If you have ever had Nashville Hot Chicken, you have Prince’s to thank. It was the originator of the spicy chicken phenomena. Find out about it in our Prince’s Hot Chicken review.
For more, check out all of our restaurant reviews.
We have all heard of Nashville hot chicken now. Maybe you’ve even tried it. It is an extremely hot chicken with origins in — you guessed it — Nashville.
For some foods, it’s hard to pinpoint the origin. There are a lot of restaurants that stake claim to creating the first hamburger or Buffalo wings, but no one argues that Prince’s is where Nashville hot chicken began.
It’s actually a very funny story.
You’ve heard the saying, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” right?
Well, Prince’s uses that phrase when it’s talking about the origins of it’s hot chicken. So, even though it’s named after a man, you have his lady to thank for you.
Well, his scorned lady.
Prince’s is the OG Nashville hot chicken, but it’s not the only one. There’s also Hattie B’s hot chicken, which is my absolute favorite fried chicken sandwich I’ve ever had — in my life.
Sorry to Prince’s because it’s not my favorite, but without it, there would be no Hattie B’s, so thank you Prince’s.
Prince’s Hot Chicken History
So, let’s get back to that lady.
Thornton Prince was a ladies man. Well that’s a nice way to put it.
So, one night, his lady had had enough and cooked up — literally — a plan to get her revenge.
She cooked him some fried chicken, but made it so incredibly spicy that she anticipated ruining his day just as he had ruined her night.
But, the joke was on her because Prince loved the chicken so much, he asked for seconds. And then for the recipe.
He worked to perfect the recipe, which became the cornerstone of his Nashville-based restaurant, then called Bar-B-Que Chicken Shack.
That was in 1945, and Prince’s still stands — although in a different location and with a different name.
Bar-B-Que Chicken Shack was originally opened near the Tennessee A&I’s campus, but it moved to Hell’s Half Acre, which was near the Ryman Auditorium, then home to the Grand Ole Opry where it operated until moving again, this time to East Nashville, in 1988.
Quick aside: The Opry performers fell in love with the food and would often stop there after the show. Because of segregation at that time, a separate room was built for white guests — but in the back of the building. They had to walk through the main dining room and through the kitchen to get to their room.
So the move in 1988 was eight years after Prince’s great-niece André Prince Jeffries took over the business. She is the one who changed the name from Bar-B-Que Chicken Shack to Prince’s Chicken Shack.
It’s a wonder that Nashville hot chicken was created 70 years ago, but didn’t launch nationwide until about 15 years ago. Now you can find nation chain restaurants serving it. KFC had it as a seasonal item about 12 years ago and Kinder’s sells a Nashville hot seasoning that you can find in most grocery stores.
Side note: This is a very quick, basic history. If you want the most in depth history of Nashville hot chicken and Prince’s, this article by Bitter Southerner is absolutely amazing.
Prince’s Hot Chicken Spice Levels
If you haven’t tried Nashville hot chicken before, the common suggestion is to order one level down from your usual spice level because Nashville hot chicken is hot.
Don’t try to be a hero.
Anthony Bourdain famously visited a Nashville hot chicken restaurant on his travel show and ordered the hottest hot chicken. He admitted that it bound him to his hotel room for half a day because the spice just ran through him.
If you’re in Nashville for a brief vacation, you just don’t have that kind of time to spend nursing your sick stomach. So please, listen when I tell you to order down.
I ordered the medium heat for us to split. That was the same level that we ordered at Hattie B’s, so Pete thought that would be a great way to compare the two.
This scale at Prince’s is smaller, ranging from plain to XXX hot, with six steps between (lite mild, mild, medium, hot, X hot, and XX hot).
Prince‘s hot chicken was so hot. It’s very spicy and the spice blend is so hot.
Prince’s Hot Chicken Spice Menu
We only ordered the chicken sandwich because fried chicken sandwiches are my favorite meal.
But you could also order whole chicken or pieces, wings, jumbo tenders, a chicken salad, or a fried chicken tortilla bowl (with tenders, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and peppers, in a bowl with dressing). That looked amazing and I’m definitely getting it next time.
For sides, there are fries, Southern style baked beans with smoked pork, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, potato salad, greens (with smoked turkey and served with a corn muffin), pickles, and a corn muffin.
The chicken sandwich is dry rubbed and served with a squirt of either Sweet Heat or Kicking Ranch on top. I picked the ranch because my mom said it was good.
Because it’s not coated in a sauce after it’s cooked, Pete actually liked it so much better than Hattie B’s. He thought Hattie B’s was a little bit unnecessarily messy, so he enjoyed the experience of eating Prince’s more.
Even though the outside is dry, the chicken inside is so juicy. It’s a really good piece of chicken. And the breading has a great crunch that clings onto the sandwich. It goes perfectly with the soft Hawaiian roll bun.
Our sandwich came with coleslaw in a small container on the side. I ordered coleslaw as a side, so I just added the small container to the big one. It wasn’t until later that I realize the small container of coleslaw was supposed to be a garnish on the sandwich.
Would it have helped the heat? I don’t know. I did try a piece of the chicken by itself and it was so hot. It reminded me of Al’s Hot Chicken, which is seasoned very heavily. But Al’s is so spicy that it’s almost inedible.
Pete, who loves spice, actually added small packets of Louisiana hot sauce to his half of the chicken sandwich at Prince’s because it wasn’t spicy enough for him.
If he ordered his own sandwich, he definitely would have gotten a higher spice level than I did. I like heat, but all the talk about ordering down made me a wimp.
Prince‘s Hot Chicken Locations
There are five Prince’s Hot Chicken locations in the Nashville area.
There is the oldest currently operating location, which is located in a strip mall in South Nashville (5814 Nolensville Pike). My parents actually went there on one of their road trips a few years ago.
(Quick note: Thanks to one of our Facebook friends for letting us know that the Nolensville Pike location replaced the Ewing Drive location (123 Ewing Drive). It operated there from 1989 until December 2018 when a car crash caused a fire that shut the doors permanently).
But, if you’re visiting Nashville on vacation and you didn’t rent a car, it’s not the most convenient location for tourists.
For tourists, you’re gonna wanna go to Assembly Food Hall. That’s where we went. It’s a large food court at 5th and Broadway, which is an outdoor shopping mall off of Broadway, the main street in Nashville.
Assembly hall is always crowded, but the line moves quickly because the workers there are phenomenal. I give them so much credit because that line is overwhelming and they do such a good job of getting the orders out in a timely and efficient manner.
There’s a location at the Tanger Outlets, another at Nashville International Airport (BNA), and one at Geodis Park, a soccer stadium at the Nashville Fairgrounds.
Prince’s also has a location in Knoxville, Tennessee and its first out of state location in Greenville, South Carolina. Both of those are within Yee-Haw Brewery, which was our favorite brewery in Nashville.
There’s a Jefferson St. location in Nashville that has been in various states of permitting/under construction since 2023, but isn’t open yet.
More Hot Chicken Reviews:
Prince’s may have been the original, but it’s still regional. If you don’t live near Nashville, chances are you’re not gonna try it.
So, in that case, try Dave’s Hot Chicken. That chain, baked by musician Drake, started in Los Angeles but has expanded nationwide.
Have you tried Prince’s Hot Chicken? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.