• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Sip Bite Go logo

  • Recipes
    • All Recipes
    • Smoker Recipes
    • Air Fryer Recipes
    • Homemade Pizza
    • Sous Vide Recipes
    • Trader Joe’s Recipes
    • Steak Recipes
    • Chicken Recipes
    • Pasta Recipes
    • Keto Friendly
  • Smoker Recipes
  • Air Fryer
  • Sous Vide
    • All Sous Vide Recipes
    • The Home Chef’s Sous Vide Cookbook
    • Buttery Sous Vide Lobster Tail Recipe
    • Sous Vide Frozen Steak
    • Sous Vide T Bone Steak
    • Sous Vide Chicken Wings
    • Sous Vide Egg Bites
  • Cookbooks
  • More
    • Entertaining
    • Kitchen Remodel
    • Travel
    • Blogging Chat
  • About
    • About Jenna
    • Start here
    • Work With Me
    • Contact
    • Get Updates
  • Podcast
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Find A Recipe
  • Smoker Recipes
  • Main Dish Recipes
  • Pizza Recipes
  • Holiday Dishes
  • Air Fryer Recipes
  • Sous Vide
  • Salad Recipes
  • Cookbooks
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » Sous Vide » Spicy Nashville Style Sous Vide Fried Chicken

    Spicy Nashville Style Sous Vide Fried Chicken

    Published: May 28, 2020 · Modified: Jun 8, 2021 by Jenna Passaro · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Pin216
    Tweet
    Share72
    Share
    288 Shares
    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    spicy nashville style sous vide chicken with text

    Love heat?? This spicy Nashville style sous vide fried chicken is crunchy, smoky, juicy and hot, hot, hot. 

    To make it, first you sous vide chicken then fry it the traditional way, or by air fryer. The best part is that if your new to frying, sous viding then frying chicken is almost a fool proof way to start. It will always be thoroughly cooked through. Let’s go sous vide then fry some spicy chicken!

    nashville spicy fried sous vide chicken finished in the fryer
    You have no idea how much heat these pieces of Nashville fried sous vide chicken hold. (Thanks for the photos, Eryn!)

    Thanks Chef Eryn!! This recipe today is special. It’s from a friend – none other than Le Cordon Blue trained Chef Eryn Hagood who has graciously shared it with friends of Sip Bite Go.

    New to sous vide techniques? Learn why is sous vide so popular.

    What’s Nashville Style Chicken?

    You might be wondering: why Nashville style chicken is so popular?

    While it’s newly taking over the internet, this type of extremely spicy chicken has been served for over 70 years at Prince’s in Nashville. Known to some as the “Hot Chicken Shack”, this chicken even has been recognized by the elite James Beard Award peeps.

    See my guide to the best sous vide chicken recipes.

    Chef Eryn serves Nashville fried sous vide chicken with all the fixin’s

    What’s in Nashville super spicy chicken? Why so good?

    And as you know, us foodies just love extremes. Which is the best word to describe this chicken experience. It’s extremely crunchy.

    And has an extremely scorching spice combo that’s deep and complex in flavor… it’s smoky, spicy, and sweet because of the brown sugar. 

    That’s the flavor combination that makes spicy Nashville chicken unbelievably good. If you can handle the heat!

    Steps for sous vide style Nashville hot chicken

    1. Sous vide chicken – first, you sous vide the chicken with just a little salt
    2. Hot Nashville fried chicken batter – then you batter the cooked sous vide chicken for frying
    3. Frying the chicken – find details in the recipe or use the air fryer to fry sous vide chicken
    4. Nashville hot oil seasonings – this is a ridiculously spicy oil brushed on the chicken after frying
    5. Dipping sauce – a creamy way to balance the bold spice

    sous vide cooking chicken for frying

    Sous vide time and temp for fried chicken

    Since the chicken is cooked in the sous vide bath at 155 degrees F for 2 hours – it’s completely cooked and just needs to be battered and fried to be “finished”.

    You’ll see this note in the recipe, but I often cook sous vide chicken breast at 140 degrees and thicker pieces like the thigh at 155 degrees.

    breading mixture for spicy sous vide fried chicken
    Eryn prepping the two mixtures – a wet and dry bowl – for sous vide hot chicken

    Getting that crunchy fried chicken texture

    Go all in for the perfect fry on the chicken. This recipe calls for a liquid batter and a seasoned flour mix to coat the chicken and give it that fried crunchy texture.

    The wet batter is made of buttermilk and flavored with ​Louisiana Hot Sauce​. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can use an egg.

    The seasoned flour is made of a bunch of spices plus flour. Eryn says that at this step she likes to taste the dry flour mixture.

    conversation about tasting flour for Nashville hot chicken
    Was so surprised by the convo with Eryn about eating flour. Good for her! I’m not there in my home chef culinary journey yet.

    Sounds extreme, but she wants to make sure the Nashville sous vide fried chicken batter is nice and flavorful – – just like you’d expect from a chef!

    frying sous vide chicken in vegetable oil
    Here Eryn is frying sous vide chicken in vegetable oil

    How to sous vide then fry chicken

    As mentioned, cook time for sous vide Nashville hot chicken in Eryn’s recipe is 155 degrees F for 2 hours. Then you move on to the technique for frying chicken after it’s fully cooked.

    In the recipe below, you’ll find tips for frying the chicken on the stove in vegetable oil. And you’ll also learn how to air fry chicken after sous vide cooking if you want to finish it that way.

    Did you know frozen food cooked sous vide style is a thing? As a new parent, I don’t have forever to cook dinner. So on many nights I make sous vide frozen chicken breast without thawing it first. It’s a game changer.

    Nashville spicy fried sous vide chicken
    WARNING – the Nashville hot oil is nuclear! You might want to make your own less-spicy version. Or is that just me?

    The final touch: super spicy Nashville hot oil

    Eryn whipped together a “hot oil” (the extremely, very over the top, spicy type of hot) and brushed it on the chicken right when it came out of the fryer. You can also buy a pre-made Nashville seasoning blend online.

    The base of the oil is a bunch of spices – cayenne​ pepper, brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, kosher salt.

    Yup, this is where it gets super spicy, folks!! It uses so much cayenne pepper, that I triple checked Eryn was serious!

    If you’re level of heat tolerance plateaus at about buffalo chicken level, then you’ll want to tone down the spices. This chicken is so much hotter than you’d imagine! I only use a little of the super hot spices and love it that way. It calls for multiple tablespoons of cayenne.

    Reminder from Eryn: Did you mention anything about quartering the cayenne if you don’t want to curl up in a ball the next day

    Like, who the heck is consuming THAT MUCH cayenne pepper at once??

    In the recipe, you’ll see that the spices are mixed together ahead of time. Prepping ahead is a fantastic option which is why I recommend this recipe as one of the most interesting sous vide dinner party ideas.

    Then after the sous vide chicken fries, a little oil from the fryer (used to cook the sous vide fried chicken) is added to the spices.

    See details at the end of this post for the Nashville hot oil recipe.

    Serve spicy Nashville style sous vide fried chicken with ​grilled potato fries​ or a side of ​make-ahead Mexican salad​.

    Love all things wings? Try these sous vide bbq chicken wings if you’re also cooking for some people who can’t quite handle this level of heat.

    Again, special thanks for this spicy Nashville sous vide chicken recipe from Le Cordon Blue trained, Chef Eryn. We’ve become sous vide enthusiast friends and if we didn’t live across the country from each other we would definitely grab a bite together! We went back and forth over the details of this recipe to share them with you, today. Hope you love it!

    Dipping sauce details

    Although the dip Eryn shared is intended for the fries and onion rings served which she likes to serve with sous vide fried chicken – I’m the condiment queen. So I had to know about the dip.

    Eryn said the tangy dipping sauce is “similar to the one you’d have with a blooming onion at Outback Steakhouse. It’s 3 tablespoons mayo, 1 tablespoon ketchup, 1 teaspoon creamy horseradish”.

    You’ll find directions on how to make the dip in the spicy Nashville fried sous vide chicken recipe below.

    Like breaded chicken? Check out this ​crispy Italian chicken​.

    Huge thanks to chef Eryn for sharing her recipe!! She is classically trained, Le Cordon Blue, and has a ton of experience cooking at country clubs. These days, she works in restaurant management and enjoys cooking for her family in Sarasota, Florida.

    Chef Eryn has so graciously offered to share her ​info​ if you have any questions about this recipe.

    See how to put together a simple dinner with chicken breast and avocado salad.

    The home chef's sous vide cookbook with sous vide tri tip steak
    I love going through my own recipe book to remake the recipes over and over!

    Find new ways to enjoy your favorite food with sous vide cooking. Get inspired with my new book – ​The Home Chef’s Sous Vide Cookbook​.

    So can you handle the spice??

    Let me know if you try this sous vide fried Nashville chicken dish from Erin. And good luck if you use all the spices as directed. The spice mix I made for my fried sous vide chicken was filled was toned down a lot. And it was STILL so freakin’ hot!

    I love seeing photos of delicious food. And you know about my obsessions with sous vide. So find me ​@sipbitego ​on Instagram and show me what you’re cookin.

    nashville spicy fried sous vide chicken finished in the fryer

    Spicy Nashville Style Sous Vide Fried Chicken

    Spicy Nashville style sous vide fried chicken is crunchy and juicy. It uses sous vide chicken fried then cooked and topped with a spicy Nashville sauce. This recipe today is from a friend, none other than Le Cordon Blue trained Chef Eryn Hagood who has graciously shared it with friends of Sip Bite Go.
    5 from 7 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dinner, Main Dish
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 30 minutes
    Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
    Finish Time: 30 minutes
    Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
    Servings: 4
    Calories: 561kcal
    Author: Jenna Passaro

    Ingredients

    Sous vide chicken

    • 4 chicken breasts
    • 1 tsp salt

    Hot Nashville fried chicken batter

    • 1 cup buttermilk
    • 1 tbsp Nashville hot sauce
    • 1.5 cups flour
    • 1 tbsp garlic powder
    • 1 tbsp onion powder
    • 1 tbsp paprika
    • 1 tbsp salt
    • 1 tbsp pepper
    • oil for frying optional

    Nashville hot oil seasonings (for after frying)

    • 4 tbsp cayenne pepper
    • 2 tbsp brown sugar
    • 1 tbsp paprika
    • 1 tsp garlic powder
    • 1 tsp chili powder
    • 1 tsp kosher salt
    • 1 tbsp vegetable oil

    Dipping sauce(optional)

    • 1 tbsp mayo
    • 1 tbsp ketchup
    • 1 tsp horseradish creamy

    Instructions

    • Preheat sous vide machine to 155ºF. (Or try what I did when I made Eryn's recipe at 140 which is my go-to sous vide temperature for chicken breast)
    • While the sous vide bath preheats, season the chicken chicken breast with salt and pepper. Vacuum seal chicken in a flat layer and drop the bag in the sous vide bath at 155ºFfor 2hours.
    • While the chicken cooks, prepare the batter (for frying). Make a breading station by setting out two large bowls. One bowl is for wet ingredients. The other is for dry. In the “wet ingredient” bowl, whisk together buttermilk and Nashville hot sauce. Store in the fridge until it’s ready to use. Then prepare the dry mix. Add together flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and pepper to the other bowl and stir. Set aside.
    • During this time, also mix together the spicy Nashville hot oil seasonings: ***see notes*** cayenne pepper, brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, kosher salt. Later you’ll add some of the fryer oil to this mix. For now, set it aside.
    • And if you’re going to make the dipping sauce, now is the time. Whisk together the mayo, ketchup, and creamy horseradish. Refrigerate.
    • When the chicken is done cooking, remove the bag of sous vide chickenfrom the water. Remove the chicken from the bag and pat dry. This is important to help the breading stick in the next step.
    • Add chicken to the wet batter bowl (the liquid should cover the chicken) and marinate for 15 minutes. With tongs, remove one chicken at a time from the marinade and dredge it in the flour mixture, covering it completely.
    • Fry chicken. Consult the method you’re using to fry the chicken correctly. On the stove top, fry the chicken in vegetable oil filled up in a large pot at 375 degrees F. To sous vide then air fry the chicken, also set the air fryer to 375 degrees F. Each method will take 5-10 minutes for the chicken to lightly brown.
    • Once the chicken is done frying, transfer it to a drying rack to cool. Add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil (the oil from the pot is great if you fried the chicken on the stove) to the Bashville hot oil seasonings mix. Brush on the chicken after frying it.
    • Plate and serve spicy Nashville style sous vide fried chicken with hot sauce, dips, a brioche bun if you want to turn it into a sandwich, and your favorite sides.

    Notes

    WARNING!! Good luck if you use all the spices as directed. The spice mix I made for my fried sous vide chicken was filled was toned down a lot. 
    Reminder from Eryn: Did you mention anything about quartering the cayenne if you don’t want to curl up in a ball the next day 
    Nutrition calculations will obviously vary depending on which direction you take on finishing sous vide chicken in the air fryer or regular fryer.
    Thanks to the amazing Eryn Hagood for this recipe!
    See the full step by step recipe with pictures here: https://sipbitego.com/spicy-sous-vide-fried-chicken

    Nutrition

    Calories: 561kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 57g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 153mg | Sodium: 3305mg | Potassium: 1221mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 4178IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 121mg | Iron: 4mg
    Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @SipBiteGo or tag #sipbitego!
    « Grow Herbs at Home For Cooking With Culinary Garden Tips
    How To Spatchcock Chicken Step By Step [VIDEO] »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Hema says

      November 22, 2020 at 11:25 pm

      Thanks Guys, Your Recipe Was Too Fantastic. Me and My Family Loved it. I Will Share your Rrecipe with my friends. Hope they will love it too.5 stars

      Reply
    2. Haley D. Williams says

      August 21, 2020 at 11:09 am

      Sous vide is the best invention ever. I honestly don’t think I’ve had better homemade fried chicken! Thank you!5 stars

      Reply
    3. Marlynn says

      August 01, 2020 at 11:22 am

      Such a fabulous, flavorful way to enjoy chicken! Thanks for all of your helpful cooking tips with the recipe.5 stars

      Reply
    4. Tracy says

      June 01, 2020 at 12:05 pm

      I’ve been looking for an authentic recipe! I can’t wait to try this – it’ll bring me back to my trip to Nashville!5 stars

      Reply
    5. Pam Greer says

      June 01, 2020 at 11:21 am

      I had no idea you could sous vide chicken and then fry it. What a great idea!! Comes out perfect every time!5 stars

      Reply
    6. Anita says

      June 01, 2020 at 11:03 am

      These are good and very very spicy. I must remember to reduce the chili powder next time. 😀5 stars

      Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    jenna passaro food blogger from Portland Oregon

    Hey, I’m Jenna Passaro.

    I develop easy recipes that can transform your kitchen into a restaurant – and you into a true home chef.

      

    Where to start?

    Learn the secrets to smoking tasty Traeger recipes and making pizza at home. And cook amazing tri tip steak dinners.

    Or, fall in love with something new to cook with your air fryer, pellet smoker, BBQ grill, sous vide cooker, and more…

    You’ll notice, I kind of geek out over new cooking trends and tools!

    Instagram me @sipbitego & chef hubs @handmodelpatrick

    My story. Growing up, I didn’t learn to cook.

    (I was actually banned from cooking for years)

    And then in my 20’s I didn’t have to cook because my job as an event planner involved a lot of travel and it was easier to eat out. At the time, I was 100% positive that restaurant food would always taste better than cooking at home, and there was nothing I could do about it.

    Until I fell in love with a chef. He would come over and cook me delicious meals right in my own kitchen. My mind was blown.

    Since then, I’ve been on a mission to figure out easy ways to make restaurant style food at home and share it here on Sip Bite Go.

    Love to eat out and travel? I can totally relate. See my guide on where to eat in Portland, OR.

    jenna passaro the home chef's sous vide cookbook

    Never in a million years did I imagine I’d ditch the 9-5 lifestyle in my late 20’s, move across the country on a whim, start a new life, start a food blog, and write a book.

    But here I am!

    See my book on Amazon: The Home Chef’s Sous Vide Cookbook.

     

       

    Game Day Food

    Teriyaki Steak Marinade

    Easy Teriyaki Steak Marinade

    Grilled Sirloin Steak Recipe

    Easy Grilled Sirloin Steak on Weber Gas Grills

    Chicken Wing Recipe with dip

    9 EASY Chicken Wings Appetizers

    How To Cook Tri Tip In Oven Recipe

    How To Cook Tri Tip In Oven Perfectly

    Grill + Smoker

    Best Burger Recipes List for Grill Smoker Sous Vide

    Best Burger Recipes For Game Day

    Smoked Porchetta Box from Traeger Provisions

    Traeger Provisions Review of Smoked Porchetta Box With Video

    Community Favs

    How To Cook Tri Tip In Oven Recipe

    How To Cook Tri Tip In Oven Perfectly

    easy potato side dishes for steak dinners

    15+ Easy Potato Side Dish Recipes For Steak

    Air Fryer

    Air Fryer Turkey Legs Disney Copycat Recipe

    How To Air Fry Turkey Legs

    Air Fryer Brats Recipe

    Air Fryer Beer Brats (aka Bratwurst)

    Pizza Cravings

    Cheeseburger Recipe With Mustard And Pickles

    Cheeseburger Pizza Recipe With Mustard And Pickles

    Fig And Prosciutto Gourmet Pizza Recipe

    Dried Fig And Prosciutto Flatbread Pizza

    Holiday Dishes

    Turkey Legs In Oven Sip Bite Go

    Easy Baked Turkey Legs In Oven Recipe

    Spoon of gravy with a Turkey Gravy Packet lemon garlic and herb

    How To Make Turkey Gravy From Packet Taste Better

    Footer

    • Sip Bite Go
    • Recipe Index
    • Sous-Vide Recipes
       
    Sip Bite Go As Seen On
    • Work with Sip Bite Go
    • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Get Updates
    • Accesibility Info

    COPYRIGHT © 2021 SIP BITE GO