Wing Dust Smoked Chicken Wings
Chicken wings was the first thing I ever smoked, they are easy and cheap, so if you are afraid of screwing something up, this is a great way to test your seasonings and skills before ruining an expensive cut of meat. Chicken wings are also very forgiving, as in they are hard to over season, over smoke or over cook, they can handle a lot, so fire up your smoker and give them a try! One of the best part about chicken wings is how versatile the flavors can be, you can go with simple a salt and pepper or hot, but you can also jack up the flavors with all sorts of things, but we will get into that a little later. So follow these 7 easy steps for some of the best wings you’ve ever had!
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Foil Trays
- Large Baking Sheet or BBQ Tray
- Large Baking bowl for tossing wings in
- A roll of sturdy Tinfoil
Ingredients
- 4 lbs Chicken Wings (fresh or thawed)
- 1 cup Wing Dust
- 1/2 cup Butter
- 1/4 cup Yonedas Red Seasoning
Instructions
Preparation
- Remove the wings from their packaging and pat dry with paper towel. Next you want to spread them out on a large baking sheet or BBQ tray. Coat them liberally with You Need a BBQ Chicken and Rib Rub or your favorite chicken seasoning. Then put the wings back in the fridge for at least an hour but can be left overnight.
Get ’em Smoking
- Place the wings in a disposable aluminum foil tray with the butter and place them on the smoker. Let them smoke uncovered at 250 degrees for about 45 minutes. Flip the wings after the first 25 minutes to make sure they are all coated in butter and getting kissed by the smoke.
Cover Them Up
- After the wings get their initial smoke bath, you want to cover them in foil to help them reach a proper internal temperature of 165 degrees.
Final grilling
- Increase the grill temperature to around 500 degrees. Take the chicken wings out of the foil tray and place them directly on the grill. You are looking to crisp up the skin and make it a little darker, maybe get some direct fire or grill marks on there! You could skip this step, but this is where the real magic happens because chicken straight out of the butter bath will look a little bit limp and lifeless. Grill the wings until they look nice and dark and crispy.
Final seasoning, dust em up!
- Take some of the melted butter and add it to a bowl with your favorite wing dust and toss the wings until they are evenly coated. Make sure to taste a wing to make sure you have used enough, but not too much seasoning. With wing dust a little goes a long ways, so add some, taste and then add a little more as necessary.
Step By Step
- Pat wings dry using a paper towel and spread out on a baking sheet or tray.
- Season the wings with You Need a BBQ chicken and rib rub.
- Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour
- Smoke the wings with butter in a foil tray for 45 minutes at 250 degrees.
- Cover the wings with aluminum foil until they reach 165 degrees internal temperature.
- Increase grill temperature to 500 degrees and grill the wings until the skin is crispy
- Toss in your favorite wing dust and butter until perfectly coated
- Enjoy!
Notes
What Type of Chicken is Best
Grocery stores are littered with all typed of chicken including but not limited to: air chilled, free range, free run, Organic, Cage-Free, Anti-biotic Free, Halal or Kosher. How will you know where to begin! I like to look at the chicken itself and the price tag more than the label on the chicken. We live in Canada, so outside in the winter, any bird that is free range is likely imported, because it’s too cold for chickens to always be outside in Canadian winters, some level of cage or inside living is required to raise birds here. Don’t feel limited by the type of chicken you find at the store, any type will do for this recipe, most of the flavor comes from the seasoning anyways!Which Wing Dust Flavor is the Best?
I love having a variety of chicken wing flavors on hand, and the benefit of wing dust is that with their resealable package you can make as many flavors as you want within each batch. The flavors we stock here are: Garlic Parmesan, Kickin Cajun, Lemon Pepper, Ghost Pepper, 7 Pepper Face Lift, Nashville Hot Chicken, Buffalo, Hot Buffalo, Honey BBQ and Salt and Vinegar. My advice would be to pick the one that your wife and kids will like the most!Can you have Wing Dust on other things?
Yes! One of the best meals I’ve ever made involved Nashville hot chicken meatballs! Wing dust is great on pizza, popcorn, spaghetti, whole chicken, turkey, pheasant, pork and more. My recommendation would be to use it on chicken wings but then never be afraid to explore the other possibilities.How Hot is the Ghost Pepper Wing Dust?
If you have to ask, it’s probably too hot for you. The Ghost pepper as it is called in popular culture is called the Naga Bhut Jolokia in India where it is grown. The Ghost pepper has over 1 million scoville units of heat within it’s little red shell and this ghost pepper powder is like concentrated peppers, way hotter than eating the raw pepper in our opinion. Representing about half the heat of the Carolina Reaper (the hottest pepper in the world), this wing dust is not for the feint of heart. Maybe we should have you sign a waiver when you buy it?Can you mix wing dust flavours together?
Absolutely, you can and should try mixing flavours together. I’d love to try a Buffalo Garlic Parmesan Wing or a Honey BBQ Cajun wing. There are near limitless combination options available to you, so don’t be afraid to mix and match and even add some unique sauces to the mix with the butter.What temperature should wings be smoked at?
Chicken wings are super versatile and resilient so you can set your smoker anywhere from 200 degrees upto 400 degrees, or even hotter if you just want to grill the wings until they are done. The hotter you set the smoker, the less time it will take for the wings to get to their desired internal temperature of 165 degrees. So gauge how much time until dinner and then set your temperature accordingly. Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Tried it.
It was awesome!!
I skipped the grilling part.
I just smoked them till I hit 170, then the wing dust.
Honey BBQ for 1/2
Lemon Pepper for the other 1/2
So good
Great recipe