The Best Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich: Your Go-To Guide

The Nashville hot chicken sandwich is incredibly popular these days and for good reason! Fried chicken is one of humankind’s greatest discoveries, right up there with the wheel. The greasy combo of fiery spices, hot chicken, crunchy pickles, creamy coleslaw, and a pillowy soft bun make Nashville hot chicken a crowd-pleaser.

I have a confession. I think I’m addicted to my Nashville hot chicken sandwich recipe. Forget about takeout or whatever your local restaurant is serving up. My recipe is better. I make it a couple of times a month and feast on finger-licking fried chicken.

Ready to make a hot chicken sandwich that your family loves? That your friends will be begging you to bring to every party? Let’s take a deep dive into everything you need to know about cooking up the greatest Nashville hot chicken sandwich in the land.

Keys to the Cook

There are a few non-negotiable tips I have for making a truly great fried chicken sandwich. I’m going to spill the beans on what you need.

Use Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs

Chicken thighs are the ideal cut of meat for Nashville hot chicken. They are juicy and tender, and when breaded, they fit perfectly on a bun.

Do not buy bone-in thighs with the skin on. You don’t want to be biting into a bone when you’re eating a sandwich.

You can use chicken breasts to make Nashville hot chicken sandwiches, but they won’t be as tasty. Chicken breast is a leaner, less flavorful cut of meat than the thigh. If you use chicken breasts, you’ll have a sandwich that’s more dry and tough.

Also, chicken breasts from the supermarket are typically too big for a bun once the breading is applied. You’ll need to trim them down. Breasts work in a pinch, but for the ultimate hot chicken sandwich, buy thighs.

Cook to the Correct Internal Temperature

For thighs, you’re shooting for a temperature of 170°F. That’s the ideal temperature for dark poultry meat. Chicken breasts should be cooked to 160°F or 165°F  internal temperature.

A good instant-read thermometer is your best friend when cooking Nashville hot chicken sandwiches. It will allow you to pull the thighs from the hot oil at the right doneness temperature. It will also allow you to monitor the temperature of the frying oil. 360°F-375°F is the perfect temperature for frying the chicken.

Buy Good Chicken

Good food starts with good ingredients. Your hot chicken sandwiches will only be as tasty as the chicken you use to make them.

I like Miller Amish Country Poultry chicken products. If those are available at your grocery store, grab them. If not, look for organic or farm-raised chickens. You’ll pay a couple of bucks more, but you’ll taste the difference.

Get Set Up for Success

Frying chicken thighs is a messy task. Get yourself set up for success before you start frying.

While your frying oil is coming up to temperature, get your workspace ready. You’ll need to bread, season, and dredge the chicken. Have the ingredients in separate bowls and ready to go. I like to place the bowls on a sheet pan – any spills land on the pan, not my counter, and I stick the pan in the dishwasher for easy cleanup later.

You could also line your cooking station with plastic wrap to keep the mess in check.

Enough of my tips – let’s get to cooking.

Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich Recipe

These sandwiches are hot! I’d put them at a solid 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. Some of my Midwestern friends that I’ve served these bad boys wince in physical discomfort when biting into one. You can increase or decrease the spicy heat by adjusting the amounts of hot sauce and cayenne pepper.

I don’t recommend making these in an air fryer. Nashville hot chicken is meant to be fried. It’s not a health food. It’s a gloriously messy and tasty sandwich, and the deep frying process is a critical step.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes per chicken thigh

Serves: 4

Frying temperature: 360°F-375°F

Cooking Ingredients

• 2 cups peanut oil for frying (Vegetable oil and canola oil can be substituted. Do not use olive oil – it’s too expensive, and the flavor isn’t right.)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk (No buttermilk? No problem. You can substitute 1 cup of milk mixed with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice for buttermilk.)
• 2 teaspoons of your favorite hot sauce (I like Cholula hot sauce. Tabasco is a great vinegar-based hot sauce.)
• 1 large egg
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, patted dry with paper towels

Sauce Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons ground cayenne
• 2 teaspoons chipotle powder (I love this stuff. It brings a rich, peppery fire. If you don’t have it, use more cayenne.)
• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (Use regular paprika if you don’t have smoked paprika.)
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 cup hot oil, pulled from the cooking vessel

Ingredients for the Sandwiches

1. 4 buns (Potato buns are traditional, but brioche buns, sesame, and regular hamburger buns all get the job done. My preference is for brioche buns. You can use toasted buns or untoasted.)
2. Mayonaisse (I use Duke’s brand.)
3. Shredded lettuce or coleslaw
4. Dill pickle chips (If you like bread and butter pickles or sweet pickles, go for it.)

Cooking Instructions

1. Add the peanut oil to a pan. You can use a Dutch oven, cast-iron skillet, or my personal favorite, a wok. Use about 2 cups – the oil should be 1/2 inch high, and fry one side of the chicken thighs at a time. Turn the burner to medium-high heat. Get the oil temperature to 360°F-375°F before deep frying.
2. Set up your dredging station. Combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and a pinch of kosher salt in a bowl or shallow dish. Combine buttermilk, hot sauce, and another pinch of kosher salt get whisked in another shallow bowl. Use a fork or kitchen whisk to combine the ingredients.
3. Bread the chicken thighs. Dredge them in the flour mixture, then dunk them in the buttermilk mixture. Dredge them in the flour mixture again. The double dip will make the chicken nice and crispy
4. Fry the chicken. Gently add chicken pieces into the oil. Add one piece at a time. Do not overcrowd the Dutch oven – fry the chicken in batches if necessary. Fry for around 5 minutes per side, and add more peanut or vegetable oil if needed.
5. Combine sauce ingredients. While the chicken fries, combine the cayenne, brown sugar, garlic powder, paprika, black pepper, chili powder, and chipotle powder in a small bowl that’s heatproof. Use a ceramic, metal, or glass bowl. Don’t use plastic. These ingredients are the base of your Nashville hot sauce.
6. Remove the thighs from the oil. When the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 170°F, it’s done cooking. Remove them from the large skillet, wok, or whatever pan you used. Add 1/2 cup of the hot oil to the bowl with the spice blend and whisk it together. Dip the chicken thighs in the bowl. Coat both sides with Nashville hot sauce.
   Note: you can use melted butter instead of hot oil. In fact, some would argue that butter is a more traditional fat to use for Nashville hot chicken sandwiches. I like the airy crispness that comes from the oil – try it side-by-side, dipping a different piece of chicken in a Nashville hot sauce made from both fats. See which you like better!
7. Build your sandwiches. Slather the mayo on the bottom bun, and stick the pickles on there. Add the chicken to the top, then place some creamy slaw on top of the chicken. Add more mayo to the top bun if desired. Serve immediately – no need to rest or stick them on a wire rack to cool down.
8. Feast! Enjoy your hard work. Take a big bite of deliciously breaded chicken cooked to perfection. That crisp coating, rich chicken, sweet brown sugar, creamy coleslaw and mayo, and fiery blend of spices is an amazing thing. Savory goodness in every bite, from the crunchy exterior to the juicy and tender center.

Store leftovers (if you’ve got any) in the fridge for 3-4 days. The hot sandwiches are great cold or can be reheated in the microwave or oven.

Change Up Your Toppings and Ingredients

While a traditional hot chicken sandwich generally only has three toppings – mayo, lettuce, and pickles, no one is stopping you from getting as creative as you’d like.

Try taking the Nashville out of the Nashville hot chicken sandwich. Use pesto in place of the mayo, and ditch my seasoning mixture for some Italian seasoning (rosemary, oregano, thyme). Top it with lettuce instead of coleslaw, and toss some fresh basil leaves on there.

Throw some sliced avocado on there instead of the mayonnaise for a creamy pop of green color. Add some cilantro and a squeeze of lime, and you’re south of the border. Use lettuce, not coleslaw, if you go this route.

Use the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, and replace the hot sauce with spicy gochujang. Replace the coleslaw with kimchi, and you’ve got some Korean hot chicken sandwiches.

The sky is the limit here, so get creative and get creating. Keep the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture the same, but sub out spices and toppings as you see fit.

Related Reading

• 20 Pulled Pork Sandwich Toppings You Must Try!

Try Making Nashville Hot Chicken Sliders

Cut the thighs in half before breading, dredging in buttermilk, and frying, and they’re the perfect size for sliders.

Put them on mini rolls, and you are good to go. Wait until serving to add the mayo and coleslaw – you don’t want the bread to get soggy. Use a toothpick to secure a pickle chip to the top of each slider. Presto! You’ll be a legend at whatever party you bring these to, I promise. People love these Nashville hot chicken sandwich sliders – I make some every Christmas.

What Makes Nashville Hot Chicken Different?

Nashville hot chicken is different from a traditional fried chicken sandwich because it’s dipped in chili oil once it’s done frying. The hot frying oil, mixed together with a spice blend that contains cayenne, brown sugar, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, and chipotle powder, is what transforms fried chicken into Nashville hot chicken.

That’s it. That extra dip in the spicy oil is what separates the Nashville hot chicken sandwich from another fried chicken sandwich.

What is the Difference Between Nashville Hot and Buffalo?

Nashville hot sauce and Buffalo hot sauce have a couple of key differences. First, Nashville hot sauce has brown sugar in it, which bumps up the sweet elements of the sandwich. It also contains powdered cayenne pepper, while Buffalo sauce uses whole cayenne peppers that are liquified through blending.

Buffalo sauce is also a wetter sauce. Think of chicken wings doused with red sauce – that’s Buffalo sauce. Nashville hot sauce, meanwhile, gets absorbed into the breading of the chicken. The heat is in there, but it’s not a wet sauce that will leave you scrambling for a wet nap.

Both sauces traditionally use butter as their fat (although commercial bottles tend to use oil, and my recipe here urges you to use oil).

What Makes Nashville Hot Chicken So Spicy?

It’s the cayenne pepper that does the heavy lifting, making the hot chicken so spicy. Most recipes also encourage adding a bit of your favorite hot sauce to the chicken, which takes the heat to another level.

If you’re not a fan of food that’s quite spicy, reduce the amount of cayenne pepper in my recipe by half. It should tame the Nashville sauce.

Final Thoughts

I hope you’ve whipped up some spicy Nashville hot chicken sandwiches that were out of this world. Use my method, and I promise you a recipe that you’ll come back to again and again. It’s the perfect balance of heat and sweetness, and these fiery sandwiches taste good year-round – you can make them in July or January.

The main things to remember are to use chicken thighs and to buy the best quality ones you can afford. Fry them at 360°F-375°F until the temperature hits 170°, flipping once, then dredge them through the Nashville hot sauce and stick the chicken on a bun or white bread piled high with your favorite toppings. It’s just that easy.