Dinner Recipes

Air Fryer Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders

Some like it hot! If you’re one of them, you’ll swoon for this air fryer version of classic Nashville hot chicken. The tenders come out of the air fryer crispy and irresistible, and you can customize the heat level — in one of our test batches, we doubled the cayenne and the spice lovers devoured every last bit. Pair the chicken with pickles and Texas toast for the full Nashville hot experience, and hit the whole thing with some blue cheese and honey for a super-duper extra delicious meal.

Air Fryer Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders
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Dinner

Air Fryer Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp Crystal hot sauce
¼ cup dill pickle brine
1 large egg
2 lb chicken tenders
3 ½ tsp kosher salt, divided
1 ½ tsp freshly ground Gelson’s black pepper, divided
1 cup Gelson’s organic all-purpose flour
Cooking spray
¼ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup lard
1 Tbsp Gelson’s cayenne pepper
1 ½ tsp dark brown sugar
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp garlic powder
Parsley, chopped, for garnish
Sliced white bread, for serving

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, hot sauce, dill pickle brine, and egg until fully combined.

  2. In a separate medium bowl, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of black pepper over the chicken tenders and stir to coat evenly.

  3. Pour the marinade over chicken and mix until the chicken is fully coated. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight.

  4. Preheat the air fryer to 400°.

  5. In a large bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour and 2 teaspoons of the salt.

  6. Remove the chicken from the marinade, reserving marinade, and place the tenders on a paper-towel lined baking sheet. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.

  7. Dredge the chicken in the seasoned flour, then dip it into the reserved marinade, and dredge it in the flour once more. Place the breaded chicken on a baking sheet lined with a wire rack. Note: Work in batches, coating only as many tenders as you can air fry at one time — coated tenders that aren’t cooked right away won’t be as crispy.

  8. Place the chicken in the air fryer basket and spray with cooking spray. Cook for 10 minutes, flip, and cook for another 10 minutes, until golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 165°.

  9. Transfer the chicken to a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining chicken.

  10. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, lard, cayenne powder, dark brown sugar, chili powder, garlic powder, remaining ½ teaspoon salt, and remaining ½ teaspoon black pepper. and heat over medium heat. Cook until the sauce begins to bubble and is very fragrant, whisking constantly to prevent burning, about 5 to 7 minutes.

  11. Pour the sauce over the chicken and gently toss to coat completely .

  12. Using the tongs, place the chicken on a large serving tray and garnish with parsley. Serve hot with sliced white bread.


Recipe adapted from: All Recipes

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