What is Nando’s Chicken?
Mango and Lime chicken has been made famous across the world by the restaurant chain Nando’s. Nando’s is a Portuguese inspired restaurant however the crucial ingredient for their famous spice mix, peri peri, originated in Africa. The main dish at Nando’s is their on the bone chicken. For this recipe I’m pairing chicken thighs with a mango and lime marinade. This was my favourite seasoning flavour at Nando’s. Sadly, they no longer have mango and lime chicken on their menu so the only way you can enjoy this beautiful dish is by making it yourself. The mango and lime chicken recipe does contain a small helping of peri peri seasoning which if you haven’t already, you will need to make. This recipe provides two portions at 470kcal each.
Do you have a restrictive diet?
This recipe is:
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Low Fat
- 4 syns
- Paleo Friendly
Step 1: Peri peri seasoning
All Nandos recipes no matter how mild all contain one very important. Peri peri seasoning. The thing that makes peri peri seasoning different to other chilli seasonings is that peri peri seasoning is specifically made with birds eye chilli’s. The name peri-peri comes from the Swahili translation of pepper-pepper. You will need to make this seasoning before you can make the peri peri chicken or any of my other nando’s fake-away recipes. Don’t worry, its super quick and easy, it literally takes 2 minutes.
Step 2: Mango and lime marinade
Once you have made up your peri peri seasoning we can make the marinade for our mango and lime chicken. Firstly, we need to cut a mango. The easiest way to cut a mango is to hold it lengthways on a cutting board and place your knife just to the side of the center and slice down. If you feel resistance this will be the large pip inside. Angle the knife out slightly to manouver around the pip. If you havn’t found the pip, angle your knife inwards to get closer too it and continue cutting down the length of the mango. Repeat for the other side and then cut anything remaining off the sides of the pip. Take your mango halves and slice a grid into the mango but not through the skin. You can then pop the mango half inside out and easily remove your chunks of mango.
To your food processor add the zest of a whole lime, all of the juice from that lime and then 1 tablespoon of the peri peri seasoning that you made earlier. The amount of peri peri seasoning in this recipe won’t be noticeable or make the dish spicy. If you would like a bit of heat feel free to double up on peri peri seasoning.
Blend this well until there are no lumps. If your marinade is too thick you can add a splash of water or mango juice too thin it out. I usually have to do this if my mango wasn’t particularly juicy.
Once your mango marinade is made, place 4 chicken thighs in a dish. It doesn’t have to be an oven proof dish like I used, this is just what I had to hand. Cover your chicken with the marinade and make sure the chicken is well covered. Place in the fridge for several hours or over night to soak up all of that flavour.
Step 3: BBQ, Grill or Air Fry?
Once your chicken has marinated sufficiently heat up your grill. In Nando’s restaurants the chicken is flame grilled. Unless you happen to be reading this recipe during summer and you have a BBQ to hand, you can make do with a grill oven which is what I will show you considering its currently November for me. In England at least, its typical for our ovens to have a second smaller section at the top that doubles up as a grill with an element above that typically heats food at a higher temperature to an oven, simulating a grill. If you don’t have a BBQ or a grill, an air fryer at 220c for 20-25 minutes also works well. Heat your grill on high and place your marinated chicken on a wire rack on your grill tray.
Place your chicken under the grill for 10 minutes before turning and grilling the other side for a further 10 minutes. Keep an eye on your chicken throughout because food can burn really fast under a grill.
After 20 minutes your chicken thighs should be cooked. Its really important to make sure chicken is thoroughly cooked, if you have a meat thermometer you can use this. Chicken needs to read a temperature of 75c or higher. If not, you can place your chicken on a clean wire rack like you would use for cooling cakes with some foil underneath and check that any juices run clear. If there is any blood they need to go back under until they pass the test.
The Grilled Corn:
If you would like to include corn in this recipe as shown in the photo, grill the corn cobs under the grill with the chicken for 15 minutes turning regularly. Optionally you can add butter and salt but personally I prefer them plain as they’re so flavoursome all on their own.
What else to serve with mango and lime chicken:
Make sure you don’t forget to pair this chicken with the famous peri peri rice, or if this chicken isn’t spicy enough for you, next time try the medium peri peri chicken recipe! Not feeling those vibes? How about Lemon and herb chicken instead?
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Mango & Lime Chicken Recipe | Nandos Fake-Away
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs skin on
- 1 mango
- 1 whole lime juice and zest
- 1 tbsp peri peri seasoning see notes for recipe
Instructions
- Make the marinade. Blend a whole mango (pip and skin removed) with peri peri seasoning and the zest and juice of a whole lime. Dilute if too thick.
- Place chicken thighs in a large bowl and cover with marinade. Massage in and leave in the fridge to marinade for several hours
- Preheat grill to medium-high and grill chicken for 20 minutes turning occasionally. Make sure chicken is thoroughly cooked before serving.
- Serve with Peri Peri Rice.
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This website certainly has all of the info I needed about this subject and didn’t know who to ask.