From Somebody Feed Phil · 2018- · Reconstructed
Nashville Hot Chicken
Serve when
Brush on the hot oil paste the instant the chicken comes out of the fryer, while it's still hissing.
In the series
Season 6
- S6E5 · ~00:30:00 Phil and his son Ben visit Prince's Hot Chicken, working their way up the spice scale from mild to extra hot with the help of Ms. Andre, the queen of Prince's
In the series
Prince's Hot Chicken is where Nashville hot chicken was invented, according to family legend, as revenge on a cheating boyfriend that turned into the city's most famous dish. Phil brings his son Ben along to push their spice tolerance from mild to extra hot — a rare father-son beat that turns a food challenge into a genuine bonding moment.
Ingredients
- For the chicken:
- For the hot oil paste (start mild, scale up):
Method
- Marinate the chicken in buttermilk and hot sauce at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- Mix the flour with the cayenne, salt, and pepper. Dredge the chicken pieces, shaking off the excess.
- Fry in oil or lard at 325 F until deeply golden and cooked through — 165 F on an instant-read thermometer at the thickest point — about 15 to 18 minutes for larger pieces.
- While the chicken fries, whisk the reserved hot frying oil with cayenne, brown sugar, paprika, and garlic powder into a thick, spoonable paste. Start on the low end of the cayenne range and taste — this dish is meant to be genuinely hot, but you control how hot.
- Brush the hot paste generously over the fried chicken the moment it comes out of the oil, while it's still hot enough for the paste to cling and sizzle slightly.
- Serve on white bread with pickle chips, the traditional way to cut the heat.
Substitutions
- Extra hot: Prince's extra-hot version reportedly uses enough cayenne and other hot peppers that regulars eat it with gloves on. Scale the paste up carefully and always taste-test on a small piece first — there is no shame in stopping at "hot."
- Lard: Traditional Nashville hot chicken is often fried in lard; vegetable oil works fine as a substitute.
Beyond the recipe
Watch & shop
As an Amazon Associate, FlixNFood earns from qualifying purchases.