A fried chicken sandwich can stay the same underneath and taste different on top. Nashville hot chicken, with its very hot, spicy oil on white bread, is the classic, and cooks far from Nashville are now adding tangier, sweeter sauces to the same fried chicken. A Toronto restaurant, for one, offers a Sichuan spice option. Nashville set the bar for hot, and a new batch of sauces is out to beat it.
Nashville hot chicken has a popular origin story: a woman tried to punish a man with hot pepper after a lovers’ quarrel, but he enjoyed it instead. In its original form, the dish is a battered, fried bone-in chicken breast dipped in the spicy oil. Served on bread, it is a close relative of the sandwich at the center of National Fried Chicken Sandwich Day on Monday, Nov. 9.
Hot chicken has a following far from Nashville
Restaurants serving Nashville hot chicken now number nearly 2,400 worldwide, according to a count by former Mayor Bill Purcell, and one family-run shop has had customers from as far away as Iceland. Purcell started the city’s hot chicken festival 20 years ago to promote the dish and stake a municipal claim. He has praised versions in Seoul, South Korea, and Bangkok and heard good reports from Australia and Singapore.
Some cooks add their own twists, such as the Sichuan spice option at a Toronto restaurant. A recent forecast from a food industry research firm says the firm flagged Nashville hot as a trend in 2014, and that by 2025 the style had become widespread on Southern menus.
Katsu sandwiches show up in a Japanese comfort food trend
A recent food trends forecast from a grocery retailer says Japanese comfort food is drawing growing interest in the United States. Much of that interest centers on yoshoku, a culinary tradition built on adapting European and American dishes to Japanese tastes, with tonkatsu among the dishes the forecast names.
The forecast says social media is fueling discovery through videos about Japanese convenience stores that feature katsu and tamago sandwiches. It describes Japanese food broadly and does not say what meat the sandwiches contain.
Fried chicken leads chicken menus as the flavors change
Chicken sandwiches, chicken burgers and fried chicken entrees are the top chicken dishes in the world by number of limited-time menu items, a recent look at global menu data found. The data covers menus worldwide, not only in the United States, and fried chicken posted nearly 30% year-over-year growth.
Spicy and onion flavors have historically dominated chicken’s taste profile, but over the past year lemon and lime have seen strong growth, as has cheese. Examples include a chicken sandwich with lemon pepper mayonnaise in South Africa and a fried chicken entree in Japan with a honey-lemon-mayonnaise sauce, while a chicken finger plate in the United States stars a lemon pepper dry rub.
Countries in Asia-Pacific make up four of the top 10 markets for limited-time chicken items, including two of the top three, and markets in North America and the Middle East also saw active menu development with chicken over the past year. Beyond chicken, a recent industry report found that 51% of fast-food consumers and 58% of fast-casual consumers want more menu items with new or unique flavors.
Forecasts point to chile pastes and sweet heat
A recent forecast of 2027 food trends puts buldak, a Korean spicy chicken in a gochujang and chile sauce, on a list of foods and flavors on the radar for potential future growth. The list also includes doubanjiang, a fermented fava bean and chile paste at the heart of Sichuan cooking, and the forecast places chili crisp among trends flagged early and now moving into the mainstream.
Gochujang, the Korean red chili paste behind buldak, has been on the rise, according to coverage of the forecast. That coverage also lists salsa negra, a chile sauce made from charred dried chiles and garlic, and amba, a condiment of unripe green mangoes and vinegar, seasoned with spices, that pairs well with savory dishes.
Sweet and spicy pairings also turn up in a recent report from an ingredient supplier, which lists sweet and spicy combinations among its flavor extremes for 2027. The report cites hot honey as an example of an idea moving from restaurants into broader retail. The supplier’s report also describes a trend that adapts global flavors while keeping their origins visible. None of the reports in this section name a sandwich, and they describe flavors rather than sandwich menus.
A familiar base leaves room to experiment
Hot chicken’s influence has been linked to a taste that is unique yet familiar to cultures known for spicy food. A fried chicken sandwich offers a similar mix, with familiar chicken and a sauce that is open to change. For a diner curious about the newer flavors, the sauce is a good place to start.
Jennifer Allen is a retired professional chef and long-time writer. Her work appears in dozens of publications, including MSN, Yahoo, The Washington Post and The Seattle Times. These days, she’s busy in the kitchen developing recipes and traveling the world, and you can find all her best creations at Cook What You Love.