Nashville Hot Chicken
Although I’ve never been to Nashville, hot chicken is one of my favorite things to eat and make at home. The chicken is perfectly seasoned and breaded to create a crispy shaggy crust, then basted with Nashville hot sauce for fiery but sweet heat and delicious flavor. Nashville hot chicken originated at Prince’s hot chicken (in Nashville), and what’s so special about it is the hot sauce or paste that they make with cayenne peppers. The chicken is dipped or covered in the sauce, and then served over white toast with pickle chips. If you visit Prince’s Hot Chicken, you can even order a whole chicken, half a chicken, leg quarters, tenders, wings, or a salad. But in my recipe here, I’m making a sandwich, because who doesn’t love a good crispy chicken sandwich? If you prefer air frying to deep frying, check out my Air Fryer Nashville chicken recipe!
The Ingredients
To make hot chicken sandwiches, here’s what you’ll need: Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Chicken breasts – use skinless and boneless chicken breasts that are either just pounded and flattened to make massive sandwiches (like the ones you can see in the images of this post), or sliced into thin cutlets and then the thick side pounded so it cooks evenly to make a regular-sized chicken sandwich. For the breading – you will need all-purpose flour, salt and pepper, buttermilk, and vinegar-based hot sauce such as Frank’s or Tabasco. For the hot sauce/paste – You will use about half a cup of the frying oil, cayenne, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, and brown sugar for a touch of sweetness. Toppings – plain mayo or spicy mayo, homemade coleslaw, bread and butter pickle chips, brioche buns. Oil for frying – any neutral-tasting oil with a high smoke point.
How to Make Nashville-Style Hot Chicken Sandwiches
Assembling The Chicken Sandwich
Now the fun part! Assembling this epic chicken sandwich 😍 Start by lightly buttering and toasting the cut sides of your buns in a pan. Then to assemble, spread mayo or spicy mayo over the brioche bun, place a piece of the fried hot chicken, top with coleslaw, pickle chips, and cover with the top part of the bun.
What Is the Best Oil for Fried Chicken
The best oils for frying must have a high smoke-point and have a neutral taste. Go for vegetable oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, peanut oil, or canola oil. Keep in mind that canola oil produces a fishy scent while frying, but this does not affect the flavor of the chicken at all.
Top Tips
Season the flour well, don’t skimp on the salt as that makes a huge difference. Buttermilk can be substituted with plain yogurt diluted with a splash of water. Use any vinegar-based hot sauce such as Frank’s, Louisiana, or sriracha. Double dip the chicken for a super crunchy crust. Creating the little crumbles before breading the chicken is also very important. Fry right after breading. If you let the breaded chicken sit for long, the breading will become soggy and won’t crisp up very well. When making the Nashville sauce, don’t omit the brown sugar as it adds SO much to the flavor! Baste the chicken with the Nashville sauce while the chicken is still hot. If you wait until everything has cooled down, you might end up with greasy chicken. Keep the chicken warm in the oven as you fry the rest of the chicken. But make sure you’re using an oven-proof wire rack that does not melt in the oven.
For a healthier crispy chicken breast, check out my Air Fryer chicken breast recipe. It uses just a fraction of the oil! Or you can make this in the oven, find the method in my crispy oven baked chicken tenders recipe. In the mood for chicken nuggets? This recipe for Chick-Fil-A Nuggets is the best! © Little Sunny Kitchen
