In this recipe, we are talking about smoked chicken wings and while these are very similar to hot wings, these are not the traditional chicken wings that are fried then coated in wing sauce.
Instead these are seasoned with my original rub*, smoked with cherry wood and then brushed with my delicious barbecue sauce* about 30 minutes before they are finished.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Smoker Temp: 275°F
- Meat Finish Temp: 180°F
- Recommended Wood: Cherry
- 5-10 lbs of chicken wings (I recommend doing plenty)
- Large foil pan (very helpful)
- Large ziploc (2 or 2.5 gallon works great)
- Heavy duty foil
- Jeff's original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub)
- Jeff's barbecue sauce (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled sauce)
- Oil, Olive, Vegetable, Canola, etc.
This part is extremely easy.. the first step is to put all of the wings as they are into a large ziploc bag.
Pour about 1/2 cup of oil over the wings and then roll them around inside the bag to coat.
Pour 1/4 cup of my original rub* per 3 lbs of chicken wings down into the bag. Zip it up then roll and shake the bag to coat the chicken with the rub.
*Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub
Once the chicken is coated with rub, pour them out into a foil pan for easy access.
It does not matter what type of smoker you are using. I decided to use my wood smoker but you can use ANY smoker or gril.
Here's a few examples:
You can use any smoker or even the grill for these. If you are able to maintain close to the recommended temperature and you have a thermometer so you can make sure they are done properly, then it will work.
Lately I've been using the Camp Chef Woodwind SG pellet grill for most of my cooking and having a blast doing it. Read more about this awesome smoker that uses REAL wood to cook and smoke the food to perfection.
Regardless of what smoker you use:
- Maintain 250-275°F (a little higher temperature ensures more crispy skin)
- Cook for about 1.5 hours or until the meat reaches 175-180°F
- Apply smoke for at least 1 hour. I used cherry wood on these but any good smoking wood will work well.
Once your smoker is maintaining about 250-275°F with 275°F being ideal in my opinion,
Lay the chicken wings onto the grate of your smoker trying to keep a little space between them to allow the smoke to circulate over, under and around each piece.
About 30 minutes from the time when the chicken is expected to be finished, you will want to brush some of my extra delicious barbecue sauce* onto the wings.
*Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled sauce
For this purpose, I wanted the sauce to be a little thinner than usual so I mixed in some Lemon-lime soda to help thin it down. If you purchase the bottled barbecue sauce, you will probably not need to thin it out as it is already a little thinner than what you make at home using my recipes.
Note: you can use almost anything from water to coffee to pop and even cider or apple juice to thin down my barbecue sauce. Sometimes you just want it to flow a little more.
I just happened to have some SunDrop and that's what I used. The lemon-lime flavor won't hurt anything;-)
Just 2-3 tablespoons of liquid is all it takes in a cup of my barbecue sauce*. Use more or less depending on how thin you want it to be.
*Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled sauce
Use a ThermoPop, Thermapen or other thermometer to make sure that the correct finished temperature is achieved in the chicken. You are looking for 175-180°F.
A great tool for checking the temperature on these is the ThermoPop digital pocket thermometer which reads in 3-4 seconds (that's fast)– One of my favorite toys.. er, tools;-)
When the smoked chicken wings are done, get them out quickly and place them into a foil pan or other serving platter or bowl.
This one was begging to be eaten!
Into the foil pan and into the house for serving to the hungry family and friends.
My oldest daughter said they were the best wings she's ever had. Why is this significant? She's very picky about her wings!
Try these and I know you'll love them. I do recommend that you do these exacly as I've instructed the first time.
Enjoy!!
Summary:
- Remove wings from package and place in large ziploc
- Pour oil onto wings and roll to coat
- Spoon rub over chicken in bag
- Roll and toss to coat well
- Dump wings into large foil pan
- Prepare smoker for cooking at 250-275 degrees
- Place wings on smoker grate with space between them
- smoke for about 1.5 hour
- About 30 minutes before finished, brush with my sauce
- The wings are done when they reach 175-180°F
Notes:
The most popular email question that I receive is how to get chicken skin crispy and this includes whole chicken, pieces and even wings.
There are several methods you can use to help crisp up the skin a little bit
- Flash fry the wings (after smoking) in oil that is very hot (400+ degrees)
- Place them on a very hot grill for a few minutes after they are done smoking
- Place them in a 350-375 degree oven for a few minutes after they're done smoking
***Note: you get the Texas style rub recipe free with your order!
If I could give these recipes away, I would do that. I really want you to have them! But, then, this is how I support the newsletter, the website and all of the other stuff that we do here to promote the art of smoking meat.
Read these recent testimonies:
Love the sauce and rub recipes. So far I have used them on beef ribs, pork ribs, and different chicken parts. Can't wait to do a beef brisket. Texas rub is great as well!
Love the original rib rub and sauce! We have an annual rib fest competition at the lake every 4th of July. I will say we have won a great percent of the time over the past 15 years so we are not novices by any means. However, we didn't win last year and had to step up our game! We used Jeff's rub and sauce (sauce on the side) and it was a landslide win for us this year! Thanks Jeff for the great recipes. I'm looking forward to trying the Texas style rub in the near future!
I tried the rub on a beef brisket and some beef ribs the other day and our entire family enjoyed it tremendously. I also made a batch of the barbeque sauce that we used on the brisket as well as some chicken. We all agreed it was the best sauce we have had in a while.
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Hey Jeff, thanks for the great recipes, enjoyed by all my friends, one ?. How to prevent wings that stick on the 275 degree grill??
pete
good wings fall off bone.
Hi , I’ve purchased Jeff’s Recipe 4 years ago. Love the recipes every Thursday from smokingmeatcom. My question is I want to smoke wings in my smoker today. The recipe I received from Jeff is called Jeff Naked rib rub.Is this the same as Jeff’s original recipe? I’m having hard time getting an answer because I want to use it on my wings not sure?
Rub seems to cake while in a container. I spread out on a cookie sheet and put in a hot oven for about 15 minutes. Stayed perfectly in the container without caking. Shook perfect.
I have to thank Jeff and give credit where credit is due. I thought my BBQ sauce was good…and it is. But Jeff’s BBQ sauce and rubs are outstanding. I have no regrets buying those recipes. I also got his eCourses on smoking meats as well. Next I am going to get his book. For me it’s a ‘must have’ Jeff thanks for the recipes I get every Thursday too. I’ve tried many of them and so far not one turned out anything other than great! Thanks again!
Here is the Winner! Take Jeffs brine for turkeys (in his book) brine wings . Take out rinse put on Big Bald Rub in the Book . Smoke 1.5 Baste with BBQ sauce .put back in the heat . In 1/2 hour you will be amazed…..Enjoy
CHICKEN WINGS. Don’t know what happen but they came out really chewy skin could barley eat em. any help.
Ron, should these wings cooked direct or indirect?
I have a big green egg and I really wish you would mention that on each of your recipe’s
Bq meat
Just a slight correction in your beginning description.
While original wings are deep fried, they are never rolled in flour!
Lol, I’m from Buffalo and laugh when I try wings at different places advertising “Buffalo Wings” even Buffalo Wild Wings is short of Frank and Teresa’s. (Anchor Bar)
Trying your smoked wings with my sauce and rub. I have a Treager pellet grill.
I smoked 10 lbs of wings over the weekend. Didnt use his rubs or his sauce, used my own rubs and no sauce. But did smoke at 275 for about 1hr 40mins. The internal temp got up to about 190. The wings were super juicy and tender and the skin was perfect, not crispy like buffalo style but completely bite through and not soggy. Everybody at the party loved them. they didnt last long at all. They were devoured.
Smoked 15 pounds of these wings using orange wood. Then used fresh orange juice to thin the BBQ sauce and baste prior to those last 30-45 minutes. Everyone went wild for them!! AT one time I thought a fight was gonna break out. Thanks for all your tips and recipes.
I had a Hasty Bake legacy shipped to me here at South Lake Tahoe and wondering why you don’t mention cooking methods on this Tulsa product?
In the words of my girlfriends daughter, these are simply divine!
Amazing wings. Didn’t use his BBQ sauce since I had some Stubbs Sweet Heat left. Absolutely delicious. Had to rotate between oven and smoker since didn’t have enough room on the Weber Mini Smoker to do 4 lbs.
thanks for all the gooooood tips on smoking , all your meats. PS I LOVE SMOKING CHICKEN WINGS.