Portuguese Style Slow Baked Whole Chicken Recipe

If you like Portuguese rotisserie chicken then you’ll love this authentic Portuguese style slow baked whole chicken recipe. Don’t sweat it, this churrasqueira inspir
ed baked whole chicken recipe is super easy to prepare, all you need is a little more than an hour.What is a Portuguese Churrasqueira?
Churrasqueira is a typical Portuguese take out restaurant that specializes in preparing rotisserie and barbecue chicken along with other foods like rice, baked parisienne potatoes, fish, salads, stews, soups, steak, pork and Portuguese desserts like the custard tarts and rice pudding.
How To Bake Whole Chicken:
Follow our foolproof step by step bake whole chicken recipe and before you know you’ll be digging into this succulent juicy whole chicken.
What Should Be The Internal Temperature For Baked Whole Chicken?
There are two methods that can be used to determine if your chicken is fully baked. First and safest method is to use a food thermometer. Your whole chicken is fully cooked or baked when the internal temperature reaches above 165 °F (75°C) . The second method is to cut into the chicken after the complete baking time and check for any pink spots. If you notice that your chicken is still pink, put it back into oven and bake for addition 20-30 minutes.
Ingredients For Whole Baked Chicken:
- 1 whole chicken (3lbs) cleaned out giblets removed
- 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 small onion
- Piri Piri Hot Sauce
- 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 2 tablespoon of unsalted butter melted
Instructions For Whole Baked Chicken:
- Preheat the oven to 420°F (215°C) with rack in the middle position.
- Place the whole chicken into oven roasting pan. Do not wash chicken to avoid cross contamination.
- Add the garlic, black and white pepper, sweet paprika and onion into food processor and pulse until minced and well combined.
- Add the olive oil, melted butter and piri piri hot sauce and pulse 2-3 times. .
- If your whole chicken is wet pat it down with some paper towels then disregard.
- Coat the chicken with the salt on the inside and outside. Use more salt if needed.
- follow the same step with the marinade sauce and coat the whole chicken thoroughly. Make sure to get behind the wings and legs.
- If you have some cooking twine, tie the legs together and tuck the wings under the chicken. If you don’t have twine don’y worry about it.
- Place the chicken roasting pan into oven.
- Bake the whole chicken for one hour.
- Carefully remove the chicken and cover with aluminum foil and place back into oven and bake for another 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 °F (75°C) or above.
- Once chicken is baked remove from oven, be careful when removing the aluminum foil cover and cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting into pieces.
- Enjoy with your favorite sides.

Portuguese Style Slow Baked Whole Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken 3lbs cleaned out giblets removed
- 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 small onion
- Piri Piri Hot Sauce
- 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 2 tablespoon of unsalted butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 420°F (215°C) with rack in the middle position.
- Place the whole chicken into oven roasting pan. Do not wash chicken to avoid cross contamination.
- Add the garlic, black and white pepper, sweet paprika and onion into food processor and pulse until minced and well combined.
- Add the olive oil, melted butter and piri piri hot sauce and pulse 2-3 times. .
- If your whole chicken is wet pat it down with some paper towels then disregard.
- Coat the chicken with the salt on the inside and outside. Use more salt if needed.
- follow the same step with the marinade sauce and coat the whole chicken thoroughly. Make sure to get behind the wings and legs.
- If you have some cooking twine, tie the legs together and tuck the wings under the chicken. If you don’t have twine don’y worry about it.
- Place the chicken roasting pan into oven.
- Bake the whole chicken for one hour.
- Carefully remove the chicken and cover with aluminum foil and place back into oven and bake for another 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 °F (75°C) or above.
- Once chicken is baked remove from oven, be careful when removing the aluminum foil cover and cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting into pieces.
- Enjoy with your favorite sides.
Love Portuguese style chicken and this recipe just brought the taste our Portugal into our home. I also followed your Piri Piri sauce recipe it was phenomenal.
Thank you for this baked whole chicken recipe. Your recipe is thorough to the T. My baked chicken turn out perfect and juicy.
Yes, I did it, baked a whole chicken.
Easy pessy instructions. Great juicy results.
Just want to say thank you for this recipe. I was also intimidated cooking a whole chicken but it was pretty straight forward following your instructions. Thanks!!
Great tasting, easy to make and feed an army.
Nice step by step instructions, never though I could roast a whole chicken very easy Thank you.