My Copycat KFC’s Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders are hot and spicy with a touch of sweetness. The tender, juicy, white meat chicken on the inside and crispy coating on the outside lets the spicy sauce cling to crispy chicken tenders, creating an explosion of flavor with every bite.
I love spicy fried chicken and my KFC copycat Nashville hot tenders is every bit as delicious as the Colonel’s recipe.
My version of Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders is perfect for dipping in bleu cheese dressing or ranch dressing. Both dressings are the perfect complement to the sweet heat of the sauce.
If you like this recipe and would prefer making it with chicken breasts, check out my Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich it’s ah-mazing!
Ingredients to make KFC Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders Copycat Recipe
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make my KFC copycat recipe of Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place.”
Not only does setting up your ingredients ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
How to make Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders
- Add the buttermilk, egg, pickle juice, and hot sauce to a shallow bowl.
- Whisk the ingredients until fully combined.
- Pat dry the chicken tenders with paper towels, then place them into the bowl with the buttermilk mixture.
- Mix to coat, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-4 hours (or overnight).
When the chicken is done marinating, remove it from the buttermilk mixture and let it sit for 10 minutes before breading.
- Add the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, garlic powder, chili powder, dry mustard, salt, and black pepper to a large bowl.
- Whisk to combine the dry ingredients and set aside until needed.
- Dredge the chicken tenders in the flour mixture, shaking off any excess flour.
- Dip the floured tenders back into the buttermilk mixture. Letting the excess buttermilk drip off.
- Dredge the buttermilk-dipped chicken tenders back into the flour mixture for the second coating of flour. Make sure to get a good coating of flour on the chicken.
- Continue the process until all the chicken has been breaded.
- Add 3-4 inches of cooking oil to a deep skillet or Dutch oven over high heat. Heat the oil until it has reached 350 degrees F.
- Add the breaded chicken tenders to the hot oil and fry the chicken for 5-6 minutes until golden brown and crispy or until the internal temperature is at least 165°F.
*Cook in two batches if the pan is not big enough for all the chicken tenders. - Remove the cooked chicken tenders from the pan and place them on a wire rack to drain.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan, then add the cayenne, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, brown sugar, and honey to the saucepan with the melted butter.
- Whisk the ingredients to combine and heat the mixture over medium heat for one minute or until the brown sugar has somewhat dissolved.
- Add two tablespoons of hot cooking oil from frying the chicken to the mixture and whisk until smooth.
Toss the fried chicken tenders in the Nashville hot sauce until well-coated.
Serve the Copycat Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders with blue cheese dressing or buttermilk ranch dressing, dill pickle chips, and celery sticks.
Store any leftover Nashville hot tenders in an airtight container, refrigerated for 2-3 days. If you made a large batch and want to refrigerate them, wait until they are reheated to sauce them.
Recipe FAQs
Buffalo sauce combines hot sauce with melted butter (and sometimes honey) to make a traditional buffalo sauce. Nashville hot chicken sauce, blends cayenne pepper, brown sugar, butter, and spices mixed together with oil from frying the chicken.
Absolutely. You can adjust the spiciness of the chicken tenders by reducing the amount of cayenne pepper and hot sauce in the coating and sauce. Start with less and taste as you go until you reach your desired level of heat.
Nashville hot chicken tenders are spicy fried chicken tenders that are known for their crispy coating and fiery, flavorful sauce. They originated at Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack in Nashville, Tennessee, and are typically served with pickles and white bread.
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KFC Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders CopyCat
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 ½ lb chicken tenders
- 2 cups vegetable oil for frying
Marinade
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ½ cup pickle juice
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoon hot sauce
Breading
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tbsp dry mustard powder
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Nashville Hot Sauce
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper more or less to your taste preferences
- 2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 2 teaspoon smoked paprika or regular paprika
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoon hot cooking oil from frying chicken
Instructions
Chicken
- Pat dry the chicken tenders with paper towels.
Marinade
- Add the buttermilk, egg, pickle juice, and hot sauce to a shallow bowl and whisk the ingredients until fully combined.
- Place the chicken tenders into the bowl with the buttermilk mixture.
- Mix to coat the chicken, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-4 hours (or overnight).
Breading
- Add the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, garlic powder, chili powder, dry mustard, salt, and black pepper to another bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside until needed.
- When the chicken is done marinating, remove it from the buttermilk mixture and let it sit for 10 minutes before breading.
- Dredge the chicken breast in flour mixture, shaking off any excess flour.
- Dip the floured tenders back into the buttermilk mixture. Letting excess buttermilk drip off.
- Dredge the buttermilk-dipped chicken tenders back into the flour mixture for the second coating of flour. Make sure to get a good coating of flour on the chicken.
- Continue the process until all the chicken has been breaded.
- Add 3-4 inches of cooking oil to a deep skillet or Dutch oven over high heat. Heat the oil until it has reached 350 degrees F.
- Add the breaded chicken tenders to the hot oil and fry the chicken for 5-6 minutes until golden brown and crispy or until the internal temperature is at least 165°F.*Cook in two batches if the pan is not big enough for all the chicken tenders.
- Remove the cooked chicken tenders from the pan and place them on a wire rack to drain.
Nashville Hot Sauce
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan.
- Add the cayenne, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, brown sugar, and honey to the saucepan with the melted butter.
- Whisk the ingredients to combine and heat the mixture over medium heat for one minute or until the brown sugar has somewhat dissolved.
- Add two tablespoons of hot cooking oil from frying the chicken to the mixture and whisk until smooth.
- Toss the fried chicken tenders in the hot sauce until coated and serve with blue cheese dressing or buttermilk ranch dressing and celery sticks.
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