This crispy, spicy Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwiches is made in the air fryer with breaded chicken, a homemade Nashville hot sauce, and a pile of dill pickles to top it off.
At this point, my air fryer is basically turning into the chicken sandwich machine. I’m churning chicken sandwiches out left and right and my family never seems to get sick of them! It doesn’t hurt that we’re always testing out new sauces and toppings to the keep things interesting!
Take the ever popular Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich – a total breeze to make in the air fryer. If you’re feeling ambitious, you’ll start with the recipe for our air fryer chicken sandwich. Honestly, it’s just crispy, juicy chicken sandwich perfection.
But! If you’re feeling like it’s been a long day and you really just need an easy way to avoid the drive-thru, start with frozen breaded chicken filets.
The sauce is doing most of the work, but not to worry…it’s totally easy to stir together in a saucepan while the chicken is in the air fryer.
Ingredient Notes:
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Chicken – You’ve got a few options here depending on how easy you’d like this recipe to be. You can keep it real simple and use frozen breaded chicken filets (this brand is pretty perfect, reminds me of restaurant style fried chicken filets) or make your own breaded and air fried chicken.
Nashville Hot Sauce – Traditional Nashville hot sauce starts with the oil that you fried the chicken in. We’re swapping that for butter and I promise you won’t be mad about it. You’ll add cayenne pepper to spice things up, some honey and brown sugar to balance things, and a few more spices including garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. It’s a flavorful and spicy sauce – not really sweet, just well balanced.
Sandwiches – We like to use brioche buns for these sandwiches. The sweet buttery buns complement the heat of the spicy sauce. We also toast them to add extra flavor! For toppings the classic choice is dill pickles but we also like them with cold creamy coleslaw! You can use any other toppings you like.
Step by Step Instructions for Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich:
Prepare the breaded chicken per package instructions if using frozen chicken, or bread and air fry fresh chicken yourself. As soon as the chicken is cooked you can move on to saucing it.
Prepare the Nashville hot sauce in a sauce pan by melting the butter and stirring in the spices. Cook until fragrant. The sauce will be clumpy, not smooth.
Use a pastry brush to liberally brush both sides of each piece of chicken until they are well coated in the sauce. For less spice, use less sauce.
To finish assemble the sandwiches by placing sauced chicken on the toasted buns and top with dill pickle slices or any other toppings you like!
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Storage:
Fridge: Store leftover chicken in the fridge for 3-4 days. Leftover sauce can also be store in the fridge and will last for up to 2 weeks.
Reheating: Reheat the chicken in the air fryer for 3-4 minutes at 350 degrees, until hot. Warm the sauce in the microwave for 15-20 seconds or so, just to re-melt the butter. Whisk the sauce well before basting the chicken.
Freezer: I don’t recommend freezing this one.
Recipe Tips!
It helps to sauce the chicken while it is still good and hot, just after you finish cooking it. For extra flavor brush it with sauce, let it rest a minute, and then brush again. The sauce won’t fully emulsify (the spices and butter will separate) so just give the sauce a good whisk, it won’t be totally smooth. Don’t forget to toast the buns! It really does add great flavor and texture to any sandwich.
More Air Fryer Chicken Recipes
Comments & Reviews
Bob says
Can the sauce be refrigerated, and if so, how long?
Karly Campbell says
It can! I usually keep homemade sauces for a week or so, but it could probably go longer. Just reheat it in the microwave and whisk well before using.
Bob says
What can I substitute for the brown sugar? I’d rather not buy a pound of it to use one tablespoon
Karly Campbell says
I’d just use honey.
Cristina says
These look amazing, I’m low carb so I thought I would use the brown sugar sub. and the sugar free honey. They have low carb chicken nuggets for the sauce. Will that all work?
Karly Campbell says
That should work! 🙂