Nashville Style Hot Chicken takes classic, buttermilk marinated, fried chicken and covers it in a sweet, tangy and spicy cayenne glaze. Serve alone or in a bun!
From Chicken Fried Chicken to Chicken and Waffles, fried chicken is a southern tradition and Music City has its own increasingly popular spin on it.
What Is Nashville Style Hot Chicken?
Nashville Style Hot Chicken takes classic, buttermilk marinated chicken and dredges it in a spicy flour mixture. The chicken is fried and then it gets brushed with a hot and tangy honey butter glaze. You’re going to want to stock up on the cayenne for this one.
Marinating chicken in buttermilk before frying is a great way to add flavor and moisture to the meat. A lot of Classic Fried Chicken recipes use this technique. We marinated our chicken overnight and dredged it in a flour mixture that we flavored with cayenne and garlic powder. The chicken got another dip in the buttermilk, and again in the flour for a double dredge, which results in a crispier crust.
Making The Spicy Glaze
While the chicken is frying, you’ll melt together plenty of butter, some honey, apple cider vinegar, and more cayenne. Once the chicken is done frying, brush each piece liberally with the glaze.
You can serve your Nashville chicken alone or in a bun but make sure to serve some pickled jalapenos or pickles on the side.
Podcast Episode About Making Nashville Hot Chicken
Listen to our editor, Christine Pittman, explain briefly about how to make this chicken, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Nashville Style Hot Chicken
Nashville Style Hot Chicken takes classic, buttermilk marinated, fried chicken and covers it in a sweet, tangy and spicy cayenne glaze. Serve alone or in a bun!
- Prep Time: 8 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 8 hours 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 Tbsp. and 2 tsp. cayenne pepper powder, divided
- 2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1 cup butter
- 2 Tbsp. honey
- 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Butterfly the chicken breasts by slicing them in half lengthwise. Add them to a bowl or a large plastic bag.
- Add the buttermilk and 1 teaspoon of cayenne to the chicken. Make sure all the chicken is coated and covered with the buttermilk. Marinate for 8 hours or overnight.
- When you’re ready to cook, remove the chicken from the fridge and let it come to room temperature for 20 minutes while you prepare the flour dredge and heat the oil.
- Add the oil to a large stock pot or skillet over medium heat and heat to 300°F. Use a candy thermometer to gauge the temperature and to try to keep it at 300F throughout.
- Whisk together the flour, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon of the cayenne.
- Shake excess buttermilk off of a piece of chicken. Dip it into the flour mixture on both sides, then back into the buttermilk on both sides, and then back into the flour mixture on both sides, shaking any excess flour off and making sure the entire piece of chicken is covered in the dredge. Repeat with each piece of chicken. Arrange coated chicken pieces in a single layer on a plate as you go.
- Fry the chicken pieces, about 4-5 minutes per side until golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 165°F. You may need to do this in batches as you don’t want to crowd the chicken – make sure the chicken pieces are not touching as they fry.
- Remove the chicken and let it drain on a wire rack with a paper towel underneath.
- While the chicken is frying, melt together the butter, honey, apple cider vinegar, and the remaining tablespoon of cayenne in a small saucepan. Stir occasionally.
- When all the chicken has fried, brush the chicken liberally with the spicy honey butter glaze.
This post originally appeared in April 2019 and was revised and republished in June 2022.