If you can’t make it to Music City but you love its hot chicken, just make this Nashville Hot Chicken Burger recipe at home.
For more ideas of what to make, check out all of our recipes.

I love Nashville hot chicken. So, when we were there on vacation, we had to try the two most popular hot chicken restaurants: Prince’s hot chicken, which is the inventor of the dish, and Hattie B’s hot chicken, which was my absolute favorite chicken sandwich I’ve ever had.
Nashville hot chicken is a really spicy, Southern-style fried chicken, covered in spices. It’s sometimes topped with hot oil (a mixture made from hot frying oil, cayenne pepper, and other spices) that’s brushed on top of the cooked chicken to give it its distinct red color and to add more heat.
Plane tickets to Nashville are something I can’t afford every time I want chicken, so I had to figure out how to make hot chicken at home.
I’ve come up with a really delicious way, with less mess, that’s quick enough to make on a work night.
You season ground chicken, form it into patties, sear it, and then finish it in the oven.
Of course, this is a little different than the traditional version, which is usually fried chicken. But, since I never wanna clean up the mess of deep frying at home, I make this like a burger patty instead. It’s neater and makes a lot more sense for a weeknight dinner.

I love making burgers for dinner. They’re always so satisfying and you can customize them so much that they never get boring.
For more ideas, check out our list of really good burger recipes. There are ones you make on the grill, others you make in the oven, beef burgers, turkey burgers, veggie burgers, more.
Nashville Hot Chicken Burgers Recipe
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Nashville Hot Chicken Burgers Ingredients:
You can get the full list of ingredients with measurements in the recipe card below.
- Flour – All-purpose flour coats the chicken to give it a crust and keep it moist.
- Nashville hot chicken seasoning – I personally think the McCormick Nashville hot chicken seasoning has the best overall flavor, but you can use any brand.
- Brown sugar – Hattie B’s hot chicken adds brown sugar into its seasoning blend so you taste more than just heat. It adds a really good flavor so we add this to ours.
- Egg – This helps the flour and seasoning stick to the patty.
- Ground chicken – We use lean ground chicken, but starting this on the stovetop and finishing it in the oven keeps in the moisture so you don’t miss the fat.
- Spicy Panko breadcrumbs – These act as a binder to keep the patties together and also as a way to spice the meat.
- Mayonnaise – We use a low-fat mayo to add a little fat back into the chicken patties. If you don’t use as lean of a cut of ground chicken, you can probably skip the mayo.
- Garlic – This adds spice and flavor to the chicken.
- Hamburger buns – Any sort of bun works.
- Coleslaw – Traditionally, hot chicken is topped with coleslaw. But, it’s optional.
How To Make Nashville Hot Chicken Burgers:
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
You’re gonna start these on the stovetop but finish in the oven.

Pour the flour onto a plate.
You can use a small bowl too, but I always use plates when I’m making a breading station.
Add in the Nashville hot seasoning.
Add in the brown sugar.
Stir until the seasoning and sugar are evenly distributed throughout the flour.
Taste the seasoning here. The hot seasoning gets diluted from the flour. It’ll get a little hotter while it cooks. I wouldn’t add any less Nashville hot seasoning to this, but you could add more if you want a spicier burger.

Crack the egg into a second plate.
Gently scramble it with a fork.

Put the ground chicken into a large bowl.
Add in the Panko breadcrumbs.

Add in the mayo.

Grate in the garlic.
If you don’t have a grater, you can chop the garlic really fine and add it that way. I just prefer the grater because the garlic is finer and incorporates into the chicken.

Mix until everything is combined.

Take some of the chicken mixture and form a patty (which is about 1/2 inch thick).
The patty should hold together because of the breadcrumbs in the chicken, but just be careful when you’re dredging it to keep its shape. If it starts to become more oval than round, you can just push the sides in to keep it tighter.
Put it in the seasoned flour and coat both sides, making sure to knock off any excess.
Quick note: Ground chicken is wet, which can prevent breading from sticking evenly. So, you coat it in seasoned flour first to absorb the moisture. The flour does become a little sticky, which is good. If you skipped this layer, the egg wouldn’t stick to the wet chicken.

Move it to the egg mixture and coat both sides. Again, make sure you knock off any excess.
Another quick note: Because the flour is sticky, the egg has something to grip onto it. The egg layer acts as a binder between the chicken and the second coat of breading. If you skipped this, you would only have a moist breading that would slip off the chicken.

Put it back into the seasoned flour and coat both sides. And, once again, knock off any excess.
Final quick note: The second coat of seasoned flour gives the patties a crust and texture. It also gives the burger a lot of its flavor. Since this is a burger, not a deep fried piece of chicken, it won’t be as crunchy as a fried chicken sandwich, but it will have a nice texture.
Continue until you’re done with all the chicken. You should be able to get five patties out of this recipe. They don’t have to be exactly the same size, but they’ll cook evenly if they are.

Heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. You need just enough to lightly coat the bottom of the pan.
Quick note: We prefer olive oil because of its flavor, but you could use a canola or vegetable oil instead.
Add the chicken patties to the pan.
Heat them for four minutes until a crust forms.
You should be able to easily slide a spatula under the patty.

Add a drizzle of olive oil on top of each patty, then flip them.
Cook them on the other side for three minutes.
Again, you want to cook them until a crust forms and you can slide the spatula under. These won’t cook to a deep golden brown like a fried chicken sandwich. But you’ll notice the crust forming.

Put the entire skillet in the preheated oven for six minutes.
Quick note: If your skillet isn’t oven safe (it says so on the bottom of the pan), you’ll want to transfer the patties to a baking sheet and put that inside the oven instead.
The chicken is done when its internal temperature reaches 165 F.

Put the chicken burger between a toasted bun and top with coleslaw.

Nashville Hot Chicken Burgers: Frequently Asked Questions
Wait until the burgers have completely cooled to room temperature, then store them in an airtight container in the fridge. They’ll last about five days that way.
When you’re ready to eat, you can reheat the patties in an oven at 350 F on a wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes until they’re heated through. The rack helps the heat to circulate so the bottom doesn’t get soggy.
You could also reheat it in an air fryer at 350 F for five to seven minutes.
You don’t have to use the hot oil since this is an at-home version rather than a fully traditional version. With this recipe, we build flavor into the breading so that we don’t need the oil to add extra heat.
Yes, you can definitely use turkey instead, but the flavor won’t be the same.
Coleslaw is traditional, but you can skip that and just add slices of pickles instead. You could also add lettuce and tomato slices, like a traditional burger.
Just keep in mind that too many toppings with detract from the spice of the hot chicken burgers and it’ll end up tasting more like a plain chicken patty.
Nashville Hot Chicken Burgers
If you can’t make it to Music City but you love its hot chicken, just make this Nashville Hot Chicken Burger recipe at home.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon Nashville hot chicken seasoning
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 package (20 oz.) ground chicken
- 1/4 cup spicy Panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Hamburger buns
- Coleslaw (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Pour the flour onto a plate.
- Add in the Nashville hot seasoning.
- Add in the brown sugar.
- Stir until the seasoning and sugar are evenly distributed throughout the flour.
- Crack the egg into a second plate. Gently scramble it with a fork.
- Put the ground chicken into a large bowl.
- Add in the Panko breadcrumbs.
- Add in the mayo.
- Grate in the garlic.
- Mix until everything is combined.
- Take some of the chicken mixture and form a patty (which is about 1/2 inch thick). You should be able to make 5 patties total.
- Put the patty in the seasoned flour and coat both sides, making sure to knock off any excess.
- Move it to the egg mixture and coat both sides. Again, make sure you knock off any excess.
- Put it back into the seasoned flour and coat both sides. And, once again, knock off any excess.
- Heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. You need just enough to lightly coat the bottom of the pan.
- Add the chicken patties to the pan.
- Heat them for four minutes until a crust forms.
- Add a drizzle of olive oil on top of each patty, then flip them.
- Cook them on the other side for three minutes.
- Put the entire skillet in the preheated oven for six minutes.
- Put them on buns and top with coleslaw or your favorite toppings.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Yield
5Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 241Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 2gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 58mgSodium 155mgCarbohydrates 31gFiber 2gSugar 2gProtein 10g
Have you tried these Nashville hot chicken burgers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
