Nashville Hot Chicken
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Homemade Nashville hot chicken is amazing and worth the effort if you love fried chicken. We love making big batches of this and sharing it with friends. Making this spicy fried chicken at home saves money and you can customize the spicy level of the sauce to your personal taste!
What is Nashville hot chicken?
Nashville hot chicken is a popular Southern style of spicy fried chicken. Originally started in Nashville, Tennessee this delicious hot chicken has become main stream super popular. The delicious flavors of the sauce are laden with cayenne and then brushed on the buttermilk fried chicken. If you love spice and hot food, Nashville hot chicken will become an instant favorite. The history of Nashville hot chicken goes way back as far as 80 years ago. The story of the spicy chicken from Nashville has an amazing legend and history. New Yorker has a great write up on the family business which most say started it all. And who continue to make some of the best chicken in the country! There is also a great write up of the complete history of it written by a Nashville native.
Video: Delicious Hot Chicken
Tips on How to Make Nashville Hot Chicken Recipe
Our recipe is simple and delicious. The crust on the chicken is crispy and the chicken is moist and juicy. And of course, it’s all about making the chicken hot and spicy. So our recipe for the hot sauce has a kick with fantastic flavor. You can make adjustments to the hot sauce by adding a little more or less of the dried cayenne pepper powder. But this is definitely for hot chicken lovers, so don’t be afraid to stick to our suggested amount.
- We like to use a combination of drumsticks and thighs. If you have quarter leg chicken, then cut it at the joint to separate the drumstick and thighs. This is better for quicker and easier frying.
Nashville Hot Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 pounds (907 g) chicken pieces , patted dry
- 1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) hot sauce
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) salt
- Black pepper , to taste
- 2 cups (250 g) flour
Hot Sauce
- 1/4 cup (57 g) butter
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) oil
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) ground cayenne pepper , or to desired spice level – see head note
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) paprika
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) black pepper
For Serving
- 6-8 slices white bread
- Pickles , whatever you prefer – bread & butter, dill, or both
Instructions
- Marinate the Chicken: In bowl, combine buttermilk, egg, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Beat to combine, then add the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes – 4 hours to marinate (longer is better but if you are short on time it is still tasty.) In another bowl, add the flour and set aside.
- Make the Sauce: Combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl or saucepan (butter, oil, cayenne pepper, brown sugar, garlic powder, paprika, Worcestershire or soy sauce, salt and pepper). Microwave or heat until butter is just melted (the hotter it is, the harder it will be to emulsify the spices in the liquids). Whisk thoroughly until smooth. When the sauce is cooler, it doesn’t separate as easily so we like to brush sauce on the chicken when the sauce is slightly cooler or room temperature. If you want your sauce warmer, then keep stirring or whisking the sauce as you brush the chicken so that you have as little separation of sauce/oil as possible. The warmer the sauce is, the more the spices will want to separate from the liquids.
- For Single Dredging : Remove chicken from buttermilk, shaking off excess buttermilk, then dredge chicken pieces in flour. Make sure all sides of chicken are covered in flour. Shake off excess flour.
- For Double Dredging (thicker and crispier crust): Remove chicken from buttermilk, shaking off excess buttermilk, then dredge chicken pieces in flour, then into the buttermilk mixture and back again into the flour. Make sure all sides of chicken are covered in flour. Shake off excess flour.
- Heat about 1/2” of oil in a pan (cast iron is preferable) to 350°F. Carefully add the chicken and cook until all sides of the chicken are golden and cooked through (about 8-10 minutes per side). Try to maintain the oil temperature at 325°F while cooking. Make sure to not have the oil too hot or else the chicken crust will burn on the outside. The inside will be raw too. Turn the chicken a few times during cooking to get even cooking. Or you can pierce the center of the chicken about halfway through cooking to release uncooked juices. This can help the thicker chicken pieces like the chicken thighs cook through properly.
- It is ok to turn the chicken several times while frying to make sure each side gets nice and golden.
- Remove cooked chicken from pan and allow to cool for a few minutes.
- Sauce and Serve: Generously brush the cooked chicken with the sauce.
- Serve on the slices of bread and top with several pickle slices.
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Here’s a great Asian Style fried chicken that’s loaded with flavor. And check out more of our great chicken recipes here.
This was originally published in 2019 and updated with additional instruction and images.
2 Comments on “Nashville Hot Chicken”
The inside of this chicken is so moist and juicy! We love making this at home!
This is some good high quality fried chicken! I love this stuff!