The most famous of all of Nashville’s deep-fried delights is hot chicken, the city’s signature dish. As a Nashville native, I was born and raised to appreciate platters of delicious, spicy chicken.

The deep-fried goodness of Nashville’s original hot chicken recipe will always have a special place in my heart, but I thought that it just might be possible to create a healthier alternative to this classic dish. Here’s my take on a healthy hot chicken recipe.

Ingredients for Chicken and Marinade

• 1 whole chicken, cut into 6 pieces
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Ingredients for Breading

• 2 eggs
• 1.5 cups panko crumbs
• 0.5 cup all-purpose flour
• 1.5 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 0.5 teaspoon salt
• 0.5 teaspoon pepper

Ingredients for Baste

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 0.5 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 0.5 teaspoon smoked paprika

Step 1: Marinate

In a large bowl, mix together the buttermilk, Dijon mustard, garlic, cayenne pepper and smoked paprika. Place the chicken pieces in the buttermilk marinade (If you don’t have buttermilk, try substituting regular milk with a squeeze of lemon or a dash of leftover yogurt whey, like I did). Marinate for at least three hours.

Step 2: Dip

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine your panko crumbs, flour, cayenne pepper, chili powder, brown sugar, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, whisk two eggs.

Have a baking sheet (and rack, if possible) ready to place the coated pieces on. To make cleaning up easier, I lined my baking sheet with aluminum foil. Dip each piece of chicken in the whisked eggs and then coat them in the flour/panko/spice mixture and place on the baking sheet or rack.

Find more healthy recipes.

Step 3: Bake

Bake the chicken for 50 minutes or until the pieces are cooked all the way through, flipping each piece halfway through the cooking time.

Step 4: Baste

Remove from the oven and baste with additional oil/spice mixture as desired. The more you baste, the hotter your chicken will be.

Step 5: Enjoy!

I swapped out the traditional pickles for broccoli and subbed whole wheat bread for white bread for a healthy meal.

Did you try this recipe? What did you think? Let us know by commenting below!

Get more information about specific health terms, topics and conditions to better manage your health on bcbst.com. BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee members can access wellness-related discounts on fitness products, gym memberships, healthy eating and more through Blue365®. BCBST members can also find tools and resources to help improve health and well-being by logging into BlueAccess and going to the Managing Your Health tab.