If you’ve been told to eat only one thing when you come to Nashville, it’s likely hot chicken. It’s the city’s most iconic dish. Music City Hot Chicken Festival, returns for the 18th annual celebration of all things hot chicken.
Want to know even more about the dish’s history? Pick up a copy of Rachel Louise Martin’s Hot, Hot Chicken: A Nashville Story.
If you’ve been told to eat only one thing when you come to Nashville, it’s likely hot chicken. It’s the city’s most iconic dish, invented here in the 1930’s. The story goes that a man named Thornton Prince was stepping out on his girlfriend. She wasn’t happy about it and decided to express her dissatisfaction by making Thornton’s fried chicken extra hot. Unfortunately for her (but fortunately for us), Thornton liked things spicy. Her name has been lost to the ages, but Thornton founded Prince’s Chicken Shack, run today by his great-niece Andre Prince Jeffries and now simply referred to as “Prince’s Hot Chicken.”
It would be almost impossible to try all the hot chicken places in town these days (after all, even KFC sells it now and there are multiple spots both in the Assembly Food Hall downtown and at the BNA airport). But you might as well try. One relatively easy way to sample a lot of different hot chicken recipes is to head to the Music City Hot Chicken Festival, returning to East Nashville for the 18th annual celebration of all things hot chicken. The festival takes place 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 4, in East Park, 700 Woodland St. Admission is free for all ages (you’ll pay for the chicken you eat).
In addition to the professionals frying up their best spicy poultry, the festival includes an amateur cooking contest. In 2024, there will be five teams participating, with a mix of past winners and new contestants. Music from Mad Mauves, Jarren Blair, Dylan Smucker and Afrokoroot will provide a backbeat to the good eats.
If you miss the festival, or it whets your appetite for more, here are six Nashville hot chicken spots to try across town.
- Bolton’s Spicy Chicken and Fish, East Nashville
- Prince’s Hot Chicken, multiple locations including South Nashville
- Scoreboard Bar & Grill, Music Valley
- Pepperfire Hot Chicken, The Nations
- Subculture Urban Cuisine and Café, South Nashville
- Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, multiple locations
