Hattie B's Nashville Hot Chicken (Step-by-Step)

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.

Jump to:

• What's the Story Behind this Recipe?
• What is Nashville Hot Chicken? (and why is it Awesome?)
• Hot Chicken Ingredients
• How to Make this Nashville Hot Chicken Recipe
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Tricks & Tips
• FAQ
• More Southern Recipes
• What to Serve with Hot Chicken
• Hattie B's Nashville Hot Chicken
• Food Safety

What's the Story Behind this Recipe?

Back when I was a kid, my 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.

What is Nashville Hot Chicken? (and why is it 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.

The history of the original Nashville Hot Chicken recipe 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 Nashville hot chicken recipe, 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. (Just like the slider-eaters in the Great Southern Slider Debate, hot chicken-eaters appear to have a fierce loyalty to their chosen chicken fryer!)

The Hattie B Hot Chicken Experience

Hattie B's has three locations in Nashville (2015), 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. 

Our chicken arrived quickly, stacked in a basket atop the traditional slice of white bread, garnished with dill pickle slices. 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 from heaven, it tastes more like the devil himself fried up a batch of chicken on his day off. 

Fried & True

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. This is one cookbook I am thoroughly happy to have on my shelves!

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The following Nashville Hot Chicken recipe, adapted from Fried & True, results in a crispy, tender, fiery fried chicken with a spicy kick that will keep you coming back for more.

Hattie B's hot chicken recipe is relatively straightforward, but after making it a number of times myself, I've learned a few things and gained some wisdom to pass along that will make the process go more smoothly for you. 

Hot Chicken Ingredients

• Whole chicken: You need about 3 pounds of cut chicken parts.
• Oil for frying: Due to their high smoke point, vegetable oil, canola oil, or peanut oil are the best oils for deep frying.
• Louisiana-style hot sauce: Made primarily of chilies, vinegar, and salt, Louisiana-style hot sauces include Tabasco, Crystal, and Frank's Red Hot, and Louisiana, among others. Each hot sauce has a slightly different flavor profile and level of spiciness. (We use Original Louisiana Hot Sauce.)
• Flour: You can use all-purpose flour; however, we recommend using Wondra for fried and air-fried recipes (i.e., fried green tomatoes, scotch eggs). Wondra is lower in protein and gluten than all-purpose flour, which all translates into a light and crispy crust for fried foods. 
• Milk: We always use whole milk.
• Eggs
• Light brown sugar
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• Cayenne
• Paprika: Keep in mind that some paprikas are hotter than others. We enjoy using a sweet, smokey paprika for this hot chicken recipe.
• Garlic powder
• Dill pickle slices: Optional. The pickles add a cool, acidic counterpoint to the hot fried chicken.
• White bread: Optional. Nashville Hot Chicken is traditionally served on top of a slice of shite bread.

How to Make this Nashville Hot Chicken Recipe

Step 1: 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, we had a scheduling conflict and ended up dry-brining it for 3 days. (Stuff happens.) It was totally fine. 

Step 2: Dredge-Dip-Dredge 

In a 9x9 pan or baking dish, whisk together the milk, eggs, and hot sauce. In a separate 9x9 baking dish, combine the four and salt. 

A. Drag the chicken through the flour mixture, coating evenly.

B. Dip the floured chicken in the milk mixture.

C. 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: Fry

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. 

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.

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. (See Tricks & Tips)

Maintain a constant temperature of 325° F when for frying chicken.

Initially heat the oil to 340° - 350° to allow for the natural drop in temperature when the chicken is added to the oil, then reduce the heat to 325°.

The oil needs to be deep enough for the chicken to fully submerge. 

• 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 the temperature 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.

Using tongs, carefully lower the coated chicken pieces into the hot oil. Turn them as they brown and do not let them touch each other while frying. 

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. We 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. 

When done, remove the chicken from oil and allow to drain on wire rack.

Step 4: 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.

We use a small saucepan for this in case we 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: Serve

If you want to go traditional, serve your Hot Chicken up over a slice of white bread. Garnish with dill pickle slices.

Variations

Air Fryer Nashville Hot Chicken

You can make Nashville Hot Chicken in your Air Fryer!

In order for the coating on the chicken to brown, you need to spray the prepared chicken with cooking spray just before placing it into the air fryer. 

1. Pre-heat the Air Fryer to 390°F (200°C).
2. Place the chicken pieces into the fryer basket of the Air Fryer.
3. Cook for 25 minutes, or until the chicken reaches at least 160°F (72°C) for breasts, or 180°F (82°C) degrees for thighs and legs.
   • Cooking chicken legs and thighs to a higher temperature breaks down the meat fibers more, and you end up with more tender chicken.

Air Fried Hot Chicken comes out of the air fryer with a decidedly different, less appetizing texture 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 make hot chicken in an air-fryer, you will need to heat up some oil in a small cooking pot to mix with the basting spices. 

NOTE: If you have a smaller 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.

Equipment

For this recipe, you will need either a deep fryer, a large deep skillet, a wok with a thermometer, or a deep electric skillet. You will also need tongs and an instant-read meat thermometer.

A deep fryer is optimal for frying chicken. You can also use a wok outfitted with a thermometer as a deep fryer. However, if you don't have a deep-fryer, or a skillet deep enough for deep frying; no worries.

You may have noticed that my chicken is sticking out at the top in some of the process images. That's because we don't own a deep fryer (I only deep fry a few times a year). While I could fry chicken in a large skillet or wok on the stove, I 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.

My electric skillet isn't quite deep enough to allow most chicken pieces to completely submerge, but that's not a problem. I just 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 instant-read thermometer to keep an eye on the internal temp, and you be fine.

Storage

Refrigerate leftover fried chicken in an airtight container. The USDA recommends using cooked chicken within 3 to 4 days.

Tricks & Tips

Measuring Oil for Deep Frying

Here's a simple trick for determining the amount of frying oil you will need for your pan or fryer:

1. 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.
2. Lay the bag of raw chicken pieces flat in the bottom of the frying pan. 
3. Add water to the level that you want the oil to be when you deep fry.
4. Remove bag of chicken from the pan. Note level of the water.
5. Pour the water out, and carefully dry out the pan.
6. Add oil to that same level.

Now you're ready to fry without fear of overflowing your frying pan!

Thanks, Archimedes!

Testing Chicken for Doneness

Chicken is done when it registers an internal temperature of 165°F on an instant-read thermometer. If you don't own a thermometer, try the following simple method - the same one your grandma probably used to determine when her fried chicken was done.

How to test chicken for doneness without a thermometer:

• Cut into the thickest part of your chicken pieces. The juices should run clear and the meat should be opaque throughout. If the juices are red or have a pinkish tinge, your chicken may need to be cooked a little longer.
• If necessary the chicken appears underdone, you can pop it into a preheated 325°F oven until it is fully cooked.

FAQ

More Southern Recipes

Homemade chicken stock is easy, healthy, and budget-friendly; perfect for making soups and sauces and countless other recipes.

What to Serve with Hot Chicken

Nashville Hot Chicken is traditionally serve atop a slice of white bread, with dill pickle slices or spears. Serve it with Southern favorites, like fried green tomatoes, coleslaw, cornbread, and corn on the cob. For a real Southern meal, finish off with scoop of ice cream and a slice of strawberry or coconut layer cake!

Food Safety

• Cook chicken to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C).
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food that previously touched raw meat.
• Always wash hands after touching raw meat.
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
• Never leave cooking food unattended.
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds.
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove.
• Store food in suitable, covered containers.

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.

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