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Smoked Chicken Hot Wings

Smoked Hot Wings 099

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Smoked hot wings are one of my favorite things to eat and I almost always ask my wife to make up some of her famous hot wings on my birthday.

At our house, you get your favorite meal on your birthday.. but I digress!

I like them made the traditional way – fried up and covered in hot sauce but since I'm constantly looking for new ways to use the smoker, adding some smoke just sort of made sense to me;-)

I've essentially taken something that is already great and made it a whole lot better with some smoke ;-)

Helpful Information
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1.5 hours
  • Smoker Temp: 250°F (121°C)
  • Meat Finish Temp: 175°F (79°C)
  • Recommended Wood: Pecan
What You'll Need

Purchase Jeff's Rubs and Barbecue Sauce

Purchasing the Meat

If possible, I try to find chicken with one or more of the following labels:

  • Minimally processed
  • Air chilled
  • Antibiotic-free

These are good things.. not just marketing terms.

Be sure to buy the full-sized wings, not the little drumettes. You can buy the smaller ones if you like but I think the full sized wings work best for smoking and they actually look like wings instead of little chicken legs.

Purchasing the chicken wings for smoking

Preparation

To prepare the wings for smoking, I like to put Jeff's original rub on them.

As many of you know, my rub does not have a lot of salt so it works really well as a layer of flavor even if you are planning to add some sauce or something later.

The easiest way to add the rub to the chicken wings is to use a jumbo sized zip-loc bag. This one is the 2.5 gallon size.

Jumbo zip-loc bags Chicken wings into bag

Feel free to use the store-brand of cooking oil, pour about 1/4 cup or so over the top of the chicken wings in the bag. (I used canola oil). Use more oil if you need it to make sure all of the chicken is coated with a thin layer of oil so the rub will stick.

Oil poured over chicken wings

Sprinkle on about 1/4 cup of Jeff's original rub to start with then toss and roll the wings around in the bag until the wings are well coated. Depending on how many wings you are making, you may need more rub.

Feel free to use as much as you like, but I wouldn't go too crazy with it since you want to minimize burning. Besides, we are just adding a layer of flavor and we will also be adding sauce later for another flavor layer.

Once the rub is on all of the wings, I pour them out into a pan for easy transport to the smoker.

Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of Jeff's rub onto chicken wings Rubbed wings ready for smoking

Get the Smoker Ready

This is the variable that just depends on what you have available. I opted to use my Weber Smoky Mountain (WSM) 22.5 for these wings but the hot wings work very well in a wood smoker as well as gas or electric so use what you have available and it will work just fine.

If you happen to have a pellet smoker, here's 9 of my best tips.

No matter what type of smoker you are using, do what is required to get it up to about 250 degrees. I cook very few things on the smoker at more than 225-230 degrees but chicken is one of those things that does not benefit so much from the low heat.

The only benefit of the low heat is that it takes it a lot longer to cook which gives it more time in the smoke. This equates to more smoke flavor and that is always a good thing in my opinion.

What kind of wood you decide to use is up to you.. I used a stick of pecan but you could do very well using mesquite, cherry, apple, oak, or hickory.

For the WSM, I filled the charcoal chamber about 1/3 full of charcoal and placed a piece of fire starter on the very top. I let this burn with all vents full open for about 20 minutes before proceeding.

I then, placed the water pan into it's place and filled it with 1 gallon of warm water. I placed the bottom grate into it's place right over the water pan and then put the lid on the smoker with the top vent full open.

I planned to use the bottom grate as well as the top grate for cooking so no use putting the top grate on just yet.

Once the smoker had reached about 220°F (104°C), I started adjusting the vents a little to allow it to ease on up to my target temperature of 250°F (121°C). This is something that can only be learned by practice. For mine, all 3 vents are open about 1/4 of the way to hold my set temperature for the amount of charcoal that I used.

WSM creeping up to 250 degrees

Smoking the Hot Wings

I placed about 15 of the hot wings on the bottom grate. Then I added the top grate and put the rest of the wings on the top grate.

Chicken hot wings on bottom grate of WSM Chicken hot wings on top grate

After about 1 hour and 30 minutes the chicken wings had reached 175°F (79°C) and were perfectly done.

Use a digital probe meat thermometer to tell you when the wings are done for best results.

Chicken hot wings are done at 165 degrees Close-up of chicken wings finished cooking

Once you remove them from the smoker, you have a big decision to make:

  • Sauce them and eat them now
  • Roll them in flour and do a fry on them and THEN sauce them

I recommend option 2 but I'll leave that entirely up to you ;-)

Before we get ahead of ourselves..

You're gonna want to try this wing sauce..it's super tasty and it's easy to make.


Jeff's Special Wing Sauce

Jeff's Special Wing Sauce

(of course you don't have to use my barbecue sauce if you have another favorite.. I'm just biased)

Instructions: Add the ingredients together and mix well.


Option #1: Sauce them and eat them as they are

Brush this mixture on each wing liberally and let them continue cooking for about 20 minutes to help caramelize the sauce a little. At this point they are ready to eat. Serve immediately with blue cheese and celery sticks. I like to have a little of the sauce on hand in case folks want more.

chicken hot wings with sauce brushed on

Presto! Ready to Eat.

Smoked hot wings, served up

Option #2: Roll in flour, flash fry them, toss in sauce

Once the wings are finished cooking/smoking, bring then into the house quickly. You should already have a deep heavy frying pan or skillet filled up with about 1.5 – 2 inches of oil and preheated for about 10 minutes on medium-low to medium heat. (The chicken is already done so the only goal is to fry the breading on the outside and crisp the skin a little.)

Dip the wings in milk, then roll in the flour mixture* then immediately into the hot oil for about 2 to 3 minutes per side or until they are golden brown. Fry in batches and place into a pan or baking sheet in preheated oven (warm or 200 degrees) to keep them warm until all of the wings are finished.

*flour mixture is 2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 cup of cornmeal, 1 TBS of salt, 1 TBS of black pepper.

Chicken wings dipped in milk Chicken wings rolled in flour

Floured chicken wings go into the hot oil

Once the wings are golden brown, place them in a large bowl and pour the Jeff's Special Wing Sauce from the recipe above in method #1 over them. Toss the wings to coat.

Wings in a large bowl Pour sauce over wings

Toss to coat Perfectly coated with sauce

Serve immediately with celery and blue cheese dressing.

Smoked and Fried hot wings served up

5 from 4 votes

Smoked Chicken Hot Wings

Whole chicken wings smoked, fried and then served up right. This is the best way to get smoked chicken skin crispy.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 50 minutes

Ingredients

  • 30 chicken wings (full-sized)
  • ¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
  • ¼ cup Jeff's original rub

Jeff's Wing Sauce

  • 1 cup Jeff's barbecue sauce
  • ½ cup Franks Redhot Original Sauce
  • 1 stick butter (melted (¼ lb))

Flour Mixture for Fried Wings

  • 2 cups All-purpose flour
  • 1 cup Corn meal
  • 1 TBS Table salt
  • 1 TBS Black pepper (ground)

Instructions

  • Place wings in large zip loc bag then Pour 1/4 cup of canola oil over wings and toss to coat.
  • Pour 1/4 cup of Jeff's original rub over wings and toss to coat.
  • Prepare smoker for cooking/smoking at 250°F (121°C) for about 1 to 1.5 hours.
  • Place wings directly on grate.
  • Wings are finished cooking once they reach 175°F (79°C) in thickest part.
  • While the wings are cooking, make Jeff's Wing Sauce per the recipe above.

Option #1 (Smoke, Brush on sauce and Eat)

  • Brush on sauce and continue to cook for about 20 minutes.
  • Serve wings with celery and blue cheese dressing.

Option #2 (Smoke, Roll in Flour mixture, Fry, Toss in sauce and Eat)

  • Preheat oven to warm setting or 200°F (93°C).
  • Put a baking sheet on center rack once oven is warm. (ready for wings)
  • Preheat 1.5 to 2 inches of oil in deep skillet for 10 min over med-low to med heat.
  • Dip wings in milk
  • Roll in flour mixture (2 cup AP flour, 1 cup corn meal, 1 TBS each of salt/pepper).
  • Fry in batches for 2-3 minutes per side or until golden brown.
  • Place fried wings in oven on baking sheet to keep warm until all wings are finished.
  • Make a double/triple batch of Jeff's Wing Sauce depending on how much you need.
  • Place wings from oven into large bowl once all are finished.
  • Pour Jeff's Wing Sauce over wings and toss to coat.
  • Serve with celery and blue cheese dressing.

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Recipe Rating




18 Comments

  1. Something different is always a good idea. Question please. After the smoking process they were fried, is the smoke taste still there or does the frying in oil lessen the flavor of smoke?

  2. 5 stars
    Coming from just outside Buffalo we can appreciate good wings. These are going to be good, crispy and the sauce is spot on. You did your homework well…………

  3. Jeff
    As always, great recipes my friend. I had some smoked and fried wings while vacationing in Colorado last month and they were the bomb! Question; If I smoke on my offset stick smoker, fry as noted, would it work to keep warm at 200 in my Treager or would the additional pellet smoke after frying be a problem?
    Thanks-Mick in TX

  4. Jeff, I appreciate your recipes and all the variations! If I may push a lil envelope here, Have you done any development in getting crispy wings by Air-Frying after the smoking( meat is done)….
    Seems like faster and maybe Healthier?..I have been placing my latest Wings under a broiler for added crisp…That works OK…but my Air Fryer could do better.
    What have you learned?

  5. Jeff, have you ever heard of adding corn starch to make the wings crispy while smoking them? if so, how much and how did it work?
    Thanks!

    1. Jeri, I appreciate your feedback! We are working constantly to find the balance between user experience and revenue. As a website owner, the ads do a great job of making sure the bills are paid so smoking-meat.com can stay online and I am thankful for that but I understand and share your sentiment.

  6. I really dislike this new format. So much flashing of adds, adds popping up and down…..adds everywhere!
    I have already accidentally ordered a smoker, temperature gauge, 2 pellet grills and a friggin pig!
    Be careful if using a touchscreen and if you have big fingers!
    I might keep the pig.

  7. Jeff,

    I didn’t catch/see how many wings or lb of wings use are doing…this goes to the ratio of flour coating I would need…

    Thx…

  8. Jeff, I have been enjoying your rubs, sauce and recipes for a few years. While you have a recipe for smoked duck, I don’t see one for duck breasts. Do you have one I could get or could you do one? I have brined my ducks breasts in Apple cider, orange juice and cranberry juice with good results with all. may try your buttermilk this year.
    Cheers!

  9. Yupp..nice lookin wings bubs.But oh my god u talk like ur the first person on the face of the earth whos ever smoked meat!!im sure that u are the first to smoke chicken wings!!baaahahahahahahaha!!! Im also sure u live in or very close to some city somewhere and really gathered bits n pieces of other peoples recipies to compose urs.maybe u should try being a little more original????dam city slickers:-\

    1. His recipes and instructions are great. They’re good for people who dont smoke meat all day long and live in hillbilly woods where you probably do. Beginners and novices can really benefit from Jeff’s site and tips, I sure do.

      PS you actually have internet? Or you probably went to an internet cafe in your hillbilly town