In this week’s episode of Married and Hungry, I’m teaching Julian how to make this Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich from Food52. I thought it would be fun this season if we tried something new, in that every few episodes we’d attempt to make a recipe from the web that I’ve never made before. That way it’s like we’re both learning something new. It keeps the show interesting, in my humble opinion. The first one was this amazing sandwich which is as decadent and delicious as you think it is. It’s spicy, but without burning your mouth off, and actually quite easy to make. If you haven’t seen the episode yet, I highly recommend it, hopefully it’ll brighten up your day. And of course, as always, enjoy this step-by-step post and recipe below!
Let’s start by seasoning boneless skinless chicken thighs with a bit of salt and pepper. There’s no real measurement for this, just a large pinch of both will do!
**Note: You can use boneless skinless chicken breasts for this, that have been cup in half so they’re not so long. Just not that they’ll cook up much faster than thighs and have a higher chance of drying out, so keep a close eye on them!**
Let’s work on our dredging station. In a large shallow dish, whisk together the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder and a pinch of salt. In a separate shallow dish, whisk together the buttermilk, egg and hot sauce.
**Tip: Whenever you’re frying something that has been coated in flour, I highly recommend to add a bit of cornstarch to the flour mixture because it creates a crispier crunchier coating! Buttermilk gives this fried chicken the best flavor, but if you don’t have any on hand, you can do about 2 eggs whisked with 3/4 cup whole milk.**
Dredge the chicken by first coating it in flour, then dipping it into the buttermilk, and finally returning to the flour mixture, making sure to pat down firmly on both sides. Shake off excess flour and transfer to a baking sheet. Continue dredging until all the chicken is coated.
**Tip: Allowing the dredged chicken to rest for a few minutes will prevent the coating from falling off during frying. It’ll dry out a bit and adhere to the chicken better, so I highly recommend you don’t skip that step. Just letting it rest while the oil comes to temperature is enough!**
Add a scant ½ inch of peanut oil to a cast-iron skillet and set over medium-high heat. Bring the oil up to 360°F. Once hot, carefully add about two pieces of chicken at a time (this depends on how big your skillet is, but you don’t want to over-crowd the chicken in the oil or it won’t fry properly). Fry until golden brown, about 4 1/2 minutes per side. Transfer to a wire rack set over a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Continue frying the remaining rest.
**Tip: You can keep the chicken warm in a 250°F oven while you continue frying the remaining chicken so that the first batch fried doesn’t get cold on you while you make the rest.**
While the chicken fries, combine the cayenne, brown sugar, garlic powder, paprika, and black pepper in a heatproof bowl. Once all the chicken is done, carefully add about 1/2 cup of the hot frying oil to the bowl with the spices and whisk until smooth.
**Note: Make sure you carefully do this step because the oil is very hot and you don’t want to get hurt. When you add the oil to the spices do it slowly because it will sizzle somewhat once you add it.**
Dunk the warm fried chicken into the spiced oil, turning it over to coat both sides very well.
**Tip: If at any point this mixture gets too thick, you can thin it out with a little more hot oil. Make sure to whisk the mixture in between each dunking of chicken to make sure the spices don’t settle to the bottom.**
When you’re ready to build the sandwiches, toss the shredded lettuce with a spoonful of the mayo. This helps the mayo stay in the sandwich and not fall out, but also gives it a bit more flavor.
Slather the bottom buns with mayo, top with the lettuce, a piece of chicken and then with pickles. Slather the top buns with more mayo, and then close the sandwiches.
If you find that the chicken has dried out a bit from the sauce, you can spoon any remaining sauce right over the fried chicken once you’ve placed it in the sandwich, before placing the top bun on.
Of course, these are best served right away because you want them hot and crispy, so I don’t really recommend making these ahead of time. At most, you can fry the chicken up to 30 minutes before you plan on serving it and then just rewarm in a hot oven before assembling. You don’t want to leave it in the oven for that long because they’ll dry out too much.
If you’re not into spice or a lot of heat, you can always cut back on the amount of spices you use in the oil-spice mixture or you can just omit that step altogether and have a delicious fried chicken sandwich instead. It would be just as good!
I know that frying could be scary or daunting sometimes but if you go into it with confidence you’ll be great. The trick is that you can’t be scared. The other trick is that you really want to monitor the temperature of the oil. I highly recommend getting a deep-fry thermometer like this one. It will change your frying game, I promise. The other thing is that you want to pick the right skillet. This isn’t a deep frying recipe and so a large cast-iron skillet will do. Just make sure not to over fill with oil because you don’t want it to spill over when adding the chicken! Follow those tips and you’ll be good to go.
I hope you’ll give this recipe a try soon, and be sure to let me know what you think if you do! They’re some of the best chicken sandwiches I’ve ever made and eaten. And the best part is that it really doesn’t take that much time to make. Serve with oven fries, chips or even a salad on the side! Of course, don’t forget to watch this week’s episode of Married and Hungry to watch us make this recipe! Have a great 4th of July and stay safe, my friends!
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Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich
Ingredients
Fried Chicken:
- 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, patted dry
- Kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce
- 1 large egg
- 2 ½ tablespoons ground cayenne
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Peanut oil for frying
Sandwich:
- 2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 4 soft brioche buns
- ¼ cup bread-and-butter pickle chips
Instructions
- Season the chicken liberally with salt and black pepper on both sides and set aside.
- In a shallow dish, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and a pinch of salt. In a separate shallow dish, whisk together the buttermilk, egg and hot sauce. Dredge the chicken by first coating it in flour, then dipping it into the buttermilk, and finally returning to the flour mixture, making sure to pat down firmly on both sides. Shake off excess flour and transfer to a baking sheet. Continue dredging until all the chicken is coated. Allow to rest while you heat up the oil.
- Add a scant ½ inch of peanut oil to a cast-iron skillet and set over medium-high heat. Bring the oil up to 360°F. Once hot, carefully add about two pieces of chicken at a time. Fry until golden brown, about 4 1/2 minutes per side. Transfer to a wire rack set over a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Continue frying the remaining two. You can keep the chicken warm in a 250°F oven.
- While the chicken fries, combine the cayenne, brown sugar, garlic powder, paprika, and black pepper in a heatproof bowl. Once all the chicken is done, carefully add about 1/2 cup of the hot frying oil to the bowl with the spices and whisk until smooth. Dunk the fried chicken in the spiced oil. (If it gets too thick at any point, just thin out with a little more hot oil.)
- To build the sandwiches, toss the lettuce with a spoonful of the mayo. Slather the bottom buns with mayo, top with the lettuce, a piece of chicken and then with pickles. Slather the top buns with more mayo, and then close the sandwiches. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
My husband loved this recipe; more delicious than anything out there, and he’s tried a few…
I’m so happy he loved it, Lee! Thank you so much for letting me know!!
wow, now that’s a sandwich, not having been to Nashville or seen it’s like before, I’m impressed, thank you for sharing the recipe!