30 Minute Nashville Hot Chicken Recipes

CHEF JOHN'S NASHVILLE HOT CHICKEN

Steps:

• Toss chicken pieces with 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Transfer chicken to a bowl; cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Whisk buttermilk, pickle brine, hot sauce, and egg together in a mixing bowl. Pour marinade over chicken and stir to ensure each piece is thoroughly coated. Cover and let chicken marinate in refrigerator 2 to 4 hours.
• Mix flour and salt together in a shallow flat dish. Remove chicken from marinade and blot with paper towels. Reserve marinade. Toss chicken in flour until thoroughly coated. Return chicken to marinade, coating all sides; remove chicken from marinade allowing excess to drip back into the bowl. Coat the chicken once again in flour mixture. Place on a rack. Repeat with all chicken pieces. Allow to sit out about 15 minutes to allow coating to dry out a bit.
• Place butter and lard in a large pot. Add cayenne pepper, brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, kosher salt, and black pepper. Place over medium-high heat. Cook and stir until fats melt. Remove from heat; keep sauce warm.
• Fill cast iron skillet about 1/3 of the way with vegetable oil. Heat oil to 350 degrees F over medium-high heat. Carefully place chicken into hot oil, skin side down. Maintain an oil temperature of 325 degrees F, adjusting heat as need. Fry until instant read thermometer reads 160 degrees F, 8 to 10 minutes per side.
• Transfer chicken to a rack to drain. Brush with the sauce on both sides.

NASHVILLE HOT CHICKEN

Steps:

• Marinate the Chicken: In bowl, combine buttermilk, egg, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Beat to combine, then add the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes - 4 hours to marinate (longer is better but if you are short on time it is still tasty.) In another bowl, add the flour and set aside.
• Make the Sauce: Combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl or saucepan (butter, oil, cayenne pepper, brown sugar, garlic powder, paprika, Worcestershire or soy sauce, salt and pepper). Microwave or heat until butter is just melted (the hotter it is, the harder it will be to emulsify the spices in the liquids). Whisk thoroughly until smooth. When the sauce is cooler, it doesn't separate as easily so we like to brush sauce on the chicken when the sauce is slightly cooler or room temperature. If you want your sauce warmer, then keep stirring or whisking the sauce as you brush the chicken so that you have as little separation of sauce/oil as possible. The warmer the sauce is, the more the spices will want to separate from the liquids.
• For Single Dredging: Remove chicken from buttermilk, shaking off excess buttermilk, then dredge chicken pieces in flour. Make sure all sides of chicken are covered in flour. Shake off excess flour.
• For Double Dredging: Remove chicken from buttermilk, shaking off excess buttermilk, then dredge chicken pieces in flour, then into the buttermilk mixture and back again into the flour. Make sure all sides of chicken are covered in flour. Shake off excess flour.
• Heat about 1/2" of oil in a pan (cast iron is preferable) to 350°F. Carefully add the chicken and cook until all sides of the chicken are golden and cooked through (about 8-10 minutes per side). Try to maintain the oil temperature at 325°F while cooking. It is ok to turn the chicken several times while frying to make sure each side gets nice and golden.
• Sauce and Serve: Generously brush the cooked chicken with the sauce. Serve on the slices of bread and top with several pickle slices.