Hot chicken has foodie virality at the moment, but it isnt a passing fad.
This spicy fried poultry has been searing the taste buds off of Nashvillians for generations.
Bring a tiny piece of Nashville into your home with this hot chicken slider recipe.
(Which happens to be a great football-watching snack, even if youre not a Titans fan.)
I went to Nashville once.
You see, fate played a role.
Hot chicken is known to have originated at Princes, so I knew where to go.
What is hot chicken?
Hot chicken starts as buttermilk fried chicken, similar to many other recipes.
Hot chicken levels span from lite mild, mild, medium, hot, and upwards to xxx hot.
I thought I was being conservative and ordered medium.
I nearly couldnt finish the chicken for my runny nose and cayenne coated mouth.
In your home, you’re free to negotiate the heat more easily.
I give a range of measurements for the cayenne sauce.
I used the minimum measurement in mine and thought it was perfect.
The spice is barely noticeable after the first bite but its a gradual, post-chew kind of heat.
By the time youre halfway through the slider youll feel it.
How to make hot chicken sliders
1.
I used a pound of boneless, skinless chicken thighs and cut them into twelve two- to three-inch pieces.
They should be small; its a slider after all.
Cover the bowl and let the chicken marinate overnight in the fridge, or for an hour at minimum.
Bread the chicken
Mix the dry ingredients together.
Remove the chicken, shaking off excess buttermilk into the bowl, and dredge it in the flour.
Move the chicken to the parchment.
Pass the chicken into the wet mixture, then the dry mixture again for a second coat.
Set it on medium heat and use a thermometer to monitor it.
While it heats up, add the sauce ingredients to a pot.
Turn in on low just to melt the butter, then turn it off.
Youll be adding hot dirty oil from frying the chicken later, and that will finish off the sauce.
My chicken averaged about two minutes per side, until they were cooked through and nicely browned.
Drain and cool the chicken on a wire rack.
It should look red and a bit sludgy.
Put the chicken on the split slider buns, sauce side down.
Top with sliced sour pickles.
The chicken is crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside.
The breading carries so much flavor its almost a treat by itself.
The oil is spicy and salty, with just enough sweetness to balance it out.
I did 1 tablespoon.)
In a large bowl mix the buttermilk, pickle brine, and hot sauce.
Mix the dry dredge ingredients in a shallow dish.
Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
Shake the excess buttermilk off the chicken pieces and dredge them in the dry mixture.
Shake off excess flour and rest them on the parchment lined baking sheet.
Add the egg to the leftover buttermilk mixture.
Pass the chicken through the egg mixture, and the flour mixture for a second coating.
Add enough oil to a heavy bottomed pot to fill it two to three inches.
Heat it over medium heat to 340F to 350F.
While it heats, prepare the spicy sauce.
Fry the chicken at 340F to 350F for about two minutes per side, until well-browned and cooked through.
Place them on a wire rack to drain and cool.
Add a quarter cup of used frying oil to the spicy sauce and mix it in.
Using a pastry brush, baste one side of the fried chicken with the spicy sauce.
Put them on the buns, sauce side down.
Baste the other side with plenty of sauce.
Serve the chicken sliders with sliced pickles.
