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Nando's MoneySaving tips and hacks
Including ordering off a different part of the menu to save up to £10+, and why a kids' size meal could mean more chicken for less
Updated 2 June 2023
If you've been craving a cheeky Nando's, you can make some peri nice savings whether you dine out, or you want to order to eat at home.
We've tips on how to max the savings or cut the cost of your chicken 'n' chips fix, however you choose to order it. As always, please eat responsibly.
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If there are two or more of you, it's cheaper to buy a sharing platter than ordering individual meals.
For example, a family buying two whole chickens and five large sides (enough to feed four to six people) can save £10.10 ordering the 'Family Platter' instead of individual meals. As each chicken actually comes in quarters (rather than as one whole chicken), it makes sharing easy.
The table below shows how much you can save when ordering the same food from the sharing menu:
WHAT YOU'RE ORDERING
PRICE BOUGHT AS INDIVIDUAL MEALS
PRICE AS SHARING PLATTER
Two whole chickens and five large sides £60.05 £49.95 for the 'Family Platter' - a £10.10 saving Chicken butterfly, four chicken thighs, and two large sides £29.90 £26.25 for the 'Boneless Platter' - a £3.65 saving Whole chicken and two large sides £27.25 £25.25 for the 'Full Platter' - a £2 saving Whole chicken and four regular sides £29.25 £25.25 for the 'Full Platter' - a £4 saving 10 chicken wings and two large sides £23.95 £21.95 for the 'Wing Platter' - a £2 saving 10 chicken wings and four regular sides £25.95 £21.95 for the 'Wing Platter' - a £4 saving Prices when we checked on 25 March 2023
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Switch up your burger order to save up to £2
Here's how you can get a chicken burger, for three different prices. The standard burger from Nando's is the grilled chicken burger – it costs £7.75 (without sides) and consists of one chicken breast, lettuce, tomato and peri ketchup, served in a Portuguese roll.
Order from the kids' menu for a chicken burger, sides and a drink for £5.95
If you're not set on the exact standard chicken burger, you can get near enough the same thing for less when you order from the kids' section (Nando's calls this 'Nandino's'). The only noticeable difference is this burger comes in a brioche bun instead of a Portuguese roll. Plus, it's served with two mini sides and a drink as standard for £5.95 – a saving of £1.80.
While technically the kids' menu is for those aged 10 years old and under (so we can't guarantee you'll always get away with this hack), there's no proving who is eating what with a click and collect or takeaway order. Plus, when we tried this eating in at Nando's, we were encouraged to order via the app anyway, so there was no querying why there was no child at our table as the order was sent straight through to the kitchen.
Get creative and make your own burger by ordering 'extras' for £7
Another way to grill the cost of your burger fix is to make your own by ordering from the 'extras' part of the menu, and selecting a grilled chicken breast (£3.50) and regular garlic bread (£3.50). Sandwich the garlic bread together around the chicken and hey presto, you've got a burger for 75p less than the standard grilled chicken burger.
Of course, there's no salad or sauces in with this, but if you're doing a takeaway or click and collect order, you can easily add in salad and sauce that you have already from your own fridge.
To prove our point, see the three burgers all lined up together. From the first image, there really isn't much to tell the burgers apart. We then weighed out the burgers and while the grilled chicken burger came out as heaviest at 214 grams, that isn't due to the amount of chicken it contains. Quite the opposite!
The below image shows the standard grilled chicken burger had less chicken, weighing 85 grams, while the Nandino's kids' burger had the most chicken, weighing 110 grams.
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Check if you've 'free' food on your Nando's Card
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Any Nando's regular will know its free Nando's Card is a no-brainer. You get a 'chilli' (basically a rewards point) when you spend £7 or more, and after you earn enough chillies, you can claim a reward such as a free ¼ chicken (normally £5.25) when you earn three chillies, or a free whole chicken (normally £15.25) when you earn 10 chillies.
Rewards normally expire after one year – don't use 'em and you'll lose 'em.
So if you’ve a Nando’s Card, it’s worth doing a quick check online (you'll need to register it if you haven't), via the Nando's app, or in a Nando’s restaurant, to see if there’s anything on it you need to claim before it expires.
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Two of you ordering fries? Get MORE for 50p less
If two of you want fries you may just automatically think to order two separate regular portions for £3.50 each (£7 in total). However, you should order a large fries for £6 instead and split it between you. Not only do you save 50p each, but you actually get more fries
Two regular portions on the left, and one large portion on the right
You can tell the difference when looking at the portions side-by-side (see above) but of course, we wanted to prove this 'scientifically' – so MSE Laura B weighed the portions. When she tested it, two regular portions of fries weighed 332g, while the cheaper large portion of fries weighed 341g – and gave us about 15 extra fries.
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Order butterfly chicken? Get more meat for 20p less (if you don't mind bones)
If chicken butterfly is your go-to at Nando's, it's worth knowing you can get more chicken for 20p less by ordering something else entirely. If you don’t mind your chicken on the bone, the ½ chicken is £8.75, compared to £8.95 for the butterfly.
The 1/2 chicken is on the left, with the chicken butterfly on the right
When side-by-side, it looked like the ½ chicken was meatier than the butterfly, but of course as the ½ chicken is on the bone, it was hard to tell for sure – so in true MSE style, we stripped the ½ chicken off the bone and weighed them both. As you can see below, we got 84g more meat on the cheaper ½ chicken.
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Save £1 and get MORE halloumi by ordering it as an extra, not a side
Halloumi appears twice on the Nando's menu – in the 'Extras' section where you'll get two slices of the cheese for £1.75 and in the 'Starters' section where you'll get five chunky sticks of halloumi with chilli jam for £4.50. But if you're not fussed about the chilli jam, pay £3.50 for 111g of halloumi (two lots of halloumi as an extra), which works out £1 cheaper for more food.
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NHS, emergency services and forces get 20% off orders up to £20
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If you work for the NHS, police, fire or ambulance service you can get a 20% discount off food and drink orders up to £20 (so a maximum £4 discount). Just show a valid photocard ID when you order – you can use the discount once per day. If you're with a group and want to give others the discount too, you'll need to put everyone's meals on the same order – but remember the 20% off only works up to £20 – anything over that won't get the discount.
You can use the 20% discount on eat-in or takeaway orders, but not delivery or click and collect – except for NHS workers who can get the discount on click and collect. You'll need to register online at Nando's and verify your NHS email address every six months.
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Costco members can get £10 off £80 of Nando's gift cards - but only do it if you'll definitely spend 'em
We're not generally big fans of gift cards at MSE – people often forget about them, many expire, or become useless if the company goes bust. Yet if you know you'll be eating out at Nando's often and spending £80 or more, there's a way to save £10 if you're a Costco member. You can buy two packs of two £20 Nando's gift cards (so £80 total) online at Costco for £69.98 delivered, while stock lasts.
Unfortunately, as there's a minimum purchase of two packs, you can't get a discount if buying less than £80 of gift cards – as this isn't a small amount of money, be sure you'll definitely use it before buying. You can use the gift cards when paying in a restaurant and for click and collect orders via the Nando's website.
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Make your own PERInaise and save 90p
If you want Nando's PERInaise it'll cost you 90p to add it as an extra to your meal – but it's possible to make a version of it yourself.
When we checked, Nando's no longer includes mayonnaise at the condiments bar, but instead you're able to ask for some in a pot for free. Then add a bit of your Nando's sauce of choice (we think Peri-Peri Medium works best), give it a mix and hey presto, DIY PERInaise. It may not be the exact same taste, but it's a cheaper alternative.
Of course, you can do this at home too. If you're already ordering one of the 125g sauces (or have some bought at a supermarket), and assuming you already have mayonnaise, then you can just whip up some PERInaise in the same way, by mixing a bit of each.
We tested it out, and although it wasn't exactly the same taste, we still enjoyed it
MSE Georgia-May managed to cheat the system when she dined in at Nando's recently and nabbed PERInaise for free. She ordered and paid via the app, and when the waiter came over to ask if she needed anything else, a simple: "Oh silly me, I forgot the PERInaise!" did the trick. Staff then bought over two pots of the stuff, with no payment taken (a £1.80 saving) – winner winner, Nando's chicken dinner! Of course, we can't promise this'll work every time, but it's worth a try.
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Avoid the sugar tax and save 20p
Fizzy drinks that are higher in sugar are more expensive because of the sugar tax introduced back in 2018. This means original Coca-Cola will cost you 20p more than Coke Zero, Diet Coke, Fanta, and Sprite Zero when ordering at Nando's. Opt for any of those drinks instead if you want to avoid the extra levy.
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Have a go at making Nando's at home
It’s not strictly a real Nando’s, but you can save a whole lot on your meal by having a go at making it yourself. You can pick up Nando’s branded cooking marinades, peri-peri salt, spice rubs and more at the major supermarkets to make yourself a Nando’s at home.
Of course, you can save even more money by making your own version totally from scratch, but you may want to use Nando's products to get as close to the real thing as possible.
For example you can recreate a Nando's whole chicken (£15.25 for the real thing) by getting a supermarket whole chicken (£4-£5 depending where you shop) and two packs of Nando's 25g peri-peri rub (£1 each) – meaning you can make a DIY Nando's whole chicken for up to £7, an £8+ saving.
To recreate a butterfly chicken meal for two (£27.90 for the real thing), you could pick up a Nando's bag and bake (£1.35), a 650g pack of chicken breasts (£4.50), some peri-peri rice (£1.25), and two corn on the cob (£1.35 for one twin pack) – meaning you can make a DIY Nando's butterfly chicken meal for two with sides for around £8.45, a £19.45 saving.
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