Advice for Wings

I'd try and cook at 325+ in order to crips the skin up a bit. As for internal temps, wings, especially if brined handle higher internal temps very well do to their fat content. I've taken wings off the smoker over 180* internal and they are still juicy and moist as can be.

You can also try brushing some oil or melted butter onto the wings to help crips the skin up, and of course if using butter than doesn't exactly hurt the flavor either.

Higher heat is definitely your friend with wings. A few weeks ago, I cooked up about 80 double wing(whole wings) on the UDS. I always try and keep the smoker temp above 325 and even closer to 400. The skin gets a slight crisp to it and are juicy every time.

As far as seasonings, I usually just salt, pepper and garlic powder and then toss in sauce after removing from the smoke.

I adapted a recipe out of The Barbeque Bible (Steve Raichlin).
1 tablespoon ea. ground black pepper, garlic salt, oregano, and cayenne to taste. I use the cayenne sparingly, to promote household harmony. Toss in olive oil.
I do mine on a Weber kettle at about 325/350F for 1.5 to 2 hrs, with some apple wood chunks in the briquettes for smoke. I usually sauce afterwards with storebought sauce and some melted margarine or butter mixed in.
Enjoy your cook!

Here's a recipe I used last weekend. I basically smoked them for about an hour then I fried to crisp the skin. In your post you said you didn;t want to fry and that is fine but the skin will not be that great.

• 1/4 cup TABASCO® brand Habanero Sauce
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, but you can use any.
• 1/4 cup mango, puréed
• 1/4 cup banana, puréed
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix well. Transfer to a pot and simmer for 20 minutes. Toss chicken in sauce and enjoy.

You can always adopt the recipe to your liking. More or less heat, etc.

^^^^^ +1
Higher heat and drier skin are advantagious

There are many wing friendly rubs - would depend on your spice/heat tolerance.

Just a few...

McCormick's Montreal for chicken
Plowboy's Yardbird
Oakridge BBQ competition chicken
Todd's Dirt

here's a link to the tabasco site that has a few wing recipes.

http://www.tabasco.com/tabasco-recipes/recipe-categories/20/wings/

Here is the recipe I use everytime and it is always a hit.


1 tablespoon of each Salt, pepper, Tabasco, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce
Roughly 1 chunk of apple wood

Mix ingredients and marinate wings at least 30 minutes.
Smoke over indirect heat at ~350 for 45 min. Place over direct heat for no more than 5 minutes.

I cook mine at 375 in the WSM. I coat them liberally in olive oil which seems to help them get crispier. I would suggest using your favorite poultry rub. (I use yardbird or simply marvelous seasonall) I sauce mine with blues hog mixed with blues hog tn red. I usually add some cayenne to the rub and cayenne to the bbq sauce. I cook them a little longer then most and start saucing at the 45 minute mark. I sauce them 3 times every 15 minutes. SO good!

Get some of Rub Co. Hot wing rub It's like powderd napalm for the lungs though. You Might need a respirator to cook with it..! but its got great flavor and heat for adults... Kids and non chili heads won't appreciate it...

Smoked wings are probably my favorite food on the planet. After much experimentation I've developed two different styles that I do:

Buffalo:
-Trim/separate wings to your preference, I just cut the tip off and leave the drummette and flat attached
-Toss in Olive Oil and a healthy coating of Weber's Kickin' Chicken Rub.
-Smoke @ ~300*F-350*F until done (I go by feel and look)
-For the sauce I use a combination of butter, garlic, tabasco, and a red sauce like Franks (personally I prefer a brand called Trappey's). Adjust these to taste, usually I go something like tablespoon of minced garlic, half a stick of butter, half a small bottle of tabasco, and the biggest bottle of Trappeys. Sauce as heavily or lightly as you like.

Sweet-Heat wings:
-Trim as before, to your preference
-Toss in Olive Oil and Oakridge BBQs Habanero Death Dust
-Smoke as before, but pull just before they're done.
-Fire up a grill (I use the gasser for this)
-Glaze with Habanero Jelly (I make my own), and use the grill to set the glaze, usually takes ~10mins.
-These don't get sauce, and they actually usually end up milder than the buffalo wings because the sweetness cuts the heat so well, you get a slow burn at the back of the palette with these.

For smoke wood I prefer Apple the best for wings, but Hickory or Cherry both work extremely well.

I did some for first time a few weeks ago and loved them. I got whole wings, the tipes don't really bother me and they are another cripy skin source. I washed and dried the wings and then coated them genrously with some Plowboys Yardbird rub. I then put them on WSM at 230 degree for about 2 hours and used some cherry wood. I just loved the color I got from the cherry wood. The skin needed some crispin so I used the oven to do that and then put some Dinosaur Wango Tango on them. They tasted great and my wife, who is only luke warm towards BBQ loved them and actually wants me to cook them this way more.




The next time I do these I am thinking ofusing the gasser to crisp them rather than the oven.

Good luck.

Great piece of advice from pvelyk. I have often times fired up the broiler in my over and placed the wings in an aluminum pan/baking sheet etc. to crisp the skin up after smoking them. Again, the fat content, and especially if brined allow the wings to take some serious heat and internal temsp while remaining juicy.

When I make wings I use a salt/pepper/thyme mixtures and coat the wings lightly about 20-30 mins before I put them on. I think this helps the skin crisp-up easier. Then I usually cook them at 320-350.
For finishing, I coat them in a mixture of plum sauce, hot sauce, a 'lil brown sugar and of course butter. leave them on for about 10-15 mins after coating and save a little to coat after is come off.... Result killer wings... I also cut the skin at the joint, but not through the joint. this allows more to fit on the grill.

By now you probably get the gist, go hot, over 300*. Brother Patio Daddio's Finger Stickin' Chicken Sauce is really good. Different from your standard orange Tabasco sauce.

I like to use McCormick original buffalo wing and smokem hot ~325ish flip them over once about 15 min into.

Here ya go....


Link to recipe: http://www.oakridgebbq.com/2011/10/oakridge-bbq-habanero-death-wings.html

Good luck!

For some asian inspired wings try salt/pepper and a little five spice powder. Then rather than the traditional buffalo sauce use some chili lime oil.

Anytime I juice a heap of limes for margaritas, I put the rinds into a mason jar and add some red chili flakes then cover with canola or veg oil and store in a cool dark place for about a month. Strain it out and you have a great finishing oil.

I smoke indirect at 225 for an hour with a std pork rub
then I crisp em up over the coals... comes out great every time