See Nashville hot chicken's history: Who are the faces behind the iconic fiery dish?
National Hot Chicken Day celebrates the hot chicken dish that once was largely unknown. Now, it's everywhere.
National Hot Chicken Day, March 30, celebrates Music City's most iconic dish.
It also celebrates the origin story behind it. That's even though some details are as murky as the fat that finishes the spice-rubbed fried bird. The resulting balanced flavor — savory, hot and slightly sweet — makes Nashville hot chicken distinctive.
The legend that launched Nashville hot chicken revolves around legendary lothario Thornton Prince. But a nameless woman deserves some of the credit.
Family lore has it that in the 1930s, Prince came home late after an evening of philandering. His jilted girl served him fried chicken, ruthlessly spiced to inspire Prince to beg for mercy. He did not. He instead loved the dish, claimed the recipe as his own, and launched what's considered to be the first Nashville hot chicken restaurant.
Prince's Hot Chicken is now run by descendants. It has multiple locations. But it's still considered the progenitor of the fiery food that's spawned countless imitators, even if local food scholars such as Rachel L. Martin say others could have come first.
But Nashville loves Andre Prince Jefferies, Prince's great-niece, who took over Prince's Hot Chicken from her uncles in the summer of 1980, becoming hot chicken's matriarch. She was honored as such with the James Beard Foundation's America's Classics award in 2013.
Now a flavor that once primarily circulated throughout Nashville's historically Black neighborhoods appears on everything from popcorn to Pringles. Visitors to Nashville still line up at Prince's, which even has a kiosk at Assembly Food Hall. Hot chicken lovers also queue up at plenty of other Prince-inspired restaurants, including Hattie B's, Bolton's Spicy Chicken and Fish and 400 Degrees.
Take a tour through Nashville hot chicken as The Tennessean has documented it over the years.