Nashville Hot Chicken Strips

These Nashville Hot Chicken Strips are a riff on the famous spicy bone-in Nashville hot chicken. They're melt in your mouth tender, and guaranteed to add a pleasing kick to your meal.

Easy Nashville Hot Chicken Strips Recipe

What exactly is Nashville Hot Chicken? There's a fun story regarding the origin of the now-famous Nashville hot chicken. It dates as far back as the 1930's, and is said to have its roots in the revenge of a woman whose significant other was a womanizer. The story goes, she doused the fried chicken she prepared for him with cayenne pepper making it impossible to eat. While this recipe for Nashville hot chicken strips does include cayenne, I assure you it's quite edible.

How to Make the Best Nashville Hot Chicken Strips Recipe

This fried chicken recipe does include several steps beginning with the buttermilk marinade. The ingredients however, aren't difficult to find and none of the steps are difficult. Plan ahead and you'll be good to go.

• Ingredients you'll need to make this recipe for Nashville Hot Chicken Strips: Boneless skinless chicken breasts, buttermilk, dill pickle juice, hot sauce, all purpose flour, salt, paprika, cornstarch, cayenne, eggs, and oil for frying.
• To make the homemade hot chili oil for brushing on the chicken after frying you'll need these ingredients: ⅓ cup of reserved frying oil, butter, cayenne, brown sugar, paprika, salt and chili powder.
• I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into strips for this recipe. Depending on the size of the chicken pieces,  the actual yield may vary.
• Should you choose to use chicken tenders, they will cook much more quickly, so adjust the cooking time to prevent overcooking accordingly.
• I highly recommend buying buttermilk, not fat free, for the marinade and the dredging ingredients. If you're hard pressed, you could make your own. To do so, add 1 tablespoon of white distilled vinegar or fresh lemon juice to each cup of whole milk. Let stand on the counter for 5 minutes, then proceed.
• The spices in the breading for the fried chicken can burn if cooked at too high a temperature. Watch the oil temperature and adjust while frying.
• Toss the chicken strips with chili oil just before serving to prevent the breading from losing its crispy fried texture.
• More Southern fried chicken recipes you may like to make: Treat the family to homemade Crispy chicken sandwiches, easy popcorn chicken or chicken fried chicken with gravy, these are just a few of the other easy chicken recipes you'll fine in the recipe index.
• You may like to make your own Homemade Dill Pickles recipe from Chef Billy Parisi.

How to Make Chili Oil for Nashville Hot Chicken Strips

The hot chili oil for this chicken must be cooked over low heat to avoid burning the spices. The spices won't completely dissolve, they're purpose is to season the oil. Gently tip the saucepan to separate the oil from the seasonings and brush the oil, not the seasonings, onto the chicken pieces.

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5 from 2 votes

Nashville Hot Chicken Strips

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Marinade time4 hours hrs

Total Time4 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Poultry

Cuisine: American

Keyword: nashville-hot-chicken, nashville-hot-chicken-recipe, nashville-hot-chicken-strips

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 802kcal

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 4 long inch strips
• 2 cups buttermilk divided
• ½ cup dill pickle juice
• 4 tablespoon hot sauce divided
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ½ cup cornstarch
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon paprika
• 2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic or garlic powder
• 2 large eggs
• 6 cups vegetable oil for frying reserve ⅓ cup for chili oil
• Chili oil:
• ⅓ cup frying oil
• ¼ cup salted butter melted
• 2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoon light or dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dark chili powder

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Instructions

• Place chicken into a non reactive bowl or large plastic storage bag. Add 1 cup buttermilk, pickle juice and 3 tablespoon hot sauce. Mix, then cover and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• To prepare: Remove chicken from buttermilk brine allowing excess to drip off. (Tip: I typically empty into a colander to drain while I prepare the dredge.)
• In a shallow bowl, whisk together flour, corn starch, salt, paprika, cayenne and granulated garlic. In a separate shallow bowl, whisk together reserved 1 cup buttermilk, eggs and 1 tablespoon hot sauce.
• Dredge chicken strips in flour, then into buttermilk-egg wash and back into flour. Repeat until all chicken pieces are breaded. Have nearby a pan fitted with a rack, placing breaded chicken strips on rack.
• Let chicken sit on counter for 20 minutes, or place into the fridge to chill for 1 hour to help coating adhere.
• To fry: In a deep heavy pot or dutch oven, heat oil to 325-335°F. Fry chicken strips in batches for a total of 2-3 minutes per side, adjusting depending on the size of the pieces. Place on a paper towel lined pan to drain. Keep warm.
• To make chili oil: In a small saucepan, whisk together ⅓ cup hot oil from frying with melted butter, cayenne, brown sugar, paprika, salt and chili powder. Warm over low heat or melt setting to prevent seasonings from burning. Stir occasionally.
• Brush cooked chicken pieces with hot chili oil. Serve immediately.

Notes

The hot chili oil for this chicken must be cooked over low heat to avoid burning the spices. The spices won't dissolve, they're purpose is to season the oil. Gently tip the saucepan to separate the oil from the seasonings and brush the oil, not the seasonings, onto the chicken pieces.  

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 802kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 42g | Fat: 47g | Saturated Fat: 33g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 188mg | Sodium: 2048mg | Potassium: 846mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 2244IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 130mg | Iron: 3mg

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