Nashville hot chicken
Prep time: 1 hrTotal time: 
Nashville hot chicken
There’s southern fried chicken and then there’s Nashville hot chicken. A fiery interpretation with roots in the city’s African American community, it is crisp, cayenne-spiced and typically served with slices of soft white bread to soak up the heat. Our version lets you dial the heat up or down to suit your taste
Prep time: 1 hrTotal time: 
Abigail Spooner
Abi is our Head of Food. She loves the precision and creativity of baking, turning fridge odds-and-ends into a weeknight pasta, and is always bookmarking new restaurants to try. She's happiest hosting friends around a table overflowing with food (and insisting everyone has seconds) or planning holidays around what to eat.
Abigail Spooner
Abi is our Head of Food. She loves the precision and creativity of baking, turning fridge odds-and-ends into a weeknight pasta, and is always bookmarking new restaurants to try. She's happiest hosting friends around a table overflowing with food (and insisting everyone has seconds) or planning holidays around what to eat.
Ingredients
- 1 x 640g pack chicken breast mini fillets
- ½ tsp fine salt
- 2 medium eggs
- 175g buttermilk
- 1 tsp Tabasco
- 200g plain flour
- about 900ml vegetable oil, to fry
For the spicy glaze
- 2-4 tsp cayenne, depending on spice preference
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp garlic granules
- 2 tsp dark brown soft sugar
To serve (optional)
- 6 slices white bread
- crinkle cut gherkins
- Taste the Difference Coleslaw
Step by step
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Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Pat the chicken dry with kitchen paper and put in a large bowl. Season with the salt and some black pepper. In a second bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and Tabasco. Put 50g of flour in a third bowl and the remaining 150g of flour in a fourth bowl. Use tongs to dredge one piece of chicken at a time in the smaller quantity of flour, shaking off the excess, then dip in the buttermilk mixture, letting the excess drip back into the bowl, and finally coat in the larger quantity of flour. Arrange the coated chicken on the prepared tray – you want a rough, craggy texture for maximum crunch once fried.
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Preheat the oven to 110°C, fan 90°C, gas ¼. Line another large baking tray with kitchen paper. Heat the oil in a deep pan over a medium-high heat until it reads 180°C on a digital thermometer, or until a cube of bread sizzles when dropped in the oil and browns in 40-60 seconds. Deep-fry the chicken in batches for 3-5 minutes until cooked through and golden. Drain on kitchen paper then place on the tray and keep warm in the oven between batches.
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Remove the pan of oil from the heat. Use a ladle to carefully transfer 100ml of the frying oil to a heatproof measuring jug. Leave to cool for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, put the cayenne (use 2 teaspoons for mild, 3 teaspoons for medium or 4 teaspoons for hot), paprika, garlic granules and dark brown sugar in a medium bowl. Stir in the reserved hot frying oil, then brush the fried chicken with the spicy oil. Serve the chicken with sliced white bread (to soak up the spicy oil), gherkins and coleslaw, if you like.
