Nashville Hot Fried Pickles Recipe: Crispy and Spicy Appetizer

Nashville Hot Fried Pickles Recipe

We took our crispy fried pickles and smothered them in hot sauce, and the result is the tangiest, spiciest game day snack you will ever try.

Nashville Hot Fried Pickles begin with chicken fried pickles, those crunchy golden spears we already love, and then we baste every single one with a buttery, cayenne rich Nashville Hot sauce. Are you ready for this?

The magic is in the contrast. A dill pickle is bright and acidic, the breading is crunchy and salty, and the sauce brings a slow, warm heat that lingers just long enough.

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Put those three things together and you get one of the best tasting appetizers we know how to make. We serve these on a big platter at cookouts, on football Sundays, and honestly on random weeknights when we want something fun to eat with our hands.

You will need a way to fry. We prefer a deep fryer because it holds the oil at 375 degrees F without any guessing, and steady temperature matters a lot when you are working in batches.

If you do not own one, a cast iron skillet or a deep ceramic pot works just fine. Clip a thermometer to the side, watch the heat, and you are ready to go.

We love these with a cold drink and a dish of ranch or blue cheese on the side, though the sauce alone is honestly plenty. If you are putting out a spread, set them next to sliders, wings, or a big bowl of chips and watch how fast the platter empties.

The timing is short and friendly. Plan on about 15 minutes of prep and 5 minutes of cooking, so roughly 20 minutes from the fridge to the platter.

This recipe makes 6 servings, which is a good fit for a hungry crowd that keeps coming back for more. We usually double the sauce, because people always want to brush on a little extra.

Ingredients

Before you shop, here is what we reach for and why. A few of these swaps have saved us on nights when the pantry was not fully stocked, so keep them in your back pocket.

• Dill pickle spears. We use one 24 oz jar of spears. Pickle chips work too if that is what you have, and they fry even faster.
• Buttermilk. You will need 2 cups. Real buttermilk is our first choice, but a substitute works in a pinch: stir 2 tablespoons of white vinegar into 2 cups of milk and let it sit for 10 minutes.
• Eggs. Two large eggs go into the wet mixture.
• Louisiana hot sauce. Two teaspoons. Louisiana style hot sauce is best here, and we use Crystal.
• Flour. The dredge is a mix of 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup all purpose flour. All white flour is completely fine if that is what you keep on hand.
• Salt. Two teaspoons of traditional table salt.
• Paprika. One teaspoon. Standard or sweet paprika both work.
• Cayenne pepper. One quarter teaspoon in the dredge. This is where the heat starts, and you can nudge it up or down.
• Oil. Canola or peanut oil for frying. Peanut oil handles high heat beautifully.
• Oil temperature. Keep the oil at 375 degrees F. A thermometer takes the guesswork out of frying and keeps every batch golden.
• Butter. Half a cup for the Nashville Hot sauce.
• Cayenne for the sauce. One and a half tablespoons, increased or decreased according to your heat preference.
• Brown sugar. Three quarters of a tablespoon of dark brown sugar, packed when you measure it.
• Salt and pepper. Half a teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of traditional black pepper.
• Paprika and garlic powder. Half a teaspoon of each to round out the sauce.
• Sauce heat. The cayenne in the Nashville Hot sauce is the easiest thing to adjust. Use less for a gentle warmth, more for a real kick.

A quick note on the heat. The cayenne in the sauce is the dial you control. Start with the amount listed, taste the sauce while it is still warm, and add more only if you want a real burn.

Nothing here is hard to find. Most of it is already in a well stocked pantry, which is one reason this recipe became a regular in our house.

Ingredients

Here is the full measured list, split into the two components so nothing gets lost on the counter. Two lists, two jobs. One bowl becomes the wet mixture, one becomes the dredge, and the sauce ingredients wait in a small bowl until the frying is done.

Chicken Fried Pickles

• 1 24 oz jar pickle spears
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp Louisiana hot sauce, we use Crystal
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• Oil, for frying

Nashville Hot Sauce

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1.5 tablespoons cayenne, increase or decrease according to your heat preference
• 3/4 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Use this list as your shopping check, and remember that the cayenne in the sauce is the only number you should feel free to move up or down.

Instructions

We build these in two parts. First the pickles get breaded and fried, then the sauce comes together in about a minute. Have both ready before the first pickle hits the oil, because these taste best the moment they are sauced.

Chicken Fried Pickles

1. Drain the pickles and set them aside. If they look very wet, pat them dry, because dry pickles hold the breading much better.
2. Add the buttermilk, hot sauce, and eggs to a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
3. In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, paprika, and cayenne pepper. Stir to combine. Now for our favorite trick: drizzle a small amount of buttermilk over the top of the flour and use a fork to stir. This creates little clumps of flour that make our fried pickles extra crispy.
4. One by one, submerge each pickle in the buttermilk mixture, shake off any excess, then dredge in the flour. Set each coated spear on a rack while you finish the rest of the batch so the coating has a moment to set.
5. Fry 5 or 6 pickles at a time at 375 degrees F in a deep fryer or a cast iron skillet. Fry them 3 to 5 minutes, until golden brown and crispy. Do not crowd the oil. When too many spears go in at once the temperature drops and the breading turns heavy instead of crunchy.
6. Remove from the oil and place on a cooling rack over a sheet pan. A rack keeps the underside crisp, which a paper towel lined plate simply cannot do.

One more thing before the oil heats up. Check the temperature with a thermometer rather than guessing by eye, and keep the spears in a single layer so the oil recovers between batches.

Nashville Hot Sauce

1. Melt the butter in a stove top pot or in the microwave. Add the spices and sugar and whisk until well combined.
2. Brush over each fried pickle spear and serve immediately.

Keep the sauce warm while you fry. Cooled butter sauce thickens and will not brush on evenly, and a warm sauce soaks into that craggy breading in the best possible way.

When we are feeding a crowd, we fry in batches and hold the finished pickles on a rack in a low oven until every spear is done. Then we brush the sauce on right before the platter goes out, so the coating stays crisp from the first bite to the last.

Leftovers, if you somehow have them, are best eaten the same day. Once the pickles sit, the breading softens, so we rewarm them in a hot oven rather than the microwave when we want a little crunch back.

Recipe details

Everything you need to plan the timing is right here.

The source nutrition lists 545 calories per serving, and no serving size is specified with it, so treat that number as a rough guide rather than an exact figure for your plate. If you want a bigger batch, the wet mixture and the dredge both scale up easily alongside a second jar of pickle spears.

Prep is mostly dredging, so if you have a helper, put them on pickle duty while you heat the oil. The cook time is short because frying is fast, and that is why the full 20 minutes includes almost no waiting around.

FAQs

Nashville Hot Fried Pickles

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• Total Time: 20 min

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Description

Nashville Hot Fried Pickles Recipe We took our crispy fried pickles and smothered them in hot sauce, and the result is the tangiest, spiciest game day snack you will ever try. Nashville Hot Fried Pickles begin with chicken fried pickles, those crunchy golden spears we already love, and then we baste every single one with a buttery, cayenne rich Nashville Hot sauce.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Chicken Fried Pickles
1 24 oz Jar Pickle Spears
2 Cups Buttermilk
2 Eggs
2 tsp Louisiana Hot Sauce, we use Crystal
2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup Flour
2 teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Paprika
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Oil, for frying

Nashville Hot Sauce
1/2 Cup Butter
1.5 Tablespoons Cayenne, increase or decrease according to your heat preference
3/4 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Pepper
1/2 Tsp Paprika
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder

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Instructions

Chicken Fried Pickles
1-Drain pickles and set aside: Drain pickles and set aside.
2-Add buttermilk, hot sauce, and eggs to: Add buttermilk, hot sauce, and eggs to a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
3-In another bowl, combine the flour, salt,: In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, paprika, and cayenne pepper. Stir to combine. Drizzle a small amount of buttermilk over the top of the flour. Use a fork to stir. This should create little clumps of flour that will help make our fried pickles extra crispy.
4-One by one, submerge each pickle in: One by one, submerge each pickle in the buttermilk mixture, shake off any excess, then dredge in the flour.
5-Fry 5-6 pickles at a time at: Fry 5-6 pickles at a time at 375 degrees F in a deep fryer or a cast iron skillet. Fry them 3-5 minutes, until golden brown and crispy.
6-Remove from oil and place on a: Remove from oil and place on a cooling rack over a sheet pan.

Nashville Hot Sauce
7-Melt butter in a stove-top pot or: Melt butter in a stove-top pot or in the microwave. Add the spices & sugar and whisk until well combined.
8-Brush over each fried pickle spear and: Brush over each fried pickle spear and serve immediately.

• Prep Time: 15 min
• Cook Time: 5 min
• Method: stovetop

Nutrition

• Calories: 545kcal

Keywords: Nashville Hot Fried Pickles