Keto Nashville Hot Chicken Thighs

The easiest way to make restaurant-quality Keto Nashville Hot Chicken at home! These chicken thighs are seasoned and sauced to perfection.

Keto Nashville Hot Chicken Recipe

It’s spicy, it’s hot, and it’s got the perfect amount of sweetness.

If you like spicy food, this chicken recipe is for you! In the world of spicy chicken, there is spicy fried chicken and then there is Nashville Hot chicken.

Whether it’s your first time making hot fried chicken or the 1000th time, this recipe shows off my version of the best hot chicken around along with tips, tricks, side dishes, and more!

It is a simple recipe to follow and one that everyone loves. BONUS: You can make the chicken as hot or mild as you’d like.

Ingredients for Keto Nashville Hot Chicken Thighs

Nashville Hot Chicken and Sauce Ingredients

Meat: For this recipe, I used 2 lbs of chicken thighs (8 thighs). However, if you aren’t a dark meat fan or are looking to make Nashville hot chicken sandwiches, I recommend using chicken breasts.

Keto Hot Sauce: To make the keto hot sauce, you will need 1 stick of salted butter, 1 cup of your favorite (or my favorite) hot sauce, 3 tbsp of Wondrose low carb sweetener, 1 tbsp of cayenne pepper, and 1 tbsp of smoked paprika.

Optional Garnish: Not reacquired, but delicious to add! Finish off your chicken with 1 cup of dill pickle chips and 1 tbsp of parsley

Pro-Tip: Make Nashville hot nuggets by using pieces of chicken breast meat.

Spice Rub Ingredients

Every great meat recipe starts with a great rub! This rub is easy to make and elevates the dish tenfold.

In a shallow bowl, combine 2 tbsp of smoked paprika, 2 tbsp of cayenne powder, 1 tbsp of real salt, 1 tbsp of granulated onion, 1 tbsp of granulated garlic, 1 tbsp of baking soda, and 1 tsp of white pepper

Spice Rub Variations: Looking to shake things up and try something new or different? Consider trying black pepper, brown sugar, garlic powder, chili powder, and/or onion powder.

How to Make Nashville Hot Chicken

Preheat oven. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Prep and season chicken. Combine seasoning to prepare rub seasoning. Trim off any extra skin and shape chicken thighs so they sit flat on the sheet pan. Generously season both sides of chicken thighs.

Cook chicken. Lay chicken thighs on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 45 minutes until chicken thighs reach 175 degrees and skin is crispy.

Make keto Nashville hot sauce. In a small saucepan whisk together butter, Wondrose (sweetener), cayenne pepper, paprika, and hot sauce over low heat. Whisk constantly and do not let the sauce boil or the butter will separate.

Remove from heat. Remove from heat as soon as the butter is fully incorporated into the sauce. Set aside.

Coat chicken in hot sauce. Once the chicken is fully cooked dunk or brush chicken thighs in sauce to fully coat.

Enjoy! Serve immediately with dill pickle chips and enjoy.

How hot do you like it!

Nashville Hot Chicken is a magical combination of juicy southern fried chicken smothered in an oil-based cayenne pepper sauce.

Hot Chicken is traditionally served with white bread and pickles to balance out the fiery chicken – making a classic Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich.

Obviously, the white bread is out but I’ve seen a Wonder Bread Chaffle Recipe that would go great with the hot chicken. I decided the pickles were enough for me and I made a spicy sauce that was not overwhelming. 

You can control the spice level by how much cayenne pepper you use not only in the sauce itself but real badasses actually shake another coat of straight cayenne on top of the sauce…I’m not that brave but you do you!

If you want to make the sauce milder you can replace some of the cayenne with smoked paprika and just lightly brush the sauce on top of the chicken.

Sheet Pan Crispy Chicken Skin.

Instead of frying the chicken thighs, I wanted to make this recipe simple so I decided to bake the chicken in the oven.

It’s amazing how crispy you can get the chicken just from baking on a sheet pan in the oven. Two tricks to crispy oven-baked chicken are to take the chicken out of the package the night before to air dry in the fridge.

The second secret is adding baking soda to the spice rub. The baking soda and salt help draw out moisture to help the skin get extra crispy.

If you prefer you can make this same recipe in your Air fryer.

You can also use chicken wings or breasts if you prefer instead of chicken thighs. One advantage of using dark meat is that it can be cooked to a higher internal temperature and remain juicy.

I cook all dark meat to 175-180 degrees F.

Whereas I would only cook breast meat to 160 degrees F. I am always gonna be team chicken thighs because it’s the juiciest meatiest part of the bird.

What to Serve with Nashville Hot Chicken

Serve your chicken alongside classics like steamed veggies, like broccoli and cauliflower.

Serving your chicken to people who aren’t keto? Pair your chicken with an optional side of keto potato salad.

Deep Frying Nashville Hot Chicken

If you are looking to fry instead of bake, you will definitely want some super hot canola oil (make sure you have enough oil), a cast iron or frying pan, a temperature probe, or a candy thermometer.

You can also cook the chicken in the air fryer to cut calories and avoid making a mess with oil.

More Keto Chicken Recipe Ideas

• General Tso Chicken
• Scampi Chicken Thighs
• Mexican Chicken Crust Keto Pizza
• Chicken Fajita Keto Burrito
• Low Carb Stuffed Chicken Parmesan

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