🍗 Nashville Hot Chicken

Name: Nashville Hot Chicken
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: USA · Nashville, Tennessee
Ingredients: 800 g chicken pieces (thighs and drumsticks); 150 g wheat flour; 1 tsp salt; Oil for deep-frying; 60 g lard; 2–3 tbsp cayenne pepper; 1 tbsp brown sugar; 1 tsp garlic powder; 4 slices white bread; Dill pickle chips to serve

Origin: USA · Nashville, Tennessee

688kcal

per serving · 250 g

275kcal

per 100 g

45 gProtein18 g / 100 g

35 gFat14 g / 100 g

38 gCarbs15 g / 100 g

Nashville hot chicken is deep-fried chicken brushed with a fiery paste of cayenne, brown sugar and hot lard. The crust is crunchy, glossy and red, with a sweet heat that builds with every bite. It is traditionally served on a slice of white bread with dill pickle chips to cool the palate and soak up the spicy fat.

Diets

✓

High protein18 g protein per 100 g — 26% of the calories

Not vegetarianbecause of: chicken, lard

Not veganbecause of: chicken, lard

Contains porkbecause of: lard

Contains glutenbecause of: bread

Contains dairyno milk, cheese, butter or yogurt in a typical recipe

Not keto15 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Milk

What it is made of

chickencayenne pepperbrown sugarlardpicklebread

Recipe

4 servings60 min

Ingredients

800 g chicken pieces (thighs and drumsticks)
150 g wheat flour
1 tsp salt
Oil for deep-frying
60 g lard
2–3 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
4 slices white bread
Dill pickle chips to serve

Method

Season the chicken with salt and rest for 20 minutes; dip in a little pickle brine or water, then dredge well in seasoned flour.
Deep-fry at 165 °C for 12–15 minutes until golden and cooked through (75 °C inside). Drain on a rack.
Melt the lard and whisk in cayenne, brown sugar, garlic powder and a pinch of salt.
Brush the hot paste generously over the fried chicken.
Serve on white bread topped with pickle chips.

How to make it lighter

Choose breast pieces and remove the skin before dredging to cut a large share of the fat.
Brush on only a thin layer of the spicy lard — 1 tbsp of fat ≈ 115–120 kcal.
Skip the bread underneath or eat half a slice, and add extra pickles for crunch.

History

The dish is closely tied to Nashville, where it has been sold for decades and is usually credited to the Prince family's chicken shack. The story goes that a spurned girlfriend over-spiced a man's chicken as revenge, and he liked it so much he started selling it. Today it is served across the United States, often with a choice of heat levels.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →