Grilled Nashville Hot Chicken – adapted from the original Hattie B’s Hot Chicken recipe in Nashville, TN. SO good! Chicken marinated in cayenne pepper, brown sugar, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, and olive oil. Reserve some of the marinade to brush on the cooked chicken if you want it really HOT! Seriously THE BEST grilled chicken recipe! Serve with pickles, ranch dressing, and white bread! We are making this again this weekend – we are obsessed!
Remember this recipe.
Pin this recipe to your favorite board now to remember it later!
Pin This RecipeGrilled Hattie B’s Hot Chicken
I am all about some Nashville Hot Chicken. I absolutely LOVE it. My favorite place to eat hot chicken is at Hattie B’s Hot Chicken Restaurant in Nashville, TN. I always go with the hot heat level. Chicken Legs is a medium guy. Since we are in the middle of grilling season, I decided to try some Grilled Nashville Hot Chicken. OMG! I am totally obsessed with this chicken! It was ridiculously good! If you are a fan of spicy foods, you are going to LOVE this chicken!
What is Nashville Hot Chicken?
Traditionally Nashville hot chicken is buttermilk fried chicken tossed in a slightly sweet cayenne pepper-based paste. There is no wet sauce like with buffalo wings. Nashville hot chicken uses a dry sauce and it is HOT and spicy.
I’m going to say it again for those in the back, this chicken is HOT!
How to Make Grilled Nashville Hot Chicken
I used Hattie B’s recipe as the base for this recipe. They fry their chicken and then brush it with the “hot” concoction. I decided to marinate some boneless chicken in the Nashville hot sauce and then brush a little of the reserved hot mixture on the chicken once it was off the grill. Perfection!
To make the chicken, in a large bowl, whisk together cayenne pepper, brown sugar, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, and olive oil. Season with salt and black pepper. Reserve ¼ cup of the marinade. Place chicken breasts in a ziplock bag and pour the remaining marinade over the chicken. Place the chicken in the refrigerator for a few hours to overnight.
When ready to cook the chicken, prepare the grill. Remove the chicken from the marinade and cook until the internal temperature reaches 165ºF. Brush the chicken with the reserved spicy sauce before removing it from the grill.
Helpful Tips & Frequently Asked Questions
- You can use this marinade on any cut of chicken. Chicken breasts, chicken thigh, chicken tenderloins, chicken legs, or chicken wings.
- You can use bone-in or boneless chicken.
- Use a meat thermometer to check for an internal temperature of 165ºF.
- I suggest pounding the chicken breast to an even thickness. We put the chicken in a ziplock bag and use a flat meat mallet to carefully pound out the hump. This ensures that the chicken cooks evenly and you don’t have juicy chicken and half-dry chicken.
- If you don’t have a gas grill or charcoal grill, you can cook the chicken indoors in a skillet or grill pan.
- Pan-sear the chicken for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Place chicken on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 400ºF for 10 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165ºF.
- The chicken right off the grill, with no extra hot sauce marinade, is equivalent to mild+ to medium heat. The chicken brushed with the hot concoction was equivalent to HOT at Hattie B’s.
- If you don’t want extra spicy chicken, don’t brush it with any extra sauce.
What to Serve with Nashville Chicken
We absolutely love this chicken. We like to serve this chicken with some white bread, pickles, and ranch dressing. Don’t forget to whip up our favorite Hattie B’s sides – pimento mac and cheese and black-eyed pea salad. YUM! We ate this for lunch and had the leftovers for dinner in a tortilla wrap. I am still dreaming about this chicken. Make it this weekend and discover why Nashville Hot Chicken is simply the best!
Here are a few of our favorite recipes that go great with this yummy chicken:
Black Eyed Pea Salad
Black Eyed Pea Salad – recipe adapted from the famous Hattie B’s Hot Chicken restaurant in Nashville, TN. Red bell…
Pimento Mac & Cheese
Pimento Mac & Cheese – recipe from Hattie B’s Hot Chicken in Nashville. This stuff is SO good! Super creamy…
Chick-fil-a Coleslaw
Chick-fil-a Coleslaw – They might have taken it off the menu, but I was able to get the recipe directly…
7UP Biscuits
7up Biscuits Recipe – Light and fluffy. There only have four ingredients needed to make THE BEST biscuits EVER! Butter,…
Grilled Nashville Hot Chicken
Ingredients:
- 3 Tbsp cayenne pepper
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 lbs boneless chicken tenders
Instructions:
- Whisk together cayenne pepper, brown sugar, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder and oil. Reserve 2 or 3 tablespoons if you want extra hot chicken.
- Place chicken in a gallon ziplock bag and pour marinade over chicken. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to overnight.
- Remove chicken from marinade and grill until done, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove chicken from grill and brush with reserved marinade, if desired.
Notes:
Steph
Remember this recipe.
Pin this recipe to your favorite board now to remember it later!
Pin This Recipe
So good! Served it on a piece of bread with pickles- the Hattie B way. Delicious!
Was very good, just a warning that cooking stovetop though could have adverse affects – maybe putting food containing lots of red pepper on a hot cast iron skillet was our mistake, but my husband and I were coughing for 20 minutes and the kitchen became quite smokey…cooks beware! Also drizzling chicken with honey afterwards was also a nice way to cut the heat.
There is no salt in this recipe, is that intentional?
yes – add some if you want
Excellent!!! So easy and so delicious!
This is a keeper and my family is already asking to make it again!
I thought it was delicious! I love hot chicken so I increased the cayenne pepper for the marinade and for the finish coat.
I've been eating hot chicken for over 40 years and if the meat ain't got heat, you've just got hot chicken skin.
Thanks for reminding me.
I also use this recipe for the oven.
SO glad you enjoyed it! I agree with you – hot chicken needs to be HOT! People who haven't eaten authentic Nashville Hot Chicken don't understand.
Could be spicier.
It was pretty spicy after I brushed it with the reserved marinade. You can always Up the cayenne
I made this marinade for sous vide chicken and used the drippings for a pan sauce + some sodium alginate/water mixture (a natural low carb thickener).
It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever made. Thank you so much!
That comment was from my daughter who says “could be spicer” to everything. I don’t know how she handles it. She did like your recipe though and I did brush more marinade on for her. Not me. My tongue still hurts lol