“Bake Easy Nando’s-Style Chicken: Spice Gal’s Delight”
Creating Nando’s-style chicken with their signature hot sauce marinade is a delightful endeavor. Nando’s, a Portuguese restaurant renowned for its flame-grilled chicken bursting with flavor, offers a spectrum of choices, ranging from the milder options like lemon and herb to the fiery selections of hot and very hot. As a spice enthusiast, I consistently opt for the spiciest flavors, relishing the intense heat.
You can find these sauces at either Walmart or directly at Nando’s. When preparing salads for work, I’ve experimented with both boneless, skinless chicken breasts and chicken thighs in my baking endeavors.
Chicken breasts have two advantages when it comes to ease of preparation. Firstly, they require less cooking time, and secondly, they need lesser number of flipping over and basting. However, The challenge with chicken breasts is that they can easily become dry if overcooked. On the other hand, chicken thighs are incredibly flavorful and tender.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- To create thin chicken breasts or flatter thigh pieces, you can either halve the chicken crosswise and gently pound it to thin it out, or halve the chicken crosswise and make incisions on each piece.
- Marinate 1 kg of chicken with 200 ml of sauce, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Arrange all the pieces on a baking tray and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes (for chicken breasts) and 45 minutes (for chicken thighs).
- For chicken breasts, flip them halfway through and generously apply sauce to the side facing upwards after 10 minutes.
6. For chicken thighs, bake for 45 minutes, but set a timer to flip and baste them with more sauce every 10 minutes, totaling 3-4 basting times.
7. After removing from the oven, preserve all the juices in the baking tray and sauté the chicken in a pan with a few tablespoons of olive oil until it becomes slightly charred or crispy, approximately 5 minutes per side. Pour all the reserved juices over the fried chicken.
8. Serve and savor!
I relish these chicken dishes all week, served atop a bed of fresh salad greens, with a drizzle of the reserved juices. They’re rich in flavor and incredibly simple to prepare, requiring only a handful of ingredients.
Give it a shot and kindly share your feedback on the outcome!
