BBQ chicken wings

hot n fast chicken wings doused in hot sauce, butter and honey

As far as we’re concerned chicken wings are the tastiest part of the bird. They have an awesome skin to flesh ratio that crisps up nicely which means you get a good dose of seasoning, crunchy skin and juicy flesh.

Blasting the wings with a high, indirect heat gives you the best chance to get that crunchy skin. They also benefit from being cooked a little further than breasts or thighs. The flesh loosens up a bit more, pulling off the bone easily without drying out.

Hot sauce and wings go together like beer and barbecue, they’re the perfect match. Adding butter increases the richness and flavour while the honey, strangely enough, adds sweetness.

ingredients

• Chicken wings, cut into 3 sections
• Mayonnaise
• Your favourite chicken rub
• Hot sauce, such as Sriracha or Lane’s BBQ One Legged Chicken
• Butter
• Honey

directions

• Cut the wings into its 3 sections, discard the tips and pat with paper towel to remove some of the moisture.
• Lightly brush the wings with mayo to help the rub stick and brown the skin. Then apply the rub.
• Fire up your cooker to HOT, indirect heat. Somewhere around the 425f/220c mark. If you’re cooking on a Weber Kettle use a vortex or place the 2 charcoal baskets together in the centre of the bottom grate and load them up with lit charcoal.
• Add 1 chunk of wood to get smoking. If using a Kettle add the chunk to the top grate above the coals. The wood will smoke despite not directly touching the coals. Space the wings evenly around the outside of the grill grate.
• While the wings are cooking add a good slug of the hot sauce to a bowl along with a knob of butter and some honey. There’s no set quantities here, the sauce is the main player while the butter and honey are just the support acts.
• After 20 minutes give the wings a spritz with a 50-50 mix of apple cider vinegar and water. Do so every 5 minutes until done.
• If you have a Weber Kettle rotate the lid 45 degrees every 10 minutes so the smoke and highest heat is pulled through all parts of the Kettle hitting all the wings.
• Once they’re done, add the wings to the bowl with the sauce, butter and honey. Mix around and enjoy your BBQ chicken wings!

For other barbecue and smoking ideas click here.