This keto Peruvian Roasted Chicken & Green Sauce is crispy on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside! The addicting and versatile green sauce is great with the chicken, but also delicious on fish, veggies, or even as a salad dressing! Whole 30, Paleo, and Squeaky Clean Keto Friendly!
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Mr. Hungry and have travelled back and forth from CT to SC along Interstate 95 over 20 times during our marriage. It’s a brutal 12 – 14 hour ride depending on traffic, but I always looked forward to it because it meant stopping for lunch or dinner at a tiny Peruvian roasted chicken restaurant we’d found in Virginia.
If you’ve never had Peruvian chicken, it’s typically marinated and then roasted over a wood fired rotisserie. To serve they chop it into quarters and smother it with this incredible green sauce and a side of pickled red onions with cilantro.
There are variations on the theme depending on the restaurant, but the basic elements are usually the same – and it’s amazing.
This Keto Peruvian Roasted Chicken & Green Sauce recipe is as close as I can get without having a wood fired oven anymore, but the flavors are still pretty legit.
The most important element of the chicken itself is the spice paste. It’s earthy and rich, with a beautiful brick red color. The paste is easily whipped up in your trusty magic bullet or a mini food processor – if you don’t have either, you can mince the garlic by hand and stir it in a small bowl or even grind it with a mortar and pestle.
Then be sure to rub the paste alllllll over the chicken, AND inside the skin along the breast and legs – this isn’t the time to be shy, you’re going to need to get up close and personal with it. Then let the chicken marinate for at least an hour (or even overnight) before roasting to get the most intense flavor.
I like to roast my Peruvian chicken at high heat for a shorter amount of time, rather than a long roast at a low temperature. This method gets the crispiest skin, and also seals in the juices and prevents them from steaming out and leaving you with dry chicken!
Also important is to let the bird rest after roasting, so that the juices can settle in and not run out as soon as you cut into your bird.
Now let’s talk about the accompaniments to this low carb Peruvian roasted chicken! The green sauce is tangy and spicy, with a creaminess from the mayonnaise. If you don’t do mayo you can sub avocado. Lots of cilantro, garlic, and jalapeño make up the base of the sauce, which is pungently delicious and the perfect foil for the tender chicken!
I can’t say enough about how obsessed I am with this sauce – you’ll know why once you taste it!
Next, the onions! If you hate onions you can skip these, but the punch of flavor that just a little bit of these pickled red onions give with each bite of Peruvian chicken and green sauce really brings it together! It’s just the perfect bite. Honestly.
There is so much to love about this Keto Peruvian roasted Chicken & Green Sauce recipe! It’s not only delicious and easy to execute, it’s also dairy free and nut free – and even Whole 30 friendly if you use a Whole 30 approved mayonnaise (or sub with avocado) in the sauce.
A super healthy keto chicken dinner recipe that your family will love, AND that you can feel good about feeding them?? It’s definitely a win/win on this one!
Last side note, this Keto Peruvian Roasted Chicken is a great recipe to feed a crowd. Roast 2 or 3 of them at once and you can serve it on big platters, along with rice and tortillas so your non low carb friends or family can turn it into tacos or burritos.
(For my fellow low carbers, I like this with my easy keto broccoli slaw and/or jalapeño popper cauliflower casserole on the side!)
Economical and delicious, not to mention gorgeous (those colors tho, amirite?) – this Keto Peruvian Roasted Chicken & Green Sauce always goes over well when we serve it at gatherings! With Super Bowl weekend coming up, it’s something to consider!
Whenever you get around to making it, it’s sure to be a hit!
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Keto Peruvian Roasted Chicken & Green Sauce
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Diet: Diabetic
Description
Crispy, tender, loaded with flavor – this Peruvian Roasted Chicken recipe is destined to be a new family favorite! Whole 30, Paleo, Keto, Atkins, Low Carb, and Squeaky Clean Keto Friendly!
Ingredients
For the marinade and chicken:
- 5–6 lb whole raw chicken
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon ground paprika
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
For the Green Sauce:
- 2 jalapeños, seeds removed
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 3/4 cup fresh cilantro, washed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/3 cup sugar free mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoon lime juice
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
For the red onions:
- 1 cup red onions, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon granulated sweetener (optional, omit if Whole 30)
Instructions
For the chicken:
- Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a magic bullet or small food processor and process until a mostly smooth paste.
- Rub the paste all over the inside and outside of the chicken, including under the skin of the breast and legs as far as you can reach.
- Roast the chicken uncovered at 400 degrees for about 70 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in the center of the thigh reads 165 degrees.
- Remove from the oven and let the chicken rest for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
For the green sauce:
- Combine all of the ingredients in a magic bullet or blender and process until smooth.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired.
- Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.
For the red onions:
- Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and toss well to coat.
- Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition info is approximate and will vary based on what part of the chicken you eat:
1 thigh – 358 calories, 22g fat, 0g carbs, 36g protein
1 drum – 233 calories, 12g fat, 0g carbs, 29g protein
1 breast – 193 calories, 12g fat, 0 carbs, 31g protein
2 Tbsp green sauce: 133 calories, 16g fat, <1g carbs, 0g protein
2 Tbsp onions: 9 calories, 0g fat, 1g net carbs, 0g protein
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 85 minutes
- Category: keto dinner recipes
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: Peruvian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 thigh, 2 T sauce, 2 T onions
- Calories: 500
- Fat: 39g
- Carbohydrates: 2g
- Protein: 36g
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toni says
I’m a little confused. I thought this plan was to get rid of sweeteners as part of the challenge, but the green sauce has sweetener as part of the recipe. Did I misunderstand something?
Leslye says
The sweetener is in the onions and is optional… no neccessary they were great without it
Sharon R says
I have yet to have a recipe of yours that wasn’t great, but the Peruvian chicken and green sauce have me making weird noises at my desk. I love the flavors of each piece individually, so combined it’s even more of a treat. I agree with many of the other comments, I will definitely be making the green sauce over and over again and shamelessly dumping it on everything!
Maggie Jensen says
I make this awesome chicken in a roaster oven (outside in the warm weather). The Cilantro sauce is delicious and I make it all the time as a flavored mayo. Keto is easy with your recipes!
Jessica Wilcox says
I love this recipe. Searching for peruvian chicken introduced me to this website and the Keto diet concept. I’m just getting started, but I love Melissa’s recipes.
Erica says
We were ‘forced’ into Keto and this is one of the first recipes I made. It’s amazing and her chicken roasting time and temps are spot on.
This blog has been life changing and I can’t imagine anything other than Keto now. Thanks, Melissa. <3
MRC says
This was AMAZING!!!
Kate says
This was delicious! I can’t stop eating and can’t wait to make it the next time I have friends over. Definitely make the onions and green sauce the night before. I made it with the broccoli slaw and just ate it all mixed up together. Will make this over and over again!
Miriam Bauer says
DELISH!! Thank you!
KHADIJA SAYEED says
Thank you for this recipe. It was such a hit at our house. My family loved it and so did my in laws. My 2 year old loved the sauce. We saved the sauce and used it for every meat we cooked that weekend.
Debbie Thompson says
This was simply Amazing,thank you again for another fabulous recipe :)