What Do You Eat With Hot Chicken?

February 19, 2026

The white bread and dill pickles that come with the chicken are not sides. They are part of the dish. Everything else is a side, and the sides at Nashville hot chicken restaurants serve the same function all good sides serve: they provide contrast, relief, and complementary texture to the main event.

The Traditional Sides

Nashville hot chicken originated in a tradition of soul food cooking, and the sides reflect that. At older, more traditional restaurants like Prince’s and Bolton’s, expect to find: coleslaw, baked beans, potato salad, and sometimes mac and cheese. These are not elaborate preparations. They are honest, simply made sides that pair well with something intensely flavored.

Coleslaw is the most useful side because it is cold, slightly acidic, and creamy. It cools your palate between bites more effectively than most other sides. The richness of the dressing also helps with fat-soluble capsaicin.

Potato salad at a good hot chicken restaurant is made in-house and is typically creamy and cold. The cold temperature matters. Same function as coleslaw.

Baked beans add sweetness and another texture. They do not help with heat, but they round out the plate in a way that makes the meal feel complete.

What Hattie B’s Changed

Hattie B’s is largely responsible for elevating the side dish conversation at hot chicken restaurants. Their pimento mac and cheese, made with sharp cheddar and red pimentos, became one of the most talked-about sides in Nashville and has been imitated at other restaurants around the city. It is creamy, rich, and excellent.

Their collard greens, cooked in pork stock with garlic, onions, bacon, brown sugar, and spices, are better than most restaurant collard greens in Nashville. Their blackberry cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream has been listed by Food Network among their notable dishes.

These sides pushed the category upward and created an expectation at newer hot chicken spots that sides should be worth ordering in their own right. Red’s Hot Chicken’s green chili mac and cheese gets specific praise from The Infatuation as a standout side anywhere on the Nashville hot chicken circuit.

Drinks

Sweet tea is the traditional Nashville accompaniment to hot chicken. It provides sweetness to counter the heat and is cold enough to offer temporary relief. It does not effectively neutralize fat-soluble capsaicin, but it is culturally correct and reasonably functional.

Milk is more effective at fighting heat because it contains casein proteins that bind to capsaicin molecules and fat that helps dissolve them. Hattie B’s specifically recommends having milk or ice cream on hand before attempting their hottest levels.

Draft beer is available at Hattie B’s and some other newer spots. Carbonation can temporarily intensify the sensation of heat rather than relieving it, so beer is a pleasure choice rather than a practical heat-management tool.

Avoid water. Water spreads fat-soluble capsaicin around your mouth rather than removing it. It makes things worse.

Ordering Strategy

At a traditional spot: order the chicken, a piece of bread on top (already included), and one or two sides. Do not over-order. The chicken is the meal. Coleslaw and one other side is a complete plate. At Hattie B’s or a more modern spot: the sides are worth exploring as a category in their own right. Pimento mac, greens, and loaded fries are all worth eating.

One useful move at Hattie B’s: order a tenders plate in three different heat levels (an option they offer) and work your way up. This gives you a genuine sense of the heat scale without committing an entire plate to a level that might not be right for you.

Sources

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