Nashville Hot Chicken {Portion Fix/21 Day Fix}

Nashville Hot Chicken is real popular, but I needed a healthy version in my life. So I broke out my air fryer and a few simple ingredients and remade it! 

I have been perfecting the use of cornflakes as a crunchy breading for meats in my air fryer. My catfish recipe is one of my favorites! Because my mom always used corn flakes as her breading for oven-fried chicken I was confident I could make a crunchy chicken. And I was right!

But before you get to the crunchy part you need to marinate your chicken. 

The Marinade

The best way to get the “hot” all the way down into a chicken breast is to marinate it. I like to keep things simple and use the least amount of ingredients as I can.

I usually use a breast the size of my Red container.  You will find you can roll a medium-sized breast into one container.

If the chicken breast is thicker on one end than the other you might want to pound it out a little. Put it between saran wrap and whack it with a rolling pin or meat mallet. Heck, give it a few whacks with a can of carrots if that is all you can find but just thin it out a little. 

So the marinade for 2 medium chicken breasts is 1 Tablespoon of Tabasco Sauce and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Simply put 2 breasts in a baggie and dump the sauce in. Seal it and massage the sauce all over them. I do this about 30 minutes before I am ready to bread them but you could leave them in there for hours, the flavor will just be more intense! 

The sauce 

This is not the sauce from a “real” Nashville Hot Chicken recipe.  Most regular sauce recipes are brown sugar and lard filled,  but I have to make it healthier!!!!

Basically I use the sauce recipe that I have already perfected for my Honey Sriracha Shrimp recipe because it has a perfect balance of sweet heat for me.  I do add 2 teaspoons of melted butter to the sauce to add a rich flavor to it.  I measure the sauce in my orange container and then mix the 2 teaspoons of melted butter to it before I cover the chicken with it. 

Breading the Nashville Hot Chicken

 The secret to getting breading to stick to meat is doing a 3 steps process. It is as simple as Dry/Wet/Dry.

I dust each breast on both sides with a tablespoon of whole wheat flour. DRY. 

Then dredge them in an egg wash. A simple egg and water mix… 1 egg and 2 tablespoons of water mixed thoroughly. WET.

For every 1 medium-sized chicken breast, I used 1/2 cup of corn flakes or 1/2Yellow container, crushed. (Crushed beyond belief) Turn them back and forth until the chicken is really coated well.

I use salt-free cajun spice mixed with the cornflakes. Since I am making HOT chicken I want to make sure to add layers of heat. If I don’t have cajun spice I just add black pepper or cayenne pepper to the corn flakes. Dry.

You just have to remember … Dry/Wet/Dry 

Cooking Nashville Hot Chicken

Pre-heat your oven to  350o.  My air fryer only has 1 temperature so I preheat it for 5 minutes.

If you are doing it in the oven, I suggest putting a small rack in a pan. That way heat can circulate around the chicken and let the “juices” runoff or else the bottom crust of the chicken will be soggy. If you don’t have a rack you can smash up a piece of aluminum foil and lay it in the pan spray with cooking spray and lightly lay your chicken on it. The foil should allow those juices to drain a little better.

Cook time will depend on the thickness of your chicken. These breasts took about 20 minutes but thicker ones might take a few minutes more. 

You are looking for the corn flakes to turn a pretty golden brown.

On to the recipe 

I make my sauce 1st so that it has time to meld the flavors. Set my oven to preheat. Set up my Dry/Wet/Dry station. Prep my chicken and bread it. Then get to cooking! 

Nashville Hot Chicken {21 Day Fix}

Nashville Hot Chicken is real popular, but I needed a healthy version in my life. So I broke out my air fryer and a few simple ingredients and remade it! 

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Servings: 2

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

Chicken Marinade

• 2 medium chicken breast pounded out evenly
• 1 tablespoon Tabasco Sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon or to taste cayenne pepper

Honey Sriracha Sauce

• 2 Tablespoon Honey or maple syrup
• 2 Tablespoon Sriracha Sauce
• 2 teaspoon lemon or lime juice
• 1 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 teaspoons butter, melted

Breaded Chicken

• 2 Tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 1 egg beaten with 2 Tablespoons of water
• 1 cup corn flakes crushed
• ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper or cayenne pepper, to taste

Method

 

Chicken Marinade

1. Add chicken and spices to a baggie. Massage to thoroughly cover the chicken. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes to a few hours.

Honey Sriracha Sauce

1. Add all ingredients except the butter to a jar with a lid and shake it good. Set aside.
2. When you are ready to serve the chicken, add the melted butter to the sauce. Divide in 1/2 and pour evenly over hot chicken.

Breaded Chicken

1. Dust chicken pieces with 1Tablespoon flour each.
2. Dip chicken into the egg wash and straight into the seasoned crushed corn flakes.
3. Arrange on a rack in a pan. Bake at350o till golden brown. 20-25 minutes. Or according to your air fryers directions.
4. After chicken is done pour sauce over the hot chicken.

21 Day Fix Container Counts Per Serving

1. 1Red, 1Orange, 2teaspoons oil, 1/2Y, 2teaspoons sweetener

I couldn’t help myself and had to have some Hot Chicken and Waffles with a test batch. I am going to make a big batch of these waffles to keep in the freezer just for this recipe!

French fries are perfect with this chicken! Because it only uses 1/2Y for the breading I can squeeze 1 1/2 Y of french fries onto my plate!!