Recipe For Crispy Chicken Wings Smoked To Perfection
Smoked Chicken wings can be tough to get crispy. But this easy recipe for crispy chicken wings on a Pit Boss pellet smoker is usable no matter how you prefer to cook your wings.
One of the best ways to enhance your favorite chicken wings is to add that extra flavor of smoke to them. Giving those great tasting wings extra smoke flavor and keeping the skin crispy gives them the perfect combination to keep everyone wanting more.
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Smoked Chicken Wings
One of my favorite foods to eat as an appetizer or even the main course is chicken wings. The main problem with smoking them is the skin can get soggy or chewy. And nothing ruins the wing taste more than a mushy chicken wing.
Normally chicken wings are either fried or baked. These wings will normally turn out good as well. But aren’t we all looking for a little bit more and to improve whatever we are doing.
There is nothing wrong with a plate full of fried or baked wings. Until you tried a plate full of smoked chicken wings
If you’re interested in adding a new flavor profile to your chicken wings, if you want to make your guests at the next family or friend get together jealous of your wings, Then this crispy chicken wing recipe might be for you.
Just follow the easy steps and you will be on your way to making the perfect crispy chicken wings yourself.
Tips And Tricks For Crispy Wings
I experimented for years with different ways to get crispy skin. A lot of times it didn’t matter if I was baking, Grilling, or smoking the skin did not always come out as crispy as I wanted.
What I found out that worked the best was to make sure to pat the wing’s skin as dry as possible.
The next part takes some preparation. You need to let the chicken wing skin dehydrate. I found that placing the chicken wing on a cooling rack in the refrigerator for 3 hours prior to cooking helps a lot in getting the crispy chick skin.
And one a friend suggested to me is Baking Powder. You want to make sure it’s aluminum free. so there is no metallic taste and that it is Baking Powder NOT BAKING SODA.
Plus we want to take the wings past the recommended safe internal temp of 165° F . We actually want to take them to an end temp of 175°-180° F internal temp. The best way to check is to use an accurate instant read thermometer like the Lavatools Javelin PRO.
Temp To Smoke Chicken Wings
It will take 45 min to an hour to smoke the chicken wings with your smoker running at a consistent temperature of 225° F. For this recipe. Next, increase the heat to 400°-425° F until the wings reach 175°-180° degrees F internal temperature.
Make sure to use a thermometer to check for doneness I am currently using this one. Chicken wings are actually best cooked to 175° F, vs the recommended 165° F safe internal temp recommended for chicken.
The higher temperature helps breaks down some of the tight connective tissues in wings and helps make them more tender.
How to Cook Crispy Chicken Wings
The full recipe is down below.
Crispy Smoked Chicken Wings
Got to start with dry chicken wings. We want to Pat down the chicken wings with paper towels to get as much moisture off of the skin as you can. You want these nice and dry.
The wife usually buys our wings whole so we need to separate the wing, drumette, and tip by cutting them between the joints. This is optional if you prefer your wings whole.
Then we want to place all the wings on a cooling rack and place them in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
Then we are going to place our chicken wings in a plastic zip-lock bag with preferred seasoning and Baking powder. IMPORTANT you need to use baking powder, NOT baking soda.
We are going to start out wings at a lower temp to help get a little smoke in them. You can really use any wood you like with wings. I normally prefer fruity wood for chicken.
After 45min to an hour, we are going to turn up the temp. If you’re using a pellet smoker, you can simply turn up the temperature. If your smoker can’t jump up in temp quickly, your best bet may be to move the wings to a preheated oven or wrap them until it reaches desired temp.
This is also a perfect time to apply your sauce if you are going to sauce your wings. If adding sauce make sure it is at least room temperature.
Crispy Chicken Wing Recipe
Recipe For Crispy Chicken Wings Smoked To Perfection
Equipment
- grill/smoker
Ingredients
- 3 lbs Chicken wings
- 2 tbsp Baking powder
- 3 tbsp favorite seasoning
- 4 oz Franks red hot wing sauce Use your favorite sauce
Instructions
- We want to Pat down the chicken wings with paper towels to get as much moisture off of the skin as you can.
- Separate the wing, drumette, and tip by cutting them between the joints. This is optional if you prefer your wings whole
- Then we want to place all the wings on a cooling rack and place them in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
- Then we are going to place our chicken wings in a plastic zip-lock bag with preferred seasoning and Baking powder. IMPORTANT you need to use baking powder, NOT baking soda.
- Preheat Smoker/Grill to 225° F
- Place chicken wings in smoker/grill for 45min- 1 hour until inter temp of 160°-165° F
- Remove wings .Raise temp of Smoker/grill to 400° F.
Franks Red Hot Wing Sauce
- While smoker/grill is getting up to temp cover your wings in prefered sauce. Make sure sauce is room temperature.
- Once the smoker/grill is up to 400° F. Place the wings back on
- Finish cooking for 20-30 mins or until chicken reaches an internal temp of 175°-180° F. I will flip after first 12 mins
- Pull of Smoker/grill let rest 5 mins and server
