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Nashville Hot Chicken on a slice of white bread with pickles on top pierced with a toothpick

Absolutely MUST TRY Nashville HOT Chicken!

Grace
Can't get to Nashville for Hot Chicken! Make some glorious Hot Chicken yourself! Get ready to enjoy the spicy and delectable taste that Nashvillians love!!
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 17 minutes
Dry Brining (overnight), Marinading (4 hrs) and Resting (15 minutes) 12 hours 15 minutes
Total Time 12 hours 47 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American

Equipment

  • Deep Fat Fryer

Ingredients
  

  • 2.5 lb chicken breasts the breasts I used were on the thick side
  • vegetable oil as much as is needed for frying in your deep fat fryer

Dry Brine (overnight)

  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 2 ts pepper

Marinade

  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2 ts Tabasco I used Tabasco Scorpion Sauce; feel free to use your hot sauce of choice!
  • 2 tbsp cayenne
  • 1 egg

Seasoned Flour For Dredging

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon cayenne
  • 1 ts paprika
  • 1 ts salt
  • 1 ts garlic powder
  • 1 ts pepper

Basting Sauce

  • ½ cup butter (and/or lard) melted; you could also sub ¼ cup of lard for ¼ cup butter (so half will be butter and half will be lard)
  • 4 tablespoon cayenne using 4 tablespoon will be HOT! So please adjust up or down according to your tolerance for HOT foods
  • 2 ts garlic powder
  • 2 ts salt
  • 2 ts pepper
  • 2 ts paprika
  • 2 tablespoon brown sugar

Accompaniments

  • white bread one or two slices per person
  • few dill pickle chips 2-4 per person

Instructions
 

Dry Brine Overnight

  • Dry brine the chicken overnight. Add salt and pepper to a large plastic sealable bag, mix, then add the chicken and mix together so that everything is combined. Refrigerate overnight.

Marinade

  • Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
    buttermilk and spices in a mixing bowl
  • Add the marinade to the dry brined chicken which is in the large plastic resealable bag. Make sure everything is combined well then reseal the bag and allow to marinate for around 4 hrs in your refrigerator.
    Chicken and marinade in a large plastic resealable bag

Dredging In Seasoned Flour

  • Combine all of the ingredients for the seasoned flour in a large resealable plastic bag. The ingredients are: flour, cayenne, paprika, salt, garlic powder, and pepper.
    Flour and spices in a large bowl
  • Pour off the marinade from the chicken and place in a large shallow bowl. Pick up each piece of chicken, and allow as much marinade as possible to drip off the chicken into this bowl. Working with one piece at a time, place each piece in the seasoned flour mixture in the plastic bag, and work to coat each piece with the seasoned flour.
    Seasoned flour coated chicken laying in a marinade
  • Now we will dredge it once again. Add each piece back into the marinade then allow as much marinade to drip off as possible. Coat each piece once more in the seasoned flour. Once all the chicken has been coated and dredged twice, allow to rest for around 15 minutes.
    Chicken dredged in seasoned flour

Frying The Chicken

  • While the chicken is resting, heat up your deep fat fryer to around 350F. If you are shallow frying heat oil to medium high. Deep fry the chicken for around 15-17 minutes or so. This is for large and thick pieces of chicken. If your chicken is smaller and thinner, please adjust the time. The interior of the chicken should be around 160F if you insert a thermometer. Drain on paper towels. Keep warm in the oven while you make the basting sauce.
    Fried Chicken draining on paper towels

Making the Basting Sauce

  • Melt the butter (and lard) if using in a small saucepan on low heat. Add all the spices (cayenne, garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika) and sugar and stir to combine. Please note: at this point you can reduce or increase the amount of cayenne according to your level of tolerance for spicy foods!)
    Butter and spices in a small saucepan

Baste the Chicken and Serve!

  • Remove the chicken from the oven. Using a baster, baste the top and bottom of the chicken liberally. To serve, place a piece (or pieces) of chicken on stop of a slice of white bread, and then secure some dill pickle chips on top with a toothpick, Nashville style! Enjoy!!! Have that glass of milk handy! ;-)
    Nashville Hot Chicken

Notes

I do hope you will enjoy this Nashville Hot Chicken!  Other suggested accompaniments are coleslaw and potato salad.
And when in Nashville, definitely check out Prince's Hot Chicken Shack for an unforgettable dining experience!! 
Keyword Chicken, Fried Chicken, Hot chicken, spicy food
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