This amazing Nashville Hot Chicken recipe (adapted from Hattie B’s famous recipe) results in a crispy, tender, fiery fried chicken with a spicy kick that is positively addictive.
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I love fried chicken. I don’t eat it often, but I love it. Back when I was a kid, my BFF’s Gramma Barbara made THE BEST southern fried chicken I’ve ever eaten, or ever hope to eat, in my life. Tender, juicy, crispy, and seasoned just right, Gramma B’s chicken was so finger-licking delicious that it tasted like it had been fried in heaven. It was Perfect.
![Warning: Content contains a meandering, flagrantly nostalgic recipe-origin narrative. Read on for the story. [Click here to go directly to the recipe.]](https://thegoodheartedwoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Warning-3.png){kind=small}
My Southern Fried Sensei, Gramma Barbara.
As a young teen, Gramma B kind of adopted me. She was fun and irreverent, and to this day I love her like my own.
Gramma B taught me how to make fried chicken a couple of times, and I think I got the basics down fine, but I could never make it quite as good as she did. I don’t know if was her skillet, or the lard (of course it was the lard) or some other sublime combination of environmental and mystical factors, but her fried chicken was absolutely divine and mine was, at best, pretty darn good.
In my quest to scratch my fried chicken itch, I’ve ordered fried chicken at nearly every place from Portland to Memphis that serves it. While some places turn out a very decent chicken plate, nothing has ever come close to ringing that elusive Gramma B-worthy, southern fried chicken bell for me. There’s always something missing.
Then we went to Nashville and discovered Hot Chicken.
What is Nashville Hot Chicken, and what makes it so awesome?
Nashville Hot Chicken is a hyper-regional specialty with a long, colorful, sordid history involving a philandering man, a jealous woman hell-bent on revenge, and a whole lot ‘a hot pepper juice.
Nashville Hot Chicken is heaven and hell in a one transcendent bite.
The origins of Nashville Hot Chicken is a finely-woven tale that I simply can’t do justice and still keep this post under ten thousand words, so I’m not even going to try. (And I don’t need to, because The Bitter Southerner has done a bang-up job telling the story for us: when you have a minute or ten, I strongly encourage you to read about how Nashville Hot Chicken really came to be!)
The minute Mr B and I heard the term “hot chicken,” we were all over it like red beans on rice. We did a little research, and discovered that Nashville’s Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack is the acknowledged home of the original hot chicken, so we made plans to check it out. However, so many of the Nashville locals we asked pointed us toward relative newcomer Hattie B’s that we decided to try it instead. [Like slider-eaters in the Great Southern Slider Debate, hot chicken-eaters, we learned, have a fierce loyalty to their chosen chicken fryer!]
Hattie B’s has three locations in Nashville, and reviews said that the lines at West Nashville location (closest to where we were staying) could be very long at peak times. However, we arrived relatively late for a weekday (around 8:30 pm) and had a less than five minute wait: just long enough for us to check out the menu.
After studying the menu for a few minutes, we ordered two small plates, which turned out to be a ton of food! Each plate came with a whole chicken quarter (dark meat for Mr B, light for me) and two sides. Mr B got baked beans and I ordered the potato salad, and we both got coleslaw.
Our chicken arrived in less than ten minutes, stacked in a basket between the traditional slice of white bread, topped with a dill pickle. It only took me one bite to know that Hattie B’s Hot Chicken was absolutely amazing. Possibly addictive.
Hattie B’s Nashville Hot Chicken is the first chicken I’ve eaten in at least twenty years that even comes close to Grandma B’s fried chicken – with one important caveat: instead tasting like chicken sent from heaven, it tastes more like the devil himself cooked up a batch of fried chicken on his day off.
I need that fried chicken recipe!!!
When we got back to our hotel room, I immediately searched for a Nashville Hot Chicken recipe, and was absolutely thrilled to discover Hattie B’s recipe in Lee Brian Schrager’s cookbook Fried & True: More than 50 Recipes for America’s Best Fried Chicken and Sides.
Well, you can bet that it took me less than a Tennessee minute to order it. (Which, come to think of it, is probably substantially longer than a New York minute, but still…)
When my copy of Fried & True arrived, I opened it to find the pages bursting with great recipes, valuable tips and cooking methods, personal stories, and a true love of fried chicken.
How to Make Nashville Hot Chicken – Step-by-Step
The following Nashville Hot Chicken recipe, adapted from the aforementioned recipe in Fried & True, results in a crispy, tender, fiery fried chicken with a spicy kick that will keep you coming back for more.
The recipe itself is relatively straightforward, but after making hot chicken myself, I have some wisdom to pass along that will make the process go more smoothly.
For ingredients and amounts, please refer to the recipe card below.
Step 1: The Dry-Brine
- In a medium bowl, toss together the chicken pieces, salt, and pepper. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (Up to 24 hours)
NOTE: The first time I made this chicken, I had a scheduling conflict and ended up dry-brining it for 3 days. (Stuff happens.) It was totally fine.
Step 2: The Dredge-Dip-Dredge
- In a 9×9 pan or baking dish, whisk together the milk, eggs, and hot sauce. In a separate 9×9 baking dish, combine the four and salt.
- [1] Drag the chicken through the flour mixture, coating evenly.
- [2] Dip the floured chicken in the milk mixture.
- [3] Drag once again in the flour mixture.
- Shake off excess between each step. Allow chicken to rest on drying rack while you prepare the rest of the chicken pieces for frying.
Step 3: The Fry
For this step, you will need either a deep fryer, a large deep skillet, or a deep electric skillet. You will also need tongs, and a deep-fry/meat thermometer. I suggest using using a combination of canola and soybean oil for deep frying.
WARNING: Deep frying can be dangerous! Carefully prepare the area before you begin deep frying. Always make sure that whatever you are deep frying in is stable so that it won’t tip. Always use a tongs, a skimmer, or a deep-fry basket to add and remove chicken pieces from the hot oil. Chicken pieces can slip from forks or spoons and splash hot oil.
REMEMBER! When you add your chicken, it will displace a lot of oil. If you are using a frying pan or electric skillet, it is vital that you DO NOT OVERFILL it with oil or it may or it may overflow when you add the chicken.
KITCHEN TRICK: How to easily figure out the necessary level of the frying oil.
-
- Put one batch/fryer full of chicken pieces in a large ziplock bag. Squeeze as much air out of the bag as you can and seal it shut.
- Lay the bag of raw chicken pieces flat in the bottom of the frying pan.
- Add water to the level that you want the oil to be when you deep fry.
- Remove bag of chicken from the pan.
- Note level of the water.
- Pour the water out, and carefully dry out pan.
- Add oil to that same level.
- Now you’re ready to fry without fear of overflowing your frying pan!
(Thanks, Archimedes!)
IMPORTANT: The oil needs to maintain an optimal temperature of 325° while the chicken is frying. However, the oil temp will drop at least 25° when you add the chicken, so initially you need to heat the oil up to 340° – 350°.
It is important to maintain a consistent temperature for frying chicken of 325° F. If the temperature of oil in the pan drops down below 300°, the chicken will begin to absorb the cooking oil, resulting in greasy, soggy chicken. If it rises above about 340°, the chicken will cook too quickly on the outside, and not get done in the middle. When fried at the correct temperature, the chicken will come out golden brown, having absorbed very little oil.
- Heat vegetable oil in a deep skillet or deep fryer until it is between 340°F – 350°F. The oil needs to be deep enough for the chicken to fully submerge. [If you don’t have a deep enough skillet for deep frying, see HELP below.]
- Drop the coated chicken into the hot oil.
- Turn the pieces as they brown and do not let them touch each other while frying.
- The temperature will drop when you add the chicken. Keep the oil at 325°F while the chicken fries.
- Working in batches, use tongs to carefully add the chicken to the hot oil and fry until crispy.
↓↓ This is what your chicken should sound like when it is frying. ↓↓
Estimated cooking times: 15-17 minutes for breast quarters; 18-20 minutes for leg quarters.
- Chicken is done when it registers an internal temperature of 165°F. (Yes, I use a candy thermometer. It goes up to 400 degrees, and it works just fine.)
- When done, remove chicken from oil and allow to drain on wire rack.
How to test for doneness without a meat thermometer: Cut into the thickest part of a drumstick. The juices should run clear and the meat should be opaque throughout. If necessary, you can pop slightly underdone fried chicken into a preheated 325°F oven until it is fully cooked.
TIP: I aim to take the chicken off the heat when it registers a temperature of 160°, and allow carryover cooking to bring it up to temperature as it sits on the wire rack.
HELP! What if my chicken isn’t completely submerged in the oil when I fry it?!
This is, technically, deep-fried chicken, so ideally the oil for The Fry needs to be deep enough for the chicken to fully submerge. However, sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way.
You may have noticed that my chicken is sticking out at the top in some of the process images. That’s because I don’t own a deep fryer (I only deep fry about twice a year), and prefer to make hot chicken in my electric skillet because I can control the temperature of the fry oil more accurately than in a stovetop skillet. Unfortunately, my electric skillet isn’t quite deep enough to allow most chicken pieces to completely submerge, so I end up turning the chicken pieces a few times in the process, and it takes a few extra minutes to cook.
If this is you, don’t worry – just use your meat thermometer to keep an eye on the internal temp, and you be fine.
Step 4: The Spicy Coating (Wet Application)
- Ladle about a cup of hot frying oil into a heatproof bowl or pan. Whisk in cayenne, brown sugar, and spices. The hot oil will activate the spices. (I use a small saucepan for this in case I need to heat the oil up again before basting a second batch.)
- Baste the hot spice mixture over the hot fried chicken. You want the hot oil mixture hot enough that when you baste it over the fried chicken, the skin stays nice and crispy.
Just how Hot is this Nashville Hot Chicken recipe anyway?
According to the recipe from which this one is adapted, the spice level for this recipe is gauged as MEDIUM HOT; however, in my experience, it is slightly hotter than medium. (I’d rate it about a 6 or 6.5 on a 1-10 heat scale.)
For one test batch, I used two tablespoons of cayenne instead of three, and the results were (for my tastes) perfect – not painfully spicy, but with solid heat and a decided kick. (About a 4.5.)
Step 5: The Serve
- If you want to go traditional, serve your Hot Chicken up over a slice of white bread. Garnish with dill pickle slices.
Nashville Hot Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Dry Brine
- 1 whole chicken 3 pounds, washed, patted dry, and cut into quarters
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
For the Dip
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon Louisiana-style hot sauce
For the Dredge
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- Vegetable oil for frying
For the Spicy Coating
- 1 cup hot frying oil or hot lard
- 3 tablespoons cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Garnish
- Dill pickle slices
- White bread optional
Instructions
Step 1: The Dry-Brine
- In a medium bowl, toss together the chicken pieces, salt, and pepper. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (Up to 24 hours)
Step 2: The Dredge-Dip-Dredge
- In a 9×9 pan or baking dish, whisk together the milk, eggs, and hot sauce. In a separate 9×9 baking dish, combine the four and salt.
- Drag the chicken through the flour mixture, coating evenly.
- Dip the floured chicken in the milk mixture.
- Drag once again in the flour mixture.
- Shake off excess between each step. Allow chicken to rest on drying rack while you prepare the rest of the chicken pieces for frying.
Step 3: The Fry
- PLEASE READ NOTES IN POST for additional notes and tips about this step. WARNING: Deep frying can be dangerous! Carefully prepare the area before you begin deep frying. Always make sure that whatever you are deep frying in is stable so that it won’t tip. Always use a tongs, a skimmer, or a deep-fry basket to add and remove chicken pieces from the hot oil. Chicken pieces can slip from forks or spoons and splash hot oil.
- Heat vegetable oil in a deep skillet or deep fryer until it is between 340°F – 350°F. The oil needs to be deep enough for the chicken to fully submerge. [If you don’t have a deep enough skillet for deep frying, see HELP in post.] The temperature will drop when you add the chicken. Keep the oil at 325°F while the chicken fries.
- Working in batches, use tongs to carefully add the chicken to the hot oil and fry until crispy. If using a skillet, you will need to turn the pieces as they brown. Do not let them touch each other while frying.
- Estimated cooking times [fully submerged in frying oil]: 15-17 minutes for breast quarters; 18-20 minutes for leg quarters.
- Chicken is done when it registers an internal temperature of 165°F. (Yes, I use a candy thermometer, and it works just fine.)
- When done, remove chicken from oil and allow to drain on wire rack.
Step 4: The Spicy Coating (Wet Application)
- Ladle about a cup of hot frying oil into a heatproof bowl or pan. Whisk in cayenne, brown sugar, and spices. The hot oil will activate the spices. (I use a small saucepan for this in case I need to heat the oil up again before basting a second batch.)
- Baste the hot spice mixture over the hot fried chicken. You want the hot oil mixture hot enough that when you baste it over the fried chicken, the skin stays nice and crispy.
Step 5: The Serve
- Serve hot or cold. If you want to go traditional, serve your Hot Chicken up over a slice of white bread. Garnish with dill pickle slices.
Notes
Nutrition
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
Can I make this Nashville Hot Chicken recipe in an Air Fryer?
Yes, you can make Nashville Hot Chicken in your Air Fryer. It is a slow process, because you can’t fit very many chicken pieces in the basket at one time, but it does work.
In order for the coating to brown, you need to spray the dipped and dredged chicken with cooking spray before placing it in the air fryer.
Air Fried Hot Chicken comes out of the air fryer with a decidedly different, less appetizing texture (imo) and color than that of oil-fried Hot Chicken; however, once you baste it with the basting spices, it is difficult to tell the difference.
If you choose to air fry your hot chicken, you will need to heat up some oil in a small cooking pot to mix with the basting spices.
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UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted on this website on July 28, 2017.
I have actually been to Screen Door in Portland! I loved it. I’m not too surprised you found better fried chicken in Tennessee. Portland has all that hip vegan food. Although I’m sure there are lots of good local meats as well.
We have definitely have some amazing, carnivore-friendly places, too!
mom’s homemade pizza.
I have a soft spot in my belly for old-fashion ’70s school pizza, of all things!
Love Hattie B’s. Thanks for this!!!
I totally cannot do super hot foods, but my hubby would LOVE this recipe. Nashville is also such an amazing place to visit.
That looks awesome and you have a recipe! Really funny but a hot chicken is somethig completely different where I am from: hot whote bread sanwich with shredded chicken topped with a gravy, green peas on the side.
I miss my Grandma’s pies the most – peach and apple. The fruit was from their orchard.
My grandmother made the best lemon meringue pie I have ever had and I really wish I had gotten the recipe before she passed on.
I totally understand. It’s so sad when those family recipes get lost to time.
My grandparents were Italian descent and my grandma always made homemade noodles for spaghetti dishes and soups…Her pasta was the best!
dumplings
Homemade creamed corn. OMG! Delish!
We all love spicy food and chicken here! But I am not sure if I could handle this one, lol! I would love to try this so yummy recipe 🙂
Oh my gosh YES! I love hot stuff, and this chicken looks scrumptious. I need to make this.
Chicken pot pie! OMG so good. Oh and chicken and dumplings.
OMGosh! My good friend Mike is traveling in Nashville right now! He’s been posting up awesome food pics like yours here and I am craving all the deliciousness of that gorgeous area. Thank you so much for sharing this Hot Chicken Recipe. It looks finger-licking good!
old fashioned spaghetti n meatballz
My Dad made some kind of salmon casserole that I liked, but I don’t remember enough about it to duplicate it
My grandmother used to make the most delicious potato croquettes.
banana pancakes
My grandmas’ fried egg sandwiches!
I like fried chicken.And I know it is awesomely delicious when it is fried,crispy and hot because I like spicy and hot food.Thanks for sharing all these details and recipe.I’ll try this chicken recipe at home…
My grandma used to make a pastry with honey and crumble on top. Both my mom and grandma have passed away and I don’t have a recipe to make it:(
This looks delicious if I find myself in the area I will stop by for sure.
OMG this recipe is the best.. I wish I could taste grandnie’s chicken made by her.. Definitely gonna drop by if I have the chance.
My grandma’s fried rice!
My grandmother made the best huckleberry pie back in 1975 ! I sure wish I could have another!
As a kid now grown up I miss my grandma’s homemade pies, jams and jellies…also her fried chicken with baked potato on the side.
I miss my mother’s Christmas cookies. Her recipes are written in German, and she doesn’t know how to translate them over; and other people probably couldn’t read them.
I love spicy good and hot chicken is one of my favorite. This recipe sounds delicious.
My mouth is watering with that chicken! It looks so delicious! My husband loves Nashville hot chicken recipes.
Fried chicken is so delicious, I would love to try these places out. I love the story of Gramma B I think it’s so sweet you were close to her like that.
Your photos make me want some fried chicken they look so delicious. Fried chicken is one of those comfort foods you can’t go wrong with.
I miss my grandfathers pierogis!!
I miss playing with love crabs in sink when I was a kid for ginger crabs
okay, this is the third blog post I’m looking at this morning that involves food and now I’m going to absolutely head out and get some lunch. Guess what I’m going to eat? That’s right! Chicken…haha. I’m entering the giveaway too. Hope I win. *fingers crossed*
I miss the many kinds of labor intensive Christmas cookies that my mother made each year. She baked every weekend in December in preparation. I make a few kinds, but not nearly the assortment she made. So good!
I love Nashville Fried Chicken for the flavors though I find it very messy so I’m torn because I think it’s too much work to make myself and I’d like to leave it to the experts but then I’m not sure I want to eat it with people seeing me…
Well Hello Hattie and your sublime chicken! Snipping this recipe immediately for my cookbook!
Katja xxx
http://www.katnapped.com
A Sunday dinner staple was my mom’s homemade bread.
I loved when my mom would make her homemade butter rolls. They were the best.
Grandmas empanadas were the best! I have tried others but hers are always on top.
Chicken hearts,onions, green peppers ,mushroom soup and rice casserole.
My grandma used to make fried matzah. It was so good!!!
My granmothers’ pierogi.
My grandmother made the best peanut butter fudge
My mom used to make a brown sugar candy that we loved but it’s not too often she makes it anymore.
My Grandmother made the best gravy and biscuits from scratch!
my mom showed me how to make pancake when I was 7 years old
I miss my Grams’ homemade chicken and dumplings! They were the best! I always looked forward to her cooking them.
I miss my Grandma’s cast iron fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy!!!~
i miss my dad’s peach cobbler. it is so good.
I so get that, Susan. My mom made great peach cobbler, too.
apple pie, she made the best
My grandpa made me a cherry cake.
My grandpa would make a leftover soup.
I miss my mom’s homemade pancakes.
I miss my mom’s German Apple Cake & Plum Cake that she made for us
I miss Grandma’s Paczki!
My grandmother made a beef barley shop that I have been trying to replicate for YEARS.
My mom made the best brisket ever!
My grandma made delicious homemade spaghetti and meatballs!
There was always the fried liver and onions with greens and potatoes. But my favorite meal growing up was
spicy fried chicken with vegetables, salad, biscuits and gravy or biscuits and honey, pie and lots of cold milk to wash everything down properly. Hattie B’s chicken sounds just right.
Homemade pizza.
I miss my grandmothers homemade clam chowder. It warmed you up on cold winter nights in Maine.
My gram’s tomato noodle soup…I have no idea how she did it and I have such a craving for it now
I miss the old fashioned flapjacks they made from rising bread dough.
I miss my grandma’s sloppy joes. Great memories.
I miss my grandma’s apple pie.
My grandmother made the best cupcakes!
Homemade pasta.
turnip cakes
That’s a new one to me, Lily. 🙂
It’s a dim sum dish. =)
I also miss fried chicken. I also miss fried peas that I used to have.
I miss both of my grandmothers’ cooking, biscuits, stew beef, etc. I also now miss my mother’s cooking, fried chicken especially, but she’s too old to do so anymore.
If you think Hattie B’s is good, you should have went to Prince’s! There is NO comparison to the original. This from a Nashvillian!
wow, this hot chicken looks fantastic there is nothing better than grandma’s home cooking. Many of my recipes are inspired in my grandma’s recipe box.
Those recipes that survive and make their way down through the generations are always amazing!
I’m making this for the weekend, I bet everyone is going to devour it!
It’s so good!
I’ve never made Nashville hot chicken, this looks delicious!
Yay! Now I don’t have to go to Nashville for a good hot chicken, though I must say, I can only eat the least hot one they serve over there. 😀
I totally understand! If you use only 2 tablespoons of cayenne in the wet application step (instead of 3 tbls.), you will get a nice, mid-heat fried chicken that doesn’t hurt to eat. ?
That looks so yummy! I love crispy chicken
OMG! I need to try this recipe! I love how you’ve given instructions for air frying the chicken as well. This looks AMAZING!
I don’t eat meat however I really appreciate how detailed you are with your recipe! That makes recreating it much easier, I’m sure.
Believe it or not, I started out as a vegetarian blogger! This process would make some Amazing southern fried tempeh or seitan.
(Just putting the idea out there for any veggie bloggers who might be reading… “Nashville Hot Tempeh.” ?)
We had this featured at our state fair this year but I didn’t get a chance to taste it. I’m definitely going to look into trying the recipe
If you like spicy things, you really need to try this!
wow this recipe looks amazing!! i need to try making this soon!
kileen
cute & little
It’s so good!
Made this tonight after having Nashville Hot Chicken in Nashville last year. This recipe was spot on except I only used 2 tbsp of cayenne pepper and was glad I did. The heat was there but not totally unbearable. I paired with a jalapeño hoe cake, drizzled the chicken with a little honey and loaded mashed potatoes on the side. Saving this recipe to have again soon!
Thanks so much for the great feedback, Donna! Jalapeño Hoe Cake sounds fabulous!