Copycat Dave's Hot Chicken Sandwich Recipe

Dave's Hot Chicken is a fast-growing chain restaurant that sells — you guessed it — hot chicken. Though menu offerings include chicken bites, tenders, fries, and mac and cheese, perhaps the most popular menu item is the classic hot chicken sandwich, which comes with kale slaw, pickles, and Dave's sauce. For those who don't live near a Dave's (or those who prefer to cook at home), recipe developer Patterson Watkins has crafted this copycat Dave's hot chicken sandwich, which comes loaded with all of the goodies you'd expect from the in-store version. Watkins is a fan of the restaurant. "Dave's is really tasty, especially for a chain restaurant — they have a knack for building flavors that work really well together; spicy, sweet, tart, and savory," she says, and adds, "I thought it would be a fun challenge to try and recreate those fun flavors at home."

Indeed, a fun challenge it was, but she quickly realized it was one that required quite a few ingredients, and as such, quite a few steps. "To shortcut that, I opted for pre-cooked/pre-fried chicken tenders," she explains. The result is a much-simplified version of Dave's hot chicken sandwich, but one that's still appropriately loaded with spicy flavor and one that comes with the works: chipotle mayo, homemade slaw, and juicy, fried tenders.

There are a few components that go into making a copycat Dave's hot chicken sandwich, and the first is the spicy coating for the chicken. To make that, you'll need melted, salted butter, cayenne pepper, granulated sugar, chili powder, and garlic powder. Watkins notes that, by design, this spicy coating makes the sandwich pretty darn spicy, and it really comes down to the cayenne pepper. "If you're looking for a milder version, add the cayenne in stages, about a teaspoon at a time, and taste-test until you get the heat balance you're looking for," Watkins advises. And, if you're using hot paprika, you may want to add that in ¼ teaspoon increments as well.

To mimic the Dave's sauce that goes on the real version, you'll make a chipotle mayo consisting of mayonnaise, minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and honey. Next up, for the slaw, you'll need more mayo, bread and butter pickle juice, apple cider vinegar, honey, shredded kale, coleslaw mix, and salt and pepper to taste. Finally, you'll need the chicken tenders themselves, along with potato hamburger buns and sliced American cheese to build the sandwiches. 

Place the melted butter, cayenne, sugar, paprika, chili powder, and garlic powder in a small saucepan or skillet. Whisk to combine and keep warm over low heat.

Place the mayonnaise, chipotle peppers, and honey in a small bowl.

Whisk to combine the chipotle mayo and either set it aside or refrigerate it until ready to use.

To make the slaw, place mayonnaise, pickle juice, vinegar, and honey in a large bowl.

Whisk to combine the dressing.

Add the shredded kale and slaw mix to the bowl with the dressing and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside or refrigerate until ready to use.

Brush the fried chicken tenders with the spicy coating.

Spread the chipotle mayo over the split buns.

Top the bottom buns with slices of American cheese.

Top the cheese generously with slaw.

Divide the seasoned chicken tenders between the buns and cap with the top buns before serving.

A unique thing about this copycat chicken sandwich is that, unlike so many chicken sandwiches out there, it doesn't make use of chicken breasts or thighs. Instead, chicken tenders are the star of the show, and Watkins pulls another unique move by opting to use ready-to-eat, pre-fried tenders — something that saves you big time in both prep work, cook time, and ingredients. Since the tenders are so integral to the recipe, naturally, you'll want to be sure that you're selecting high-quality ones. 

"My local grocery store has a great prepared foods section and regularly has fried chicken — in many forms — ready to go," Watkins says. "That's how I sourced my tenders." And if your grocery store has a similar fried chicken section, then you can do the same. Otherwise, Watkins has other suggestions. "You can absolutely use your favorite frozen breaded tenders and either deep fry, air fry or bake as instructed," she says. She also recommends hitting up a local fried chicken restaurant, be it fast food or takeout, to source tasty and freshly fried tenders.

Finally, you can of course make the tenders from-scratch. "Use a recipe that includes buttermilk in the batter, and flour as the coating — not breadcrumbs," Watkins advises.

A chicken sandwich is technically a meal all by itself, but that doesn't mean that you can't pair it with sides or drinks to help round out the flavors. Watkins stayed true to the Dave's Hot Chicken theme by pairing her sandwiches with crinkle fries, though she notes that there are other Dave's-inspired sides that would work well here. "Dave's also has a side menu that includes mac and cheese, extra slaw (just double the recipe listed), and cheesy fries," Watkins suggests, so follow your taste buds to determine which pairing sounds best. 

Food aside, Watkins notes that Dave's also has a pretty exceptional shake menu, and if she could go back and serve her hot chicken sandwiches with something else, it would definitely be a milkshake. "Dave's has a substantial milkshake menu (and slushies) and that cooling, creamy element would've really been nice to have to soothe the fire," she says. Of course, you can easily make your cooling beverage right at home, perhaps by way of a classic chocolate milkshake recipe or borrow from another popular chicken joint, Chick-Fil-A, and make a cookies and cream milkshake instead.