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With more restaurants with hot chicken dishes on the menu than bachelorette parties found strolling 12 South on a sunny Saturday, it’s safe to say Nashville hot chicken has reached iconic status. Love it or hate it, Music City lures tourists in from afar to test their heat tolerance and line-waiting prowess. A dish that utilizes its unique spicy flavor to complement another recipe in a new and unexpected way, hot chicken has become a wildly popular menu item at restaurants throughout Nashville and worldwide.
Dozens of local establishments are going the extra mile, putting interesting new spins on Nashville hot chicken. And while hundreds have added a hot (fill in the blank) dish to their menus, this guide doesn’t include traditional hot chicken, sandwiches/biscuits/salads, wings, tenders, or any of the above served with waffles or as pizza or taco topping — there are plenty of those around town. (No Nashville hot catfish or shrimp here either.) Here, find a running list of menu items around Nashville that color outside the lines.
Consider this the ultimate bucket list of interesting hot chicken-inspired dishes in Music City.
Did we miss your favorite unexpected hot chicken dish? Send us a note and fill us in nashville@eater.com
Breakfast/Brunch
Chauhan: Celebrity chef Maneet Chauhan’s take on the dish is a Nashville hot chicken pakora sandwich — a hot chicken oil-splashed fried thigh served on grilled sourdough, served with achar cabbage slaw and frites.
Fat Kat Slim’s: Fat’s hot chicken and doughnut sandwich is a scratch-made donut with crispy fried chicken coated in “Fat’s Hot Spice”, drizzled with maple syrup; Nashville hot-style biscuits and grave — sausage “Nashville Hot” style blended in creamy sawmill gravy atop fluffy fresh baked biscuits
Flatiron: Grit bowl featuring poached eggs, Nashville hot oysters, and hollandaise
Graze: Hot tempeh Biscuit features fried tempeh tossed in hot chicken spices on a house-made biscuit with coleslaw and vegan ranch (served open face)
Henley: Nashville “hot” chicken salad sandwich
Party Fowl: hot chicken and pimento cheese omelet; Nashville hot loco moco; hot chicken and stuffed French toast; Nashville hot chicken Benedict
Slow Burn: hot chicken breakfast bowl with home fried potatoes, shredded cheese, fried egg, and spicy ranch
Appetizers
Anzie Blue: Nashville hot chicken dip served with fried pita chips
Burger Republic: Nashville hot tots are dusted in Nashville hot spices, then they add a drizzle of buffalo sauce, chives, and blue cheese dressing
Chauhan Ale & Masala House: hot chicken pakoras with ghost pepper sauce
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Fat Kat Slim’s: Nashville hot-spiced cheese curds come served with marinara, but ask for a side of ranch too
Flatiron: crispy Nashville hot fried oysters come served on Texas toast with pickle chips and remoulade
The Fox Bar: hot chicken spiced hummus (vegan)
Hachland Hill: Nashville hot style frog legs, by request and dining by appointment only
Hattie B’s: Dirty bird fries are seasoned crinkle fries slathered with pimento mac and cheese, dark meat hot chicken bites, comeback sauce, green onions, and kosher pickles
The Horn Coffee: Hot chicken sambosas
Lockeland Table: Nashville hot crispy pig ears
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The Mainstay: Nashville hot-spiced cheese curds come served with marinara, but ask for a side of ranch too
Nomzilla Sushi Etc: Nashville hot bao buns
Otaku Ramen: hot chicken bao buns, hot chicken tofu buns
Party Fowl: hot chicken poutine; hot chicken nachos; hot chicken chorizo queso
Slow Burn: SB hot chicken egg roll
Tansuo: Nashville hot chicken lo mein
Third and Home: hot chicken ranch dipping sauce served with fried pickle spears
Soups/Salads
Party Fowl: Nashville hot deconstructed Cobb salad
Sea Salt: Nashville hot chowder
Entrees
Brave Idiot (pop up): Nashville hot chicken birria tacos — available at some select pop-up events (find on Instagram)
Edley’s BBQ: hot Nashville-style BBQ
Ella’s on 2nd: Nashville Hot Cauliflower Steak with chickpeas, cucumber salad, and yogurt “ranch”
Germantown Pub: Nashville hot burger with a signature spice rub, homemade pickles, pico de gallo, pepper jack cheese, and crowned with a fried jalapeno
The Goat SoBro: Nashville hot oyster tacos
Grandaddy’s Famous Hot Chicken: hot chicken fried rice; hot chicken stuffed potato
Hachland Hill: Nashville hot smoked chicken salad po’boy, honey-hot smoked leg quarters with “woo girl” ranch, available by request and dining by appointment only
Hurt’s Hot Chicken (food truck): hot chicken gyro
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Lucky Bastard Saloon’s Nashville Hot Chicken Shack: Nashville hot grilled cheese filled with hot chicken, mac and cheese, cheddar, and Provolone cheeses
The Mainstay: Nashville hot pepperoni and cheese pizza — a traditional pepperoni pie, but upgrade it with Nashville Hot Seasoning
Nomzilla Sushi Etc: the NomFerno roll features their take on hot chicken with cucumber, pickled red onion, and spicy ranch
Party Fowl: Nashville hot chicken and beignets; hot chicken Cuban sandwich; hot chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes, sawmill gravy, and collard greens
Pinchy’s Lobster Co.: Nashville hot lobster roll
Red’s 615: hot chicken mac and cheese crunchwrap is a toasted tortilla filled with hot chicken, pimento mac and cheese, bacon, pickles, and comeback sauce; hot chicken mac and cheese bowl
Slow Burn Hot Chicken: hot chicken donut sandwich; breakfast burrito; hot chicken tender and apple fritter sandwich; SB mac and hot chicken bowl
The Stillery: hot chicken mac and cheese
Subculture Urban Cuisine & Cafe: hot chicken ramen
Velvet Taco: a Vegetarian-friendly take — a Nashville hot crispy tofu taco garnished with napa slaw, ranch crema, and house brined pickles on a flour tortilla
Von Elrod’s: hot chicken schnitzel sandwich featuring Duke’s mayo on a buttery bun
Desserts
Party Fowl: Nashville hot doughnut, served only during weekend brunch in collaboration with Status Dough
Drinks
The Ainsworth: The “big a$$ hot chicken bloody mary” is a 32-ounce glass featuring Tito’s vodka, the Ainsworth’s hot bloody mary mix, topped with a whole fried Nashville hot young chicken, bacon strips, olives, celery, cherry tomatoes, and a waffle
Fat Kat Slim’s: Fat Bloody Mary with Moskovskaya vodka, Walker’s spicy Bloody Mary mix, celery, pickle, bacon
The Goat SoBro: hot chicken bloody mary
Pancho and Lefty’s: El Diablo margarita features a hot chicken rub on the rim
Party Fowl: The hot chicken party hotspot may be known for its massively decked-out bloody mary, but there’s also a hot chicken take on the basic brunch drink. Party Fowl’s BNA bloody mary comes with a choice of walkers bloody mary mix or Nashville hot bloody mary mix and Nashville’s own Pickers Vodka