Nashville hot chicken is one of the most geographically specific American food traditions, originating at a single restaurant (Prince's Hot Chicken Shack) in a single city (Nashville, Tennessee) in the 1940s, and spreading to national prominence only in the past 15 years. The defining technique is Southern-style buttermilk-soaked, flour-dredged, deep-fried chicken (legs, thighs, breasts, wings, or quarters) that is then coated in a thick paste of lard or frying oil, cayenne pepper, brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, and sometimes other chiles. The chicken is served on slices of white bread (untoasted, two slices, to soak up the oil) with sliced dill pickles on top. That is the entire dish: chicken, white bread, pickles. Sides (potato salad, mac and cheese, baked beans, coleslaw) are optional.
The origin story (well-documented though semi-legendary) is that Thornton Prince III's girlfriend in the 1930s, suspecting him of cheating, decided to punish him by frying his Sunday morning chicken with as much hot pepper as she could pile on, expecting him to be miserable. He loved it, started serving it at his own restaurant, and Prince's BBQ Chicken Shack (later Prince's Hot Chicken Shack) opened to formalize the dish. For 60 years the cuisine was essentially a single-restaurant tradition known only to locals (especially the Black neighborhood around Jefferson Street), with Bolton's, 400 Degrees, and a few other Black-owned spots cooking versions. The Hot Chicken Festival started in 2007, Hattie B's opened in 2012 as the first mass-market hot chicken restaurant, and by 2020 hot chicken had become a national fast-food format.
The heat levels at a serious hot chicken restaurant range from plain (no spice) through mild, medium, hot, extra hot, to a final tier (Prince's calls it XXX-Hot; Hattie B's calls it Shut the Cluck Up) that requires gloves to serve and is genuinely dangerous. The intermediate medium-hot level is where most local regulars order. The dish is not just spicy fried chicken; the cayenne paste applied after frying is the defining technique that distinguishes hot chicken from Buffalo wings (sauce-tossed) or generic spicy fried chicken (seasoned in the flour).
Book a food experience
Tours, tastings and classes from the cities on this page, bookable on GetYourGuide.
Top picks
The best-scored hot chicken place in each of 8 cities.
Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack ★ 4.8
Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack at 1455 Patton Ave pays homage to Nashville style hot chicken and southern soul food, made to order from mild to extra hot.
Why locals goRocky's has served Nashville style hot chicken since 2009, and the locally owned restaurant makes classic American recipes from scratch daily.
TipThe chicken is prepared to order, starting from Plain, with spice added from mild to extra hot, so you pick your own heat.
Prince's Hot Chicken ★ 4.7
Prince's Hot Chicken calls itself Nashville's original hot chicken, first crafted over 100 years ago, and this is its South location on Nolensville Pike.
SignatureHot chicken, Leg quarter
TipThere is also a downtown counter inside the Assembly Food Hall, and another at the airport at the start of the Gate C/D concourse.
Pretty Bird Hot Chicken ★ 4.5
Pretty Bird Hot Chicken on Regent Street, chef Viet Pham's Nashville-style downtown fast-casual since 2018, anchors Utah's chef-driven hot chicken movement.
OrderHot chicken sandwich at the heat level of your choice plus a side of slaw.
TipOrder ahead via the operator's site for pickup; the counter line stretches at lunch. Park City, Sugar House and Midvale branches are siblings.
Velvet Taco (Deep Ellum) ★ 4.5
Velvet Taco in Deep Ellum stays open until 5am on Friday and Saturday, making it the latest operating taco kitchen in Dallas. At 2624 Elm St.
TryNon-traditional tacos, rotating weekly special
TipThe line moves fast even at 4am. The Nashville Hot Chicken taco and the WTF (weekly special) are the essential orders.
Royals Hot Chicken ★ 4.4
Royals Hot Chicken on East Market in Louisville fries Nashville-style hot chicken from Ryan Rogers's Eternal Optimist group, the NuLu counter open since 2015.
OrderThe hot chicken sandwich at medium heat, with a side of tachos.
TipOrder at the counter. The hot levels run from southern to plain-clucking insane.
Hattie B's Hot Chicken ★ 4.4
Hattie B's Cooper-Young Memphis hot chicken counter, the Nashville import on South Cooper Street, runs heat levels from Southern to Shut the Cluck Up.
OrderHot quarter, dark; pimento mac and cheese on the side.
TipCounter service, no reservations. Lunch lines move; Saturdays can run thirty minutes after 12:30.
Hattie B's Hot Chicken ★ 4.2
Hattie B's Hot Chicken on 7th Avenue South in Lakeview is the Birmingham branch of the Nashville hot-chicken chain, serving a five-tier heat ladder.
SignatureHot chicken sandwich, Pimento mac and cheese, Banana pudding
Nashville Coop ★ 4.1
Arif Mohamed's Nashville Coop on Washington Avenue SE has fried Nashville hot chicken with Ethiopian spices in Minneapolis since 2020. Located in Northeast.
OrderThe Hot Chicken sandwich with the medium heat level and house coop sauce.
TipFive heat levels from Minnesota Nice to Cluckin' Hot. Closed Sundays at the Stadium Village location.
Find a place
Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack ★ 4.8
Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack at 1455 Patton Ave pays homage to Nashville style hot chicken and southern soul food, made to order from mild to extra hot.
Why locals goRocky's has served Nashville style hot chicken since 2009, and the locally owned restaurant makes classic American recipes from scratch daily.
TipThe chicken is prepared to order, starting from Plain, with spice added from mild to extra hot, so you pick your own heat.
Prince's Hot Chicken ★ 4.7
Prince's Hot Chicken calls itself Nashville's original hot chicken, first crafted over 100 years ago, and this is its South location on Nolensville Pike.
SignatureHot chicken, Leg quarter
TipThere is also a downtown counter inside the Assembly Food Hall, and another at the airport at the start of the Gate C/D concourse.
Bolton's Famous Hot Chicken & Fish ★ 4.6
Bolton's Famous Hot Chicken & Fish has served hot chicken and fish in East Nashville since the 90s, built on a family recipe passed down through generations.
OrderHot chicken, or whiting or catfish in one of Bolton's signature spices.
TipEvery plate comes with two slices of white bread and pickles, and the spice levels run from mild to call-on-the-Lord hot.
Pretty Bird Hot Chicken ★ 4.5
Pretty Bird Hot Chicken on Regent Street, chef Viet Pham's Nashville-style downtown fast-casual since 2018, anchors Utah's chef-driven hot chicken movement.
OrderHot chicken sandwich at the heat level of your choice plus a side of slaw.
TipOrder ahead via the operator's site for pickup; the counter line stretches at lunch. Park City, Sugar House and Midvale branches are siblings.
Velvet Taco (Deep Ellum) ★ 4.5
Velvet Taco in Deep Ellum stays open until 5am on Friday and Saturday, making it the latest operating taco kitchen in Dallas. At 2624 Elm St.
TryNon-traditional tacos, rotating weekly special
TipThe line moves fast even at 4am. The Nashville Hot Chicken taco and the WTF (weekly special) are the essential orders.
Hattie B's Hot Chicken ★ 4.4
Hattie B's Hot Chicken lit Hattie's name up in neon over a chicken shack in Midtown Nashville; the family business debuted on August 9, 2012, off Broadway.
OrderChicken at Hot with a scratch-made Southern side, then creamy banana pudding or peach cobbler for dessert.
TipA lot of first-timers start with Mild, while Hot is the classic Nashville Hot level; tenders can also be grilled and spiced to any heat.
Royals Hot Chicken ★ 4.4
Royals Hot Chicken on East Market in Louisville fries Nashville-style hot chicken from Ryan Rogers's Eternal Optimist group, the NuLu counter open since 2015.
OrderThe hot chicken sandwich at medium heat, with a side of tachos.
TipOrder at the counter. The hot levels run from southern to plain-clucking insane.
Hattie B's Hot Chicken ★ 4.4
Hattie B's Cooper-Young Memphis hot chicken counter, the Nashville import on South Cooper Street, runs heat levels from Southern to Shut the Cluck Up.
OrderHot quarter, dark; pimento mac and cheese on the side.
TipCounter service, no reservations. Lunch lines move; Saturdays can run thirty minutes after 12:30.
Hattie B's Hot Chicken ★ 4.2
Hattie B's Hot Chicken on 7th Avenue South in Lakeview is the Birmingham branch of the Nashville hot-chicken chain, serving a five-tier heat ladder.
SignatureHot chicken sandwich, Pimento mac and cheese, Banana pudding
Nashville Coop ★ 4.1
Arif Mohamed's Nashville Coop on Washington Avenue SE has fried Nashville hot chicken with Ethiopian spices in Minneapolis since 2020. Located in Northeast.
OrderThe Hot Chicken sandwich with the medium heat level and house coop sauce.
TipFive heat levels from Minnesota Nice to Cluckin' Hot. Closed Sundays at the Stadium Village location.
Joella's Hot Chicken ★ 4.0
Joella's Hot Chicken on Frankfort Avenue in Louisville cooks Nashville-style hot chicken across six heat levels with hormone-free birds, a family-friendly.
OrderThe hot chicken tenders at Southern style, plus pimento mac and cheese.
TipOrder at the counter for the dining room or call ahead for pickup.
Hot chicken by city
Nashville12 places
Prince's Hot Chicken, Bolton's Famous Hot Chicken & Fish
Louisville5 places
Royals Hot Chicken, Joella's Hot Chicken
Salt Lake City3 places
Pretty Bird Hot Chicken
Asheville1 place
Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack
Birmingham1 place
Hattie B's Hot Chicken
Dallas1 place
Velvet Taco (Deep Ellum)
Memphis1 place
Hattie B's Hot Chicken
Minneapolis1 place
Nashville Coop
Defining hot chicken dishes
- Hot chicken quarter
- A quarter-chicken (leg-and-thigh or breast-and-wing), buttermilk-soaked, flour-dredged, fried, then dipped or brushed with cayenne-and-frying-oil paste. Served on two slices of white bread with pickles on top. The defining dish.
- Hot chicken sandwich
- A boneless thigh or breast (typically), prepared the same way, on a soft bun (often potato or brioche) with pickles, slaw, and sometimes a comeback sauce or mayo. The format that traveled to chains; Hattie B's and the Howlin' Ray's clone in LA built the sandwich market.
- Hot chicken tenders
- Boneless chicken strips with the hot chicken treatment. The dipping-friendly version, popular at takeaway counters.
- Hot chicken wings
- Wings (drumette and flat) with the cayenne paste. The bar version of hot chicken, often confused with Buffalo wings but distinct in technique.
- Plain (medium-mild) chicken
- Many hot chicken restaurants offer the same chicken without the cayenne paste, for the spice-averse. Just fried chicken at this point, but excellent in its own right at Prince's and Bolton's.
- Sides: mac and cheese
- Soul food-style baked mac and cheese, the standard side at every hot chicken restaurant in Nashville.
- Sides: baked beans
- Sweet-and-smoky baked beans, the second universal side.
- Sides: coleslaw
- Sweet or vinegar-based slaw, used to cool the heat and contrast with the spice. Often piled on the sandwich.
- Sides: pimento cheese
- Southern cheese spread of cheddar, mayo, pimentos, with crackers or as a sandwich filling. Not universal but increasingly common.
- Sides: potato salad
- Mustard-and-mayo Southern potato salad, the cooling starch side.
- White bread
- Plain untoasted white sandwich bread, two slices, the chicken laid on top. The bread soaks up the oil and serves as the eating utensil and the partial heat dampener.
- Dill pickle chips
- Sliced dill pickles, laid on top of the chicken. The acid is essential to balance the heat and fat. Not optional.
How to order
At a serious Nashville hot chicken restaurant, the choice is bone-in or boneless (sandwich, tender), the cut (quarter, half-chicken, sandwich, tenders), and the heat level. The recommendation for first-time visitors is to start at medium or mild. The hot level is genuinely hot (closer to a habanero-based hot sauce in intensity than to a typical buffalo wing). Extra hot and the top tier (XXX-Hot at Prince's, Shut the Cluck Up at Hattie B's) are dares, not menu items, and waivers may apply. Add two sides and a drink (sweet tea or cold beer) to complete the order. Cash-only is still standard at some of the oldest Black-owned places.
The rookie mistakes: ordering above your tolerance to prove a point (the heat is real and lingers for hours), refusing the white bread (it is the structural element, not a garnish), eating without the pickles (the pickles balance the heat), and confusing hot chicken with generic spicy chicken or Buffalo wings (the cayenne-paste-after-frying technique is the defining feature). Many newcomers underestimate how spicy 'medium' is at the original Prince's; trust the locals.
What to drink with it
Sweet tea (the Southern default) and cold milk are the canonical heat-balancing drinks. Cold beer (a light lager) is the bar version. Lemonade and Coca-Cola for the soda crowd. Bourbon is a finisher after the meal, not during (the alcohol does not actually dampen the capsaicin heat, despite folklore). With Hattie B's or other modern places, an Arnold Palmer or a frozen lemonade is increasingly common. The dairy in milk is genuinely effective at neutralizing capsaicin; beer is not, but tradition is tradition.
Where to eat it
Nashville is essentially the only city in the world that has serious hot chicken at scale. Prince's Hot Chicken Shack (the original, since the 1940s, now run by Andre Prince Jeffries) is the institutional anchor. Bolton's Spicy Chicken & Fish has a distinct take. 400 Degrees, Hattie B's (the largest mass-market chain), Party Fowl, and Pepperfire all have their followings. Outside Nashville, the cuisine has begun to spread: Howlin' Ray's in LA's Chinatown has a cult line; Hattie B's has expanded to a handful of cities. Most cities now have at least one hot chicken option, but Nashville is the pilgrimage.
A short history
Nashville hot chicken was invented in the 1930s or 1940s at the predecessor to Prince's Hot Chicken Shack, founded by Thornton Prince III in the historically Black neighborhood near Jefferson Street. The dish was a single-restaurant tradition known mainly to Black Nashvillians for over half a century, with a small handful of related restaurants in the same community. The Hot Chicken Festival (founded by Mayor Bill Purcell in 2007) and the opening of Hattie B's in 2012 as the first mass-market hot chicken restaurant began the national spread. By the late 2010s, KFC, McDonald's, and Popeyes had launched hot-chicken-inspired menu items.
Frequently asked
Is Nashville hot chicken the same as Buffalo wings?
No. Buffalo wings are unbreaded chicken wings tossed in a hot sauce-and-butter emulsion. Nashville hot chicken is breaded, fried chicken (any cut) coated in a thick paste of fat, cayenne, and other spices applied after frying. Different technique, different flavor profile, different city of origin.
How hot is hot?
Genuinely hot. The medium level at a serious place like Prince's or Bolton's is around the heat of a typical jalapeno sauce. Hot is closer to a habanero-based hot sauce. Extra hot and the top tiers contain ghost pepper or Carolina reaper extracts and are not really food in the conventional sense; they are dares. Start mild or medium.
Why is the chicken served on white bread?
Tradition, and function. The white bread (untoasted, two slices) soaks up the cayenne-laden oil that drips from the chicken, partially mellows the heat, and serves as a no-utensil eating vehicle. The pickles on top do the acidic cooling work. The combination is the dish.
More cities are in research. Want hot chicken covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.