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This recipe for the Crispiest Nashville Hot Chicken is the perfect spot on replication of what you would get at most restaurants.

You will flip how easy it is — and my secret ingredient makes it extra crispy.

Anytime I go anywhere new to eat, one of the first things I do is scour the menu for Nashville Hot Chicken.

It is my all-time favorite chicken dish. I've been eating this for a long time now, so I decided to get in the kitchen and do some experimenting and make the crispiest Nashville Hot Chicken ever.

Now, there are many Nashville Hot Chicken recipes out there, but after making mine — you won't look anywhere else again. Why? Because I have a secret ingredient that took my hot chicken from just good to great. That secret ingredient is Argo® Corn Starch.

A lot of people know corn starch for thickening sauces or the magic ingredient in desserts, but — did you know that if you use Argo® Corn Starch in your flour mixture for frying chicken that it fries up extra crispy?

So How Does Argo® Corn Starch Make Chicken Crispier?

Many times, corn starch is used as a thickening agent for sauces and soups. I use it frequently when I am making my delicious Beef and Broccoli stir fry. However, when you use it in your batter to fry chicken, it leaves you with this super crunchy and beautifully browned exterior.

Not only that, but it helps seal in the juices of the chicken. Seriously — you cannot find a better secret ingredient. Your friends and family will be over the moon with every bite of the crispiest Nashville Hot Chicken ever!

I mean — look at those crispy, crunchy edges! This chicken is making my mouth water. Okay — on to the recipe and my tutorial for showing you how to make authentic Nashville Hot Chicken.

How to Make the Crispiest Nashville Hot Fried Chicken

For starters, you want to brine your chicken. The thing about Nashville Hot Chicken is that every single layer of this dish has to be seasoned well — from the brine all the way to the Nashville Hot Sauce at the end.

I usually let my chicken brine for a couple of hours. The brine is a simple mix of 2 teaspoons of chipotle powder and 1 cup of milk. Once the chicken has finished brining, remove from the milk mixture and pat dry with paper towels. This is an important step — because you do not want your batter falling off the chicken.

Making Your Dredge Station

The best part of frying chicken is making your dredge station. 

A lot of people only dredge their chicken once, but if you want super crunchy chicken, you need to dredge twice. For the dredge station, you need a wet and a dry station. The dry consists of 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of Argo® Corn Starch and 2 teaspoons of salt.

Once you mix the dry together, set it aside while you prep the wet station. 

The wet consists of 2 eggs, 1 cup of milk, and 1 tablespoon of hot sauce.  Make sure to whisk it together really well and then set up your station like this — dry, wet, and then get your oil heated on the stove in a cast-iron skillet (or whatever type of skillet you have on hand).

Coating Your Chicken

Now that you have your station set up, it's time to coat and fry the chicken. Start by adding your chicken to the dry dredge first. By doing this, you are locking in the moisture from your chicken, but you are also ensuring that your coating stays on the chicken and doesn't fall off.

Once you have run it through the dry dredge, now dip it in the wet dredge.

And for the final step before frying, you are going to run it through the dry dredge one more time. What I like to do is pile the flour/cornstarch mix on and press it into the chicken to make sure it gets even more coating on it.

Shake off the excess and then place in your hot oil in your skillet. If you want to make sure your oil is hot enough, then sprinkle in a little flour in the oil. If it sizzles, you know it's ready.

Now, finish all the rest of your pieces and continue to cook until all the pieces are golden brown.

No worries if you do not get it done all the way through. I like to throw my chicken in the oven for about 10 minutes to finish the cooking process. This dries out any oil that may be hanging around and helps the skin crisp up even more.

I told you this was the Crispiest Nashville Hot Chicken you will ever make!

Now — if you are not a fan of super hot (meaning spicy) chicken, then you can just eat the chicken just like it is. But for my Nashville Hot Chicken lovers — you are going to want to know what to do next.

How to Make the Nashville Hot Sauce

Mix together 3 tablespoons of cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon of light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper, 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon of paprika, and 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder.

To this seasoning blend, you are going to mix 1/2 cup of your frying oil and continue mixing until it looks like a medium-thick paste.

When you get it all combined, it should look something like this.

Now here is where the magic happens! You are going to take a pastry brush and start basting on this beautiful sauce right on top of your chicken. 

I promise you that if you are a Nashville Hot Chicken lover, you are going to flip over this version. 

Give it a few minutes to set on your crust and then dig in. You will be amazed at the crisp texture of this chicken and you too will say that this is the crispiest Nashville Hot Chicken ever!