elaine
Video
Notes
- 1 x 3 ½ to 4-pound chicken
- Fingerling potatoes, onions and roasting vegetables of your choice
- Salt & pepper
- Olive oil
This is the closest recipe I’ve found to my local Las Brasas place & it is fantastic! I’ve made it on the grill & in the ninja foodi (pressure followed by air fry) & it’s so good no matter how I cook it. It’s my go-to for Peruvian chicken.
Hello Christy,
Thank you so much for the kind words and for tagging us in your photo—we love seeing your creations! It’s amazing to hear that our recipe has become your go-to for Peruvian chicken. We’re so impressed with the creative ways you’ve adapted it for both the grill and the Ninja Foodi. You’ve totally made our day!
Elaine & James
The flavor in this dish was next level!
Thank you Dina and Bruce 🙂
We are so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Have a wonderful day,
Elaine & James
Looks Delish! (As usual from ZM:) … I might have missed it but when we use ribs on this are the most ideal ribs to use pork short ribs or something else??? Thanks! Randy
Hi Randy!
Thanks so much! We used baby back ribs for this recipe and we really enjoyed them. Thanks for pointing it out, we will update the recipe!
Let us know if you try these ribs, we love to hear from our followers!
Have a great night!
James & Elaine
Made this tonight with ribs and it was really, really good. Loved the green sauce. Charred a green pepper because I didn’t have any jalapenos and worked great. Going into rotation since it was so quick and easy.
Hey Shanley! We are so glad you tried it out with the ribs and that it turned out so well! Charring a green pepper was a genius pivot when you were out of jalapeños, love that creative thinking. You definitely have to try it with a jalapeño next time, though. We think you’d love the sauce even more with that subtle heat and flavour depth!
We’re thrilled to hear it’s making it into your regular rotation. Thanks for letting us know, and see you soon!
Elaine & James