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Nashville Hot Chicken

Nashville Hot Chicken

Prep: 35 min
Ready: 25.5 hr
4
meatspicy

The secret of Nashville Hot Chicken - one of the best fried chickens ever.

Ingredients

Cure

  • 4 chicken thigh and leg quarters Or 1 whole chicken cut into 8 pieces
  • Salt generously

Dredge

  • 3 cups flour
  • 3 tsp kosher salt

Buttermilk Dip

  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 2 tbsp hot sauce
  • 2 tbsp pickle juice

Hot Oil Spices

  • 1 cup hot oil (1/2 lard, 1/2 avacado oil)
  • 4 tbsp cayenne
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 tbsp dark brown sugar

Instructions

  1. Begin curing the chicken with salt on both sides. Let sit in the fridge for 24 hours.
  2. Fill a heavy bottomed pot with oil (1/2 lard, 1/2 avacado oil) and preheat to 325F.
  3. For the buttermilk dredge, whisk together beaten eggs with buttermilk, hot sauce, pickle juice.
  4. For the flour dredge, combine all-purpose flour with kosher salt. Whisk together.
  5. For the spicy oil, mix and combine cayenne powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, kosher salt, and dark brown sugar.
  6. Dunk the chicken into the flour followed by the buttermilk mixture and back into the flour mixture. Rinse and repeat with the remaining chicken.
  7. Drop chicken into the oil in batches for 15-18 minutes or internal temperature reaches 165F.
  8. Transfer to a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet.
  9. Take a cup of hot frying oil and whisk into the spice mixture.
  10. Once thoroughly mixed, dump in each piece of chicken and cover with spice mixture.