Nasville hot chicken
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Don’t mistake hot chicken for ordinary fried chicken. It might have the same golden skin fried to crispy perfection, the same succulent meat cloaked inside, and the requisite grease left behind on your fingers after indulging, but to Nashville—where it was invented—hot chicken is so much more.

Legend has it that Thornton Prince of the iconic hot chicken restaurant Prince’s Hot Chicken is responsible for this legendary Music City staple. The story goes that during the Great Depression, Thornton, who loved the ladies almost as much as he loved fried chicken, spurred jealousy in his partner after returning home late after another evening on the town.

Her revenge was to prepare him his favorite fried chicken recipe spiked with fiery hidden spices that she hoped would set his mouth ablaze. Instead, much to her dismay, he loved her recipe and a Nashville mainstay was born. There are countless reasons to love hot chicken as much as Thornton did. Here are seven of them:

1. Nashville Hot Fried Chicken


This is a classic hot chicken recipe, complete with a buttermilk bath for juiciness and a side of hot sauce for extra heat. There’s so much to love about this dish from Carlsbad Cravings, including the way the spice rub can be added to other recipes for a little extra heat. Get the Nashville Hot Fried Chicken recipe.

2. Loveless Cafe Hot Chicken


No hot chicken story would be complete without including the recipe from the storied restaurant The Loveless Cafe, located a short drive from Nashville. Devotees flock here for the warm biscuits dripping in honey butter and the hot chicken that doesn’t skimp in the lard department, complete with a side of dill pickles. This is an indulgent hot chicken recipe sure to convert even the most stubborn fried chicken devotees. Get the Loveless Cafe Hot Chicken recipe.

Southern Country Cooking from the Loveless Cafe, $15.18 from Amazon

Get even more recipes for the cafe's food with their official cookbook.
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3. Nashville Hot Chicken Wings


The full bird should have its due when it comes to hot chicken but sometimes, you’re just craving the wings. In Cooking with Janica’s recipe, brown sugar tempers the blazing hot sauce and spicy hot chicken coating and white bread is served alongside to mop up every last indulgent fried crumb. It’s a game day winner and would be made even better with a side of creamy ranch or blue cheese dressing. Get the Nashville Hot Chicken Wings recipe.

4. Roasted Nashville Hot Chicken

roasted Nashville hot chicken recipe

Amber Wilson

Don’t get us wrong, we’re all for basking in the indulgent glow of greasy fried hot chicken, but sometimes you’re craving the heat without the food coma that could potentially follow. This is that recipe. Just a quick pan fry to crisp the skin, and of course plenty of spice. Get the Roasted Nashville Hot Chicken recipe.

5. Basked Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders

baked Nashville hot chicken with white bread and pickles

Chowhound

Sometimes you’re craving the heat wallop that hot chicken delivers without all the bones. This hot chicken tender recipe is just the thing to satisfy that desire. Even better for the health conscious, the tenders are baked, not fried, so you only have to fend off a minor amount of hot chicken guilt. Get our Basked Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders.

6. Oven Fried Southern Hot Honey Chicken


This oven-baked fried chicken is another slightly healthier take that doesn’t skimp on the spice—but also adds sweetness with honey. It still gets a buttermilk soak before the crunchy corn flake coating is applied. The hot honey butter glaze definitely necessitates finger licking to catch every last drop of spicy-sweet goodness. Get the Oven Fried Southern Hot Honey Chicken recipe.

7. Vegan Nashville Hot Chicken


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Because no one should have to miss out on the mouth-searing joys of hot chicken. This Vegan Nashville Hot Chicken recipe starts with a base of seitan, but there are many other plant-based meat alternatives you can batter and fry (or bake), from tofu to cauliflower. Or get cheeky and use a cult-favorite fungi for this Nashville Hot Chicken Style Hen of the Woods Mushrooms recipe.

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Header image courtesy of Bruce Yuanyue Bi / The Image Bank / Getty Images

Jody Eddy is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan. She has cooked at Jean Georges, The Fat Duck, and Tabla and is the former editor of Art Culinaire Magazine. Her most recent cookbook was "Cuba! Recipes and Stories From a Cuban Kitchen", published by Ten Speed Press. Her cookbook "North: The New Nordic Cuisine of Iceland" was published by Ten Speed Press in 2014 and won the 2015 IACP Judge's Choice Award. She is the author of the James Beard nominated cookbook "Come In, We're Closed: An Invitation to Staff Meals at the World's Best Restaurants" and her upcoming book for Ten Speed, "The Hygge Life", will be published in November, 2017. She is writing a cookbook for W.W. Norton profiling the cuisine and food traditions of monasteries, temples, mosques and synagogues around the world which will be published in 2019 and a cookbook with the Food Network chef Maneet Chauhan profiling the cuisine of India via an epic train journey throughout the country. She writes for Travel+Leisure, Saveur, Food & Wine, The Wall Street Journal, Plate, and VICE, among others. She is the author of JodyEddy.com, leads culinary trend tours for food and beverage corporations in Iceland, Peru, Mexico, Ireland and Cuba and is the Vice President of Marketing, Partnerships and Events at Hop Springs, an 85 acre agritourism destination opening in Nashville in May, 2018.
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