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Even with tools like social media and the Street Food Finder website and app, tracking down a local food truck still feels like a game of hide and seek. But the reward can be so satisfying it makes the chase well worth it. Listed alphabetically, here are Nashville’s essential food trucks — mobile food purveyors serving some of Music City’s best meals on wheels, including everything from top-notch Nashville hot chicken and fish to indulgent cobbler and refreshing shaved ice.
Blue Monkey Shaved Ice
Nashville’s roving shaved ice truck brought snow cones to the streets in 2010. The soft Hawaiian ice is drizzled with an array of fresh fruit-infused flavors made without corn syrup (they use cane sugar instead). A rainbow of rotating flavors includes refreshing watermelon basil and coconut, which can be topped with snow cream, sour spray, or li hing mui, a salty dried plum powder popular in Hawaii.
Brave Idiot
It’s no secret Nashville is known for its hot chicken. While the brick-and-mortar chains attract droves of tourists lined down the streets, one East Nashville food truck has become a local go-to for saucy hot chicken sandwiches, tenders, and snacks like sliders, quesadillas, and a hot chicken pickle boat: Brave Idiot. There are a slew of notable bars nearby to help you beat the heat with a cold beer after your meal.
Chang Noi Thai-Lao Fusion
Enjoy a wide selection of Thai and Laotian street food like pad kra pao chicken, drunken noodles, and Thai milk tea as well as fusion dishes such as Hawaiian fried rice with tofu, eggs, and pineapple from Chang Noi Thai-Lao Fusion. It’s also a solid option for vegan and gluten-free diners.
Chivanada
Daniel and Kai Yarzagaray’s empanada food truck offers a selection of traditional Colombian masa pockets filled with meat, cheese, lentils, or even chocolate. Beyond the main draw, the repurposed school bus also serves patacones (fried green plantains), yuca fries, and tomato avocado salad. Bonus: It’s all gluten-free.
Flour and Forge
What began as a backyard hobby for owner Derek Chirico has evolved into a booming wood-fired pizza business operating out of a reimagined shipping container. The truck pops up weekly south of Nashville, offering rotating specials like the gorgonzola, prosciutto, pear, and fig glaze-topped Blind Fig or their claim to fame, the Velvet Revolver dressed with ricotta, pepperoni, arugula, and a hot honey drizzle.
The Grilled Cheeserie
A perennial favorite and the last of Nashville’s first three food trucks still standing, the Grilled Cheeserie continues to draw lines of hungry cheese lovers today. The truck serves unusual grilled cheese options, including over-the-top favorites like a gooey sandwich stuffed with pimento mac and cheese. If you don’t feel like chasing food trucks, hit up the company’s permanent location in Hillsboro Village.
The Horn
Nashville’s go-to for real-deal Somali chai and sambusas has its very own black-and-yellow truck roaming the streets. This family-owned business has a brick-and-mortar spot out on Murfreesboro Pike, but they occasionally take their beef, chicken, or cheese-filled pastries on the road with warm cups of chai that you can have spiked with coffee or sweetened with vanilla.
Hurt’s Hot Chicken
With a name like Lamont Hurt, the owner of this trailer was perhaps destined to serve some of the area’s best Nashville hot chicken and fish — flavorful and, to the untrained palate, a bit painful. You’ll usually find Hurt’s in Mount Juliet in a Dollar General parking lot (look for references to “tha spot” on social media).
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Kingston Jamaica Foods
It’s easy to identify this trailer since it sports a giant painting of a green-and-yellow Jamaican flag and constantly huffs a jerk-scented cloud from its metal smoker. Kingston Jamaica Foods is usually parked at a gas station on DB Todd Jr. Boulevard in North Nashville, and fans rave about the stewed oxtails, curry chicken, rice and peas, jerk chicken, and smoked salmon. Service is fast and portions are huge.
King Tut’s
King Tut’s offers Tennesseans a taste of Egyptian fare via family recipes straight from the Nile Valley. Is it a bit of a cheat that this Nolensville Pike truck is stationary? Maybe, but you won’t split hairs when you’re sitting on the shady patio with owner Ragab Rashawn’s crispy falafel plate or tender chicken shawarma. Don’t forget a side of homemade hummus here.
The Mac Shack
Macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food, but load it up with toppings like Memphis-style barbecue and buffalo chicken and you have a meal that’s overwhelmingly good for the soul. You can find the Mac Shack parked in many rotating locations around Nashville, including the East Nashville Farmers Market and Street Eats.
Maiz de la Vida
Parked outside East Nashville’s funky tiki/robot-themed bar Chopper, Maiz de la Vida has been the talk of East Nashville since beginning its residency there in 2021. Chef and owner Julio Hernandez, a James Beard Award semifinalist for Emerging Chef, began serving his corn tortillas at pop-ups and farmers markets — the base for menu favorites like birria tacos and loaded quesadillas. He quickly expanded to a food truck and eventually, brick-and-mortar locations, the second of which will open in the Gulch this spring.
Taste of Aloha
Outside of poke bowls, Hawaiian cuisine isn’t well-represented in Nashville, so it’s a good thing Taste of Aloha roams these streets. Supporters often form long lines for island-style hospitality and dishes like kalua pork, huli huli chicken, and spam musubi.
Tennessee Cobbler Co.
The homey little cobbler truck can often be found parked in 12 South, matching the photo-worthiness of its surroundings. Run by a husband and wife duo with southern roots, the truck serves crumbly buttermilk cobbler in fruity flavors like cherry, peach, blackberry, and even a hot honey apple, topped with vanilla ice cream.
Tiny Little Donuts
If you see a silver AirStream parked on a Franklin side street, pull over for some tasty — and tiny — fresh-made donuts. Kids and adults alike love watching the mini delicacies move through the cooking process until they’re ready to be dressed with toppings like cinnamon sugar, lemon glaze, classic glazed, or chocolate.
Yayo’s O.M.G.
Chef B. “Yayo” Jimenez’s Music City truck was born in 2011 and has made the media rounds since then, appearing on a variety of shows with his taco variations. One to note is the Legend: a soft corn tortilla brimming with brisket, chicharron, and chorizo. Get it Yayo-style and he’ll grill it up on a cheese-crusted tortilla for an epic, crispy cheese-edged taco. Yayo’s has expanded to include a second truck as well.