Name: Peruvian Chicken Drumsticks with Spicy Green Sauce
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 12 to 16 chicken drumsticks; 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; 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; lime zest; chopped cilantro

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These Peruvian Chicken Drumsticks are perfect on their own but absolutely explode with flavour when coated with the spicy, green sauce!

A platter of charred chicken drumsticks with a bowl of Peruvian sauce and limes.

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
Instructions
Equipment Used
Variations
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Peruvian Chicken Drumsticks with Spicy Green Sauce

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).

A tray of spicy chicken drumsticks marinating.

How to grill drumsticks on the top rack of the grill.

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.

A big bowl of spicy cilantro green sauce served with charred chicken drumsticks and limes.

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.

Top down image of a roasted chicken in a pan with roasted vegetables and bowl of green sauce.

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 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.

A bowl of Peruvian green sauce with Peruvian marinated ribs.

If you get the chance to try this recipe please drop back and leave us a comment and rating here. We would love to know what you think! Thanks Elaine & James

Peruvian Chicken Drumsticks with Spicy Green Sauce

Shake things up on gameday, spice up your next barbecue with friends or make family dinner something to remember. These charred Peruvian inspired drumsticks are perfect on their own but absolutely explode with flavour when coated with the spicy, creamy green sauce.

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!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1

Course Appetizer, Dinner, Game Day Snack, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine Peruvian

Servings people