Nashville Hot Chicken
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Aug 28, 2025 
Nashville Hot Chicken – This recipe for spicy, crunchy Nashville-style fried chicken is truly mind-blowing! A few unique tweaks make our dish perfectly spiced, with slightly sweet and smoky flavors you will love.
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
Our Nashville Hot Chicken Recipe is a MUST!
If you have ever lived in the south, you likely have a favorite fried chicken spot, amirite?
One of our favorites is this amazing chicken shack here in Asheville called Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack, which makes Nashville-style fried chicken. Each piece of crispy, crunchy, juicy fried chicken is brushed with spicy oil, so it’s bright red, crisp, and spicy hot.
We decided to make our own homemade version of Nashville Hot Chicken, inspired by this beloved local joint. We added just a touch of sugar to balance the spice, along with a bit of smoked paprika for depth and intrigue.
If you like classic fried chicken and are a fan of all things spicy, you are going to love this Nashville Hot Chicken!
Ingredients You Need
This Nashville Hot Chicken recipe has two main components: Fried chicken and the mind-blowing spicy oil that is brushed onto the crispy chicken skin.
To make the fried chicken you need:
- Bone-in chicken with skin – about 8 pieces total (chicken breast, thighs and legs)
- Dill pickle juice – the secret ingredient for a perfect southern brine
- Sugar – adds a bit of sweetness to balance the heat
- Buttermilk – either store-bought or learn How to Make Buttermilk
- All-purpose flour – or your favorite gluten-free flour mix for frying
- Cornstarch – to get the crispiest, crunchiest fried chicken
- Creole or Cajun seasoning – adds spice and depth of flavor
- Peanut oil – or vegetable oil, Canola oil, for frying
For the homemade spicy oil you need:
- Reserved fry oil – from when you fry the chicken
- Brown sugar – for a perfectly smoky-sweet flavor
- Seasonings – cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, salt
Our version of this oil would be considered medium-spicy at a place like Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack or at Hattie B’s Hot Chicken in Nashville. You can make the chicken more or less spicy by adding or reducing the amount of cayenne pepper.
How to Make Nashville Hot Chicken
How to Brine Chicken for Frying
Spicy or not, the best fried chicken recipes always start with a pickle juice brine. This sour and salty flavor creates pieces of chicken that are perfectly crispy fried on the outside and juicy on the inside. Do not skip this step!
- First, warm the pickle juice on the stovetop or in the microwave. (It doesn’t need to boil, but should be just hot enough to dissolve sugar.) Stir in the sugar until dissolved.
- Remove from the heat and allow the liquid to cool slightly. Then add the pickle juice brine into a large zip bag. Add the chicken pieces and zip the bag closed, removing as much air as possible. (You can also do this in a baking pan or dutch oven.)
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but longer is better. If you can brine the chicken for 8 hours or overnight, that’s best for easy prep and the most flavorful chicken.
Find the full Hot Chicken Recipe with ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, and video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post. Plus, extra cooking tips and Q&A below!
More Tips for Success
- To make gluten-free Nashville hot chicken, use a gluten-free replacement flour to dredge the chicken!
- Don’t fry fridge-cold chicken! You want to take the chicken out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you plan to bread it. This will help the oil stay hot and not drop in temperature too much once you add the chicken.
- You must use an oil with a high smoke point! Use a neutral oil with a high smoke point like vegetable, canola, grapeseed, or peanut oil. Only use peanut oil if you are sure no one has a peanut allergy!
- Make sure the oil is ready before frying! The best part about fried chicken is the crispy skin. You can only get that golden crisp if the oil is at the perfect temperature!
Serving Suggestions
Like at Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack or Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, we recommend that you serve Nashville Hot Chicken with the traditional two slices of white bread and pickles. Enjoy as a main dish with all of your favorite Southern side dishes!
Southern Side Dishes
Frequently Asked Questions
This might happen if the cooking oil for the chicken is too hot. So the outside gets brown and crispy before the inside has a chance to cook! If you are unsure if the chicken is done on the inside, use a meat thermometer to check that the internal temperature has reached 165°F!
Definitely! This is a very important step in making this Nashville hot chicken recipe. It will ensure that the buttermilk mixture and breading stays on the chicken instead of falling off in the oil.
If your hot chicken is soggy, your oil might have been too cold, or you may have placed too many chicken pieces in the oil at one time. Each time you add a piece of chicken to the deep fryer, the temperature will go down. Be sure to cook in batches to ensure the oil stays at a consistent temperature!
After making this hot chicken recipe, let the fried chicken cool to room temperature before storing leftovers in an airtight container, and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat the Nashville Hot Chicken pieces for just a few minutes in an air fryer or 350-degree F oven for the crunchiest and yummiest leftovers!
Mind-Blowing Nashville Hot Chicken Recipe
Video
Ingredients
For the Fried Chicken –
- 3-4 pounds bone-in chicken pieces I used a fryer pack, 8 pieces total.
- 1 ¼ cup dill pickle juice
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk
- ¼ cup hot sauce Frank’s RedHot or Louisiana
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons creole seasoning
- 2 quarts peanut oil or vegetable oil
For the Spicy Oil –
- ¾ cup reserved fry oil
- ¼ cup ground cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
For Serving –
Instructions
- Brine the Chicken: Warm the pickle juice on the stovetop or in the microwave. Then stir in the sugar until dissolved. Pour the pickle juice brine into a large zip bag. Add the chicken pieces. Zip the bag closed. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but longer is better. (If you can brine the chicken for 8 hours or overnight, that’s best!)
- Once the chicken has brined, set out two shallow dishes. Pour the buttermilk and hot sauce in one shallow dish. Mix well. In the second dish, combine the flour, cornstarch, and creole seasoning. Mix well.
- Drain the brine off the chicken. Set out a metal rack. One at a time, dunk the chicken pieces in the flour mixture, then the buttermilk, then back in the flour mixture. Place the breaded chicken pieces on the rack. (It’s good for the chicken breading to rest before frying, so don’t heat the oil until all the chicken has been well coated.)
- Set a large saucepot on the stovetop and clip a cooking thermometer to the side of the pot. Pour enough fry oil into the pot to fill it about two-thirds full. Turn the heat on medium to medium-high.
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Set another rack on a baking sheet for the cooked fried chicken.
- Once the oil temperature reaches 350 degrees F, carefully place four pieces of chicken in the fry oil. Use tongs to move the chicken so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Fry for 7-8 minutes, until golden brown. (The largest pieces should be 165 degrees F inside.)
- Use the tongs to carefully pull the chicken pieces from the hot oil and place them on the clean rack. Place the fried chicken in the oven to keep warm and crisp.
- Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces. Place the second batch of fried chicken in the oven. Turn off the heat.
- For the Spicy Oil: Use a ladle to scoop ¾ cup of fry oil from the pot into a heat-proof mixing bowl. Add the cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, brown sugar, chili powder, garlic powder, and salt. Stir to mix.
- When ready to serve the chicken, remove the rack from the oven and brush the spicy oil over all sides of the fried chicken pieces. It’s traditional to serve the chicken over 2 slices of white bread, topped with pickles.
This chicken is so dang good. I’ve made it a few times now and it is always a winner! The oil is pretty spicy unless you completely avoid the actual spices and only brush the now-flavored oil on.
I know it’s not traditional, but how I serve this is with a vinegar coleslaw and dill mayonnaise on buns… it’s such a good combo and offsets the spice nicely. Also I use boneless skinless thighs as well!
Hello, I am from SouthernCalifornia, my kids love Dave’s Hot Chicken, but I found it to be too salty and oily. You honestly can’t even taste anything. I was skeptical about this recipe but I figured it was worth a shot. And let me just tell you! OMGGG! My kids and myself included will never go to any hot chicken place again! This recipe is a WINNER! Amazing, flavorful, moist and tender chicken every time! I used both boneless thighs and breast pieces! Both were exceptional. I remake this recipe again and again!
Thank you, Sommer.
I read a lot of the comments and didn’t see any that experienced the same problem that I did
My spices just clumped up in the oil instead of making a smooth sauce
Any suggestions on why this happened?
Hello, so I’m from Miami, FL and we don’t have a Rocky’s over here but my daughter and I love some hot chicken, so I made this recipe and at the end when you have to combine the oil with the spices I WAS going to substitute the oil for honey and soy sauce but my conscience was poking me and say no no, so I followed the recipe to the “T”, my daughter as she was taking her second bite said “this is really good” so thank you for sharing this, I know I’m going to use this recipe again very soon, oh and I did substitute the chicken for boneless skinless but it didn’t make a difference the chicken was still really crunchy because of the double dipping. Again thank you for sharing.
This recipe is so good. It tastes so close to the Nashville hot chicken from my favorite fried chicken place. That restaurant moved several cities away, now I can just make it at home!
Seriously, this is an amazing recipe.
Two minor things I did differently:
1. Used boneless chicken thighs.
2. Used half the cayenne pepper in the spicy oil because I didn’t want it as spicy. Was still plenty spicy for me when I brushed the chicken liberally with the oil mix.
Let me make one more suggestion for excellent, CRISPY fried chicken and it’s a simple trick – Put your chicken on a wire rack over your sink and gently pour boiling water over the skin to blanch them. This tightens the skins and makes for even crispier coatings that will really hit the ball out of the park!
This is the first time I’ve ever commented on a recipe, but I had to for this one. This chicken was absolutely delicious. I did quarter chicken legs/thighs cooked in a deep fryer for 16 minutes and it was perfect. I started the fryer at 400f and reduce to hover between 325f and 350f. My partner has just undone the top button of his pants and I’m taking it as a compliment!
Nice crunch breading. I used all my pickle juice, no picklebacks until Amazon delivers in a few days.
My god. It’s perfect.
I lived in Asheville NC for a few years and HOW I MISS ROCKYS HOT CHICKEN SHACK.
I made this recipe pretty much exactly as it’s laid out and it’s *exactly* like Rocky’s does it which is to say the best Nashville style hot chicken I’ve ever had. Bravo!! I’ve been missing good Nashville hot chicken where I live now but this put be right back inside Rocky’s.
To get the full Rocky’s effect I got some sliced brioche and made sure some of the spicy oil soaked in. 👌🏻
Thank you ❤️❤️❤️
Hi Patrick,
Wow, that’s high praise. Thanks for reporting back! We love Rocky’s and still go there about once a month. :)
This recipe is amazing! I use this all the time when I get a craving for Nashville hot chicken. I use brioche buns and it’s top notch.
Trying this out tonight
Absolutely delicious!! I’ve made this recipe both in the air fryer and in the traditional way in a pot, and both are really good. For the air fryer, I increased the temp to 375 and 6 minutes for each side. In the air fryer, make sure to have a small layer of oil before placing your chicken
Perfect recipe chef