Nashville Hot Chicken Taco
Crispy and spicy Nashville hot chicken served on a taco with slaw, pickles, and soft fresh homemade flour tortillas! The super crispy chicken tastes so good on a soft homemade tortilla! This taco is a perfect balance of flavors with the spicy chicken, creamy slaw, and tart pickles!
The inspiration for this recipe
I was inspired to put Nashville hot chicken in a taco because I took a trip with Old El Paso to Nashville. We ate so much hot chicken and so many tacos! I think I had at least 15 tacos and 4 different versions of hot chicken! It was so nice meeting some of my favorite bloggers and hanging out with old friends on this trip that kicked off a great relationship with the brand. While I was making this taco I was thinking of some of the memories from that trip.
Marinate the chicken tenders
Some garlic and onion powder, lemon pepper, milk, and vinegar. If you have buttermilk you can use that instead of the milk and vinegar combo. I also like to take out the main part of the tendon in these tenders, and if they are really big slice them in half the long way so they fit in the taco better.
Make the slaw
Cabbage, carrot, fresno chilis, and scallions make u the base veggies in this quick slaw. Then add cider vinegar, salt, lemon pepper, mustard, and mayo.
Make the tortillas
Obviously you could use store bought tortillas for these Nashville hot chicken tacos, but making homemade tortillas really took it over the top. Just some flour, salt, and baking powder in the pan first. Then add lard and mix it in really well. You could also use butter if you prefer. Once the lard is mixed in, stir in some hot water. Just enough until it all comes together! I used this recipe as a guide.
Line up the dough balls and let them rest under a kitchen towel for about a half hour.
I find that most tortilla presses do not go thin enough for a flour tortilla so I like to flatten the dough into a disk with a plate, and then roll it out as thin as I possibly can. The plate helps me keep it in a nice circle.
Cook the tortillas
Add the tortilla to a super hot cast iron pan and cook a few minutes. Then flip. You should see the tortilla puff up and that is how you know you rolled it thin enough. Put the cooked tortillas into a clean kitchen towel on a plate and keep them wrapped in the towel. This will keep them warm and pliable so they are ready to go when it is time to make the Nashville hot chicken tacos.
Fry the Nashville hot chicken
Season up some flour and cornstarch with lemon pepper, paprika, salt, and pepper. Dip the chicken into the flour, then back into the marinade, then finally back into the flour one more time. Let it rest on a baking sheet while you do all the chicken.
Fry and season the nashville hot chicken
Once most of the chicken is coated, start frying it! Get the oil nice and hot, about 375. Fry the chicken in batches and when it is cooked, put it on a rack to cool. While the Nashville hot chicken is frying, bring together a spice blend. Nashville hot is mostly cayenne, but I used a few more spices to expand the flavor profile a bit. Add some of the hot frying oil to the bowl with the spices and stir well to combine, then glaze the fried chicken tenders with the oil.
Make and serve the Nashville Hot Chicken Tacos
Tortillas down first for the taco base, then some slaw, then the pickles, then the Nashville hot chicken! I also made a nice homemade ranch for this that complimented everything perfectly!
The textures in these tacos are a perfect balance of crunchy and soft and the homemade tortillas are the perfect vehicle for all these amazing flavors!
Twists on this recipe
Obviously you could use store bought tortillas for these Nashville hot chicken tacos. If you want to make your own, here is a great guide that I always double check before making my own.
You could use store bought ranch too, and buy some slaw and frozen chicken tenders and really make these quick and easy.
For more fun tacos, check out my white people taco recipe, these chopped cheese tacos, or this unique shrimp summer roll taco!
Nashville Hot Chicken Tacos
Equipment
Ingredients
Slaw
- 1/2 head cabbage sliced very thin
- 2 carrots peeled with a julienne peeler
- 3 red fresno chile peppers sliced very thin
- 3 scallions finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup mayo
- 2 tabespoons dijon mustard
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
Ranch
- 1 cup greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1 lemon (juice)
- 2 cloves garlic grated
- 1/2 teaspoon Korean chili flakes
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
Chicken marinade
- 1 pound chicken tenders
- 1.5 cups flour
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce
- salt and pepper
Flour Tortillas
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/3 cup lard
- 1 cup hot water
Chicken fry and dredge
- oil for frying
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/3 cup corn starch
- 1 tablespoon lemon pepper seasoning
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- salt and pepper
Spice blend for hot chicken
- 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper or more if you want it really hot!
- 1 tablespoon mexican chili powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon chipotle powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
Topping
- 45 dill pickle slices
Instructions
Slaw
- Mix all the slaw ingredients together in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Make the ranch
- Mix all the ranch ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Marinate chicken
- If any of the tenders are huge, you can slice them in half the long way. Also remove some of the large tendon.
- Toss the chicken with the milk, vinegar, seasonings, and salt and pepper and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. You could alternatively use buttermilk instead of milk and vinegar.
Make the tortillas
- Add the flour, salt, and baking powder to a large bowl. Stir to combine.
- Use a pastry cutter to blend the lard into the flour. Once there are no remaining large pieces of lard, stir in about half of the hot water. Once combined, add as much more water as needed to form the soft dough.
- Knead the dough for 5 minutes on a flat surface. Once smooth, split the dough into 12 small rounds of dough. Cover with a towel and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Preheat a cast iron pan over medium high heat.
- Roll the dough rounds very thin. as thin as you can without them breaking apart.
- One by one, cook the tortillas in the hot pan, about 2-3 minutes per side. If you see them puffing up after you flip the first time, you know you are doing it right! If they don't puff, you might need to roll them thinner.
- As they finish, add them to a plate or shallow bowl and wrap with a clean kitchen towel.
Fry the chicken
- Add the oil to a large cast iron pan or fryer. Preheat to 375.
- Add the flour to a shallow plate, and mix in the cornstarch and spices.
- One by one, use a fork to grab a tender from the marinade. Let the excess marinade drip off. Dredge it in the flour mixture, then a quick dip back into the marinade. Again, let the marinade drip off and go back into the flour. Place it on a baking sheet or plate while you do the remaining tenders, or at least until you finish a few for the first batch of frying.
- Fry the tenders in batches until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack. Repeat until you have cooked all the tenders.
Make the hot chicken sauce
- Mix the spices in a metal bowl. When you are done or close to being done with the chicken, use a ladle to scoop about 1 cup of the hot chicken frying oil into the metal bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Use a spoon to drizzle the oil onto the tenders on the rack.
Finally build the tacos!
- Tortilla first, then some slaw, then a chicken tender. Next add some pickles, and drizzle on the ranch. Serve!
Oh hellll ya!