Travel to Nashville, Tennessee, USA, and you are bound to see Nashville Hot Chicken on a menu or two. This Nashville specialty is steeped in as much history as it is its main ingredient, cayenne pepper. This dish originated in the African American communities and has since become a regional staple, with culinary enthusiasts, celebrities, and fried chicken lovers traveling far for this favorite dish.
While the exact origin of hot chicken hasn’t been confirmed, many trace its beginnings back to the Prince family in the early 1930s. The old tale goes that hot chicken was actually created by accident – the girlfriend of Thornton Prince attempted to get revenge on him after he went out with another woman, and poured a large amount of hot pepper onto the fried chicken she prepared for him. To her surprise, Prince loved the spicy chicken so much that he and his brothers perfected the recipe and opened up their own restaurant, Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack. The spicy dish became a late-night staple, and restaurants specializing in hot chicken began popping up all over Nashville. To this day, hot chicken remains a Nashville specialty, and its popularity has spread across the country.
Although cayenne pepper is the principal ingredient in hot chicken, the key to delicious hot chicken is balancing the fiery heat of the cayenne with a blend of savory and sweet flavors. While cayenne is certainly the star of our Nashville Hot Chicken Seasoning, a medley of herbs and spices gives this blend a well-rounded flavor.
Nashville-style hot chicken can be made in a variety of ways, including pressure frying, deep-frying and pan-frying. It is almost always marinated in buttermilk to keep the chicken moist, and its spicy seasoning mixture is usually made into a paste. The main variation in the preparation of hot chicken is when the spicy seasoning is added. Whether it is added to the chicken before or after breading and frying varies from kitchen to kitchen, but traditionally the chicken is pan-fried in the spicy seasoning or basted with it right after frying.
A classic blend of spicy cayenne pepper, smoked paprika and a medley of herbs and spices, our Nashville Hot Chicken Seasoning was crafted to recreate the deep flavors of Nashville’s signature hot chicken.
Ingredients
Dried chiles (including cayenne), salt, dried cane syrup, Paprika, Annatto Seed, Garlic, mustard seed, Pepper, Onion, Apple cider vinegar powder (IP maltodextrin, apple cider vinegar, IP modified food starch), celery seeds, savory, Thyme, Allspice. Contains: mustard.