Nashville-Style Hot Fried Chicken

I modified! I omitted the brine and the dredge. I substituted lettuce for chicken. I did not use the hot spice, but I did use ranch dressing. Amazing fried chicken recipe.

Made this a second time, using sous vide to cook the chicken (155 degrees F, 3 hours for the dark meat and adding the white meat at the 2 hour point) after marinating for 24 hours. Fried the chicken in peanut oil at 375 degrees for 2-3 minutes until the crust was golden brown. Excellent results and less time spent over a pot of hot oil.

Yes, this isn't my recipe but I have fried a LOT of chicken and having the chicken at room temp makes for a crispier crust

I am former instructor at the Culinary Institute of America. I could make this every day. And the beer is a must. Thank you for a great gustatory experience! Yum!

(PS--my head is still sweating. I love it!)

This was, without exaggeration, the best chicken recipe I have ever cooked. The chicken was juicy and flavorful on the inside and crispy and flaky on the outside. The spicing (including that delectable bit of sugar) made for fantastic flavoring. Before dredging, I let my chicken rest at room temperature for an hour which allowed me to cut frying down to 4 minutes a side. Like many other reviewers, I skipped the dried ghost-chile powder. I also brined for 24 hours which worked wonders.

Smoked ghost-chili powder is not necessary, between the hot paprika and cayenne it's plenty hot.

There was a time of I'd have agreed Ruth, but these days learning most anything about history, source, retail availability, is just a click away. Unless it's incredibly obscure, in which case I don't want to see it in a recipe at all.

As a southern girl, I suggest grits to soak up some heat. Most people prefer cheese grits, or cheese grits souffle!

Remember, there is a difference between kosher salt and regular salt. If you use table salt then you need to reduce the amount by HALF.

This recipe prompts a more general idea/request. You list "smoked ghost chile"; I pride myself on knowing lots of cooking trivia but this is one I'd never heard of, and on occasion your recipes list others similarly off beat. Can you keep this in mind when proffering recipes and guide us to how to obtain, e.g. ethnicity, nationality. Thanks.

Don't go to peaches hot house if you find the cayenne and paprika plenty hot. This dish is about mouth-searing intensity that brings tears to your eyes and a rush of endorphins. And the ghost chilis (naga jolokia) are absolutely essential. Otherwise you just have fried chicken.

Hot dang this recipe rocks. Altogether it takes quite a bit of prep time (we brined for the max 24 hours), but none of the steps in themselves are complicated or difficult. We opted for only thighs and drumsticks instead of a whole chicken and got great results. My husband and I both agreed it was the best fried chicken we had ever had — better than Hattie B’s!

This packs some seriously delicious heat! I used both the smoked ghost chile powder and the smoked hot paprika as I had the paprika previously homemade on hand. As a fried chicken and spicy food fan, this is a winner recipe!

Ghost peppers not needed. The cayenne and paprika make it plenty hot. I used whole onion and garlic for the brine instead of powder and it tasted great.

There's a big difference between ghost peppers and smoked paprika.