Overview
This started off in my head a few months ago when our local Nando’s chicken joint shut down. I stumbled across a dry mix for their lemon and herb chicken in my local supermarket and we quite enjoyed it, even though we found it a little on the salty side (the first 2 listed ingredients were sugar, then salt – no surprise there!)

I did a bit of poking around online and came up with what seemed to be a consensus as to the basics for the recipe – but most relied on a jar from Nando’s… so I combined a few things and came up with this. It’s quite yummy and I’d even consider using the marinade as a salad dressing.

This makes enough for 8-10 chicken thighs. Store leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Time
5-10 minutes, depending on how organised your spice storage system is!

Ingredients: Veg 1 large / 2 small shallots 1 whole-clove garlic ¼ red capsicum Zest of 1 lemon

Ingredients: Dry 1 TB vinegar powder 1 TB brown sugar ½ TB each of dried:     -parsley     -oregano     -rosemary     -thyme 1 ts nutritional yeast ½ ts umami salt ½ ts allspice powder ¼ ts peri peri powder ¼ ts black pepper ¼ ts turmeric

Ingredients: Wet Juice from 1 lemon (¼ cup) ¼ cup vegetable oil 1 TB apple cider vinegar

Ingredients: Chicken
8-10 chicken thighs

Equipment
Thermomix, blender or immersion blender

Method
Preheat oven to 190° C

1 – Blitz all of the marinade ingredients for 15 seconds at speed 8 or until well combined

2 – Using a non-metallic bowl, marinate chicken in the marinade for 30-60 minutes. Turn every now and then to ensure they are well coated.

3 – Arrange on a lined baking tray (rinse off first if cooking for my youngest kid!) and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Tip: Turn the leftover marinade into a kicky sauce by boiling it for 2 minutes, then adding 1 ts of corn starch dissolved in 100ml of water, then heated until thickened.