How Spicy Is Nashville Hot Chicken Really?
- 3 sections
- 1 table
- 3 sources cited
As spicy as you choose: restaurants set their own scales, and the levels range from no heat at all to blends built on very hot peppers. The base spice, cayenne pepper, sits at 25,000 to 50,000 Scoville heat units on Wikipedia’s Scoville table. The hottest levels add peppers much higher up the scale, such as habanero at 100,000 to 350,000 and ghost pepper at about 1 million (Wikipedia, Scoville scale). At Hattie B’s, for example, Hot is described as the classic “Nashville Hot” level, and the restaurant says the biggest jump in spiciness is from Hot to Damn Hot (Hattie B’s FAQ).
One Scale as a Reference
| Hattie B's level | What the restaurant says |
|---|---|
| Southern | the original "no heat" level |
| Mild | where a lot of people start for a little spice |
| Medium | a step up |
| Hot | "our classic, true-blue 'Nashville Hot' heat level" |
| Damn Hot | a habanero-forward heat; the biggest jump is from Hot to this level |
| Shut the Cluck Up | a blend of cayenne, habanero, and ghost peppers, "three times as spicy" as Damn Hot |
Other restaurants use different names and steps, so a level name at one place does not match the same name at another. Prince’s scale is in the heat levels at Prince’s, and Hattie B’s full scale is in the heat levels at Hattie B’s.
Why Water Does Not Help
Capsaicin, the compound that makes peppers hot, barely dissolves in water: Wikipedia lists its solubility as 0.0013 grams per 100 mL. When capsaicin is ingested, the same article says, cold milk may be an effective way to relieve the burning, because of the caseins in milk (Wikipedia, Capsaicin).
Ordering Without Regret
- Start where you are comfortable, as Hattie B’s itself recommends.
- Hedge your order. Hattie B’s suggests getting one spicier tender alongside milder ones, so you can test your limit with a safe option to fall back on.
- Order milk rather than water if the heat gets to be too much.
- Use the bread and pickles that come with the plate.
What the dish is and how the spice paste is made is in what Nashville hot chicken is.