Nashville Hot Chicken Burgers

These Nashville Hot chicken burgers pair lean ground chicken with a blend of dried peppers and spices to create juicy, flavorful burgers you’d never expect to be healthy. They are super easy to make and can be on the table in about 20 minutes. 

Unlike traditional hot chicken that’s breaded and fried, these burgers barely have any carbs, leaving you plenty of room for a real bun and your favorite sides. But we’ll get to that in a minute. 

How to Make Nashville Hot Ground Chicken Burgers

If you’ve made my chicken breakfast sausage or biscuits and sausage gravy, these spicy chicken burgers are very similar. All you need to do is mix a blend of spices together, season a pound of ground chicken, form burger patties, and cook a few minutes per side in a tablespoon of olive oil. 

This creates a crisp, flavorful outer layer with a juicy and tender center.  

Ingredients for Nashville Hot Seasoning

• cayenne pepper
• chili powder
• smoked paprika
• garlic powder
• black pepper
• crushed red pepper flakes

There’s plenty of wiggle room with this blend. These burgers are definitely on the spicy side, but they’re not unbearable like some Nashville hot chicken recipes. 

If you are sensitive to spice and want to give these chicken burgers a go, you might cut the amount of cayenne pepper in half and omit the crushed red pepper flakes. And since the acidity from the pickles will help balance the heat, reduce the spices if you plan to omit pickles. 

Note: In case you want something a bit more mild, check out my chipotle ranch ground chicken burgers with ranch slaw.

Other Important Recipe Notes

You’re welcome to use another meat like ground turkey if that’s all you have on hand. The recipe calls for 97% lean ground chicken so if you use a fattier cut of meat, you might be able to reduce the amount of olive oil they’re cooked in. But I’d highly encourage using a small amount to let the magic happen with the spices. 

I mention this in the recipe card below, but I used a 12-inch cast iron skillet. You can see in the recipe photos that the chicken burgers took up most of the pan. 

If you use a smaller pan, you probably won’t be able to smash them as flat and will have thicker burgers. In that case, be sure to give the chicken burgers a bit more time to cook through.

The only other notes I’d add would be to let the chicken burgers rest after cooking and avoid cutting into them if possible. This will keep the burgers super juicy and prevent any drying out. And as always, don’t overcook them!

What to Serve with Your Spicy Chicken Burgers

Since each chicken burger has just 290 calories, you might have room for some extra fixin’s. Here’s a handful of my favorites: 

• Garlic Parmesan Air Fryer Carrot Fries
• Wingstop Fries or Cajun Fries
• Ranch Potato Wedges
• Air Fryer Green Beans
• Crinkle Cut Fries
• Air Fryer Smashed Potatoes

Okay, you should be ready to roll. If you have a recipe question I missed, drop a comment at the bottom of this post. Hope you enjoy!