Crispy Nashville-style hot chicken sandwich with a juicy and tender center. Served with homemade creamy coleslaw, mayo, and bread and butter pickle chips in a brioche bun. Learn how to make a perfectly seasoned and super crunchy crust and keep the fried chicken juicy and moist.
Nashville Hot Chicken
Although I’ve never been to Nashville, hot chicken is one of my favorite things to eat and make at home. The chicken is perfectly seasoned and breaded to create a crispy shaggy crust, then basted with Nashville hot sauce for fiery but sweet heat and delicious flavor.
Nashville hot chicken originated at Prince’s hot chicken (in Nashville), and what’s so special about it is the hot sauce or paste that they make with cayenne peppers. The chicken is dipped or covered in the sauce, and then served over white toast with pickle chips.
If you visit Prince’s Hot Chicken, you can even order a whole chicken, half a chicken, leg quarters, tenders, wings, or a salad. But in my recipe here, I’m making a sandwich, because who doesn’t love a good crispy chicken sandwich?
If you prefer air frying to deep frying, check out my Air Fryer Nashville chicken recipe!
The Ingredients
To make hot chicken sandwiches, here’s what you’ll need:
- Chicken breasts – use skinless and boneless chicken breasts that are either just pounded and flattened to make massive sandwiches (like the ones you can see in the images of this post), or sliced into thin cutlets and then the thick side pounded so it cooks evenly to make a regular-sized chicken sandwich.
- For the breading – you will need all-purpose flour, salt and pepper, buttermilk, and vinegar-based hot sauce such as Frank’s or Tabasco.
- For the hot sauce/paste – You will use about half a cup of the frying oil, cayenne, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, and brown sugar for a touch of sweetness.
- Toppings – plain mayo or spicy mayo, homemade coleslaw, bread and butter pickle chips, brioche buns.
- Oil for frying – any neutral-tasting oil with a high smoke point.
How to Make Nashville-Style Hot Chicken Sandwiches
Brine the chicken if you have time. I like to prep the chicken, slice into cutlets, and place in a glass bowl with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for up 30 minutes or an hour. This will tenderize the chicken and make it even more flavorful.
Bread the chicken. For the breading, I like to use this handy dandy breading set that I really like (not a must-have, but nice to have). It comes in 3 compartments, I use one for the buttermilk mixture, the other for the flour mixture, and place the breaded chicken in the last one.
Mix the all-purpose flour with salt and pepper. And whisk the buttermilk with a splash of hot sauce.
To bread the chicken I like to make some extra crumbles for super crunchy chicken. To do so, I take about a tablespoon of the buttermilk mixture and place it in the flour, then with my hands I rub it to create little crumbles.
Dredge the chicken in flour and shake off any excess, then dip in buttermilk, and back into the flour. Shake off any excess flour, and either fry right away or bread all of the chicken as the oil heats up to reach 325°F (160°C).
To fry the chicken, add oil to a pot about 1-2 inches deep and make sure that it reaches the desired temperature (325°F/160°C) then slowly add the chicken pieces and fry. I usually fry 2 at a time, as adding more chicken will cause the temperature to drop and that will result in greasy chicken.
Fry for 5 minutes, then check the internal temperature of the chicken. When it reaches 160°F (74°C), remove immediately and place on a cooling rack. I use this cooling rack and place it in the oven to keep the chicken warm as I fry the rest.
Make the Nashville hot sauce. In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients, then as you’re frying the chicken, take about half a cup of the hot oil and cover the spices with it. Give it a quick mix, and baste the chicken with it (see image below). Make sure to do this while the chicken is still hot to avoid greasy chicken.
Assembling The Chicken Sandwich
Now the fun part! Assembling this epic chicken sandwich 😍
Start by lightly buttering and toasting the cut sides of your buns in a pan. Then to assemble, spread mayo or spicy mayo over the brioche bun, place a piece of the fried hot chicken, top with coleslaw, pickle chips, and cover with the top part of the bun.
What Is the Best Oil for Fried Chicken
The best oils for frying must have a high smoke-point and have a neutral taste. Go for vegetable oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, peanut oil, or canola oil. Keep in mind that canola oil produces a fishy scent while frying, but this does not affect the flavor of the chicken at all.
Top Tips
- Season the flour well, don’t skimp on the salt as that makes a huge difference.
- Buttermilk can be substituted with plain yogurt diluted with a splash of water.
- Use any vinegar-based hot sauce such as Frank’s, Louisiana, or sriracha.
- Double dip the chicken for a super crunchy crust. Creating the little crumbles before breading the chicken is also very important.
- Fry right after breading. If you let the breaded chicken sit for long, the breading will become soggy and won’t crisp up very well.
- When making the Nashville sauce, don’t omit the brown sugar as it adds SO much to the flavor!
- Baste the chicken with the Nashville sauce while the chicken is still hot. If you wait until everything has cooled down, you might end up with greasy chicken.
- Keep the chicken warm in the oven as you fry the rest of the chicken. But make sure you’re using an oven-proof wire rack that does not melt in the oven.
For a healthier crispy chicken breast, check out my Air Fryer chicken breast recipe. It uses just a fraction of the oil! Or you can make this in the oven, find the method in my crispy oven baked chicken tenders recipe.
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Nashville-Style Hot Chicken Sandwich
Ingredients
- 2 medium chicken breasts sliced into 4 cutlets
- oil for frying
Breading
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon vinegar-based hot sauce
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1½ teaspoons salt
For the dipping oil
- ½ cup frying oil
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cayenne powder
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
To make the sandwiches
- 4 burger buns buttered and toasted
- bread and butter pickle chips
- coleslaw
- 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
Instructions
- Brine the chicken if time allows it. Slice the chicken into cutlets, and place in a glass bowl with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Remove the chicken from the fridge and bread it. In a shallow bowl, mix the all-purpose flour with salt and pepper. And in a second bowl, whisk the buttermilk with hot sauce.
- Take about a tablespoon of the buttermilk mixture and place it in the flour, then using your hands rub the flour to create little crumbles.
- Dredge the chicken in flour and shake off any excess, then dip in buttermilk, and back into the flour. Shake off any excess flour.
- Heat 1-2 inches of oil in a dutch oven to 350˚F (160°C). Add chicken, 2 pieces at a time and fry for 3-4 minutes on one side, then for 3 more minutes on the other side. The chicken is ready when the internal temperature reaches 160°F (74°C). Remove immediately and place on a cooling rack in the oven to keep it warm as you fry the rest.
- To make the Nashville hot sauce, in a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients, then as you’re frying the chicken, take about half a cup of the hot oil and cover the spices with it. Give it a quick mix, and baste the chicken with it. Make sure to do this while the chicken is still hot to avoid greasy chicken.
- Build the crispy chicken sandwich by spreading mayo on your toasted buns, followed by the fried chicken, coleslaw, and pickle chips.
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