Hot chicken

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Hot chicken

Prince's hot chicken
Alternative names	Nashville hot chicken, Prince's chicken, Nashville-style chicken
Course	Main course
Place of origin	United States
Region or state	Nashville, Tennessee
Created by	Prince family
Serving temperature	Hot
Main ingredients	Chicken, cayenne pepper
Variations	Deep fried, skillet fried, hot fish
Media: Hot chicken

Hot chicken (or Nashville hot chicken) is a type of fried chicken that is a local specialty of Nashville, Tennessee, in the United States. In its typical preparation, it is a portion of breast, thigh or wing that has been marinated in a water-based blend of seasoning, floured, fried and finally covered in a paste or sauce that has been spiced with cayenne pepper. This method of preparation originates within African American communities in the Southern United States. A richly pigmented seasoning paste gives the fried chicken its reddish hue. Spice blends, preparation methods and heat intensity vary from recipe to recipe or depending on the chef.

It is served atop slices of white bread with pickle chips. It is both the application of a spicy paste and the presentation that differentiates it from similar dishes, such as Buffalo wings. It can be viewed in similar context to other foods that have been tweaked to be unique in a regional way, such as the slugburger or the Mississippi Delta tamale.

There are many restaurants in Nashville that serve a variant of the dish and there is a citywide festival and competition celebrating it.^[1] The popularity of hot chicken has spread beyond the Southern United States due to the influence of Nashville's music industry.^[2]