Matt's Macros · mattsmacros.com/recipes/aji-amarillo-grilled-chicken
Family Meals/ Peruvian/ Latin American
Aji Amarillo Grilled Chicken
The first Matt's Macros family meal: a Peruvian-inspired grilled dinner built on a whole spatchcocked aji amarillo chicken with crispy gold potatoes, a cucumber-tomato lime salad, and a nonfat Greek yogurt aji amarillo crema. One centerpiece, three sides, and one honest macro number for the full dinner divided by eight. Skin stays on and is included at ~502 cal / 50g protein per serving.
Written and tested by
Matt McCabe · Recipe developer
Cal
502
Protein
50g
Carbs
30g
Fat
20g
Per serving · 1/8 of the complete meal · about 420g
Macros calculated from label data on the actual ingredients I used, cross-checked against USDA FoodData Central. Update the totals if your brands run different from mine.
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Tested in the kitchen
Prep
30 minutes
Cook
50-60 minutes
Total
about 1 hour 30 minutes day-of, plus 8-24 hours marinating
Method
The day before
- 01Spatchcock the chicken. Set the chicken breast-side down. With sturdy kitchen shears, cut along both sides of the backbone and remove it. Flip the chicken breast-side up, open it flat, and press firmly on the center of the breastbone until it cracks. Tuck the wing tips behind the breasts.
- 02Marinate. Stir together the aji amarillo paste, lime juice, olive oil, soy sauce, garlic, cumin, oregano, smoked paprika, honey, salt, and pepper. Loosen the skin over the breasts and thighs without tearing it. Rub about one-third of the marinade beneath the skin and the rest over both sides. Refrigerate uncovered or loosely covered for 8 to 24 hours.
- 03Blend the crema. Blend the Greek yogurt, aji amarillo paste, lime juice, cilantro, garlic, and salt until smooth. Add cold water 1 tbsp at a time only if needed for a spoonable consistency. Cover and refrigerate.
Cook and bring it to the table
- 01Set up the heat. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 30 minutes before grilling and wipe away only thick clumps of marinade that could scorch. Heat the oven to 450F. Preheat the propane grill for two-zone indirect cooking at 400 to 425F. On a three-burner grill, leave the center burner off; on a two-burner grill, leave one side off.
- 02Parboil the potatoes. Cover the halved potatoes with cold water by about 1 inch. Add the baking soda and half the potato salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer 8 to 10 minutes, until the centers are barely tender and the edges have softened. Drain thoroughly and steam-dry for 2 minutes.
- 03Roast the potatoes. Toss the drained potatoes firmly with the olive oil, remaining salt, and black pepper. The roughed-up edges become the crisp coating. Spread cut-side down on a sheet pan and roast for 30 to 40 minutes, turning once, until deeply golden and crisp.
- 04Grill indirectly. Place the chicken skin-side up over the unlit zone with the legs aimed toward the hotter side. Close the lid and cook for 35 to 45 minutes, rotating once if the grill heats unevenly. Keep the grill between 400F and 425F.
- 05Crisp the skin and finish by temperature. When the breast is around 150F, carefully move the chicken skin-side down over direct medium heat for 2 to 4 minutes. Watch constantly: the aji paste and honey darken quickly. Return skin-side up to indirect heat as needed and cook until the thickest breast reaches 165F and the inner thigh reaches 170 to 175F without touching bone.
- 06Make the salad. While the chicken cooks, toss the cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, lime juice, cilantro, salt, and pepper. Refrigerate until dinner so it stays crisp and cold.
- 07Rest, carve, and serve. Rest the chicken skin-side up for 15 minutes. For tighter tracking, weigh the edible carved chicken with skin, potatoes, salad, and crema separately, then divide each finished component by eight. Separate each leg quarter into a thigh and drumstick, then cut each breast half crosswise into two portions. Distribute the wings with the breast portions or pass them at the table. Serve everything on separate platters.
Notes from the kitchen
- Portioning
- This is a family platter, not eight identical meal-prep boxes. The published macro is the entire cooked dinner divided by eight, with the skin on and included. Per serving is roughly 128g cooked edible chicken with skin, 70g crispy potatoes, 95g salad, and 130g crema, about 420g of food. The ~20g fat per serving runs above the usual main-meal ceiling because intact chicken skin is essential to the whole-bird grilling identity; it is offset with measured oil, nonfat yogurt, and an oil-free salad.
- Ingredient notes
- Aji amarillo paste varies in heat and salt. Taste the crema before adding more salt, and reduce its paste to 45g if your brand is especially hot. The teaspoon of honey balances the chile and helps the skin brown; it should not make the chicken taste sweet. Contains soy and dairy.
- Waste plan
- The recipe uses a full chicken, full 24 oz potato bag, full 32 oz yogurt container, full tomato pint, whole cucumber, whole small onion, and one cilantro bunch split between the salad and crema. Freeze the backbone for stock, and refrigerate leftover aji amarillo paste for eggs, soups, marinades, or another crema.
- Storage and reheating
- Refrigerate carved chicken, potatoes, salad, and crema separately within 2 hours, and keep up to 4 days. Chicken and potatoes freeze up to 2 months; do not freeze the salad or crema. Reheat chicken and potatoes in a 375F oven or air fryer until the chicken reaches 165F. Serve the salad and crema cold.
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