Spicy Smoked Chicken Wings Recipe

Spicy Smoked Chicken Wings are perfect for tailgating!! Is there any better combination?? Now I love to smoke food; the flavor that it adds is just fantastic!! These are perfect for serving as appetizers or snacking on while watching football!

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Now I am obsessed with finding new ways to make chicken wings! I love to make them on gas grill, my pellet grill, and have also made them on a charcoal grill. Truthfully there is no wrong way to make chicken wings.

Spicy Smoked Chicken Wings Ingredients:

• Wingettes – These are my go-to style of party wings, but you can also do this with whole chicken wings if you prefer
• Hot Sauce– Any brand or variety of hot sauce will work. My favorite is Frank’s Hot Sauce or a good buffalo sauce; there is nothing wrong with buffalo chicken wings.
• Kinders Tequila Lime Seasoning-Using a seasoning blend for the dry rub helps flavor the meat and create a crust on the chicken wing.

How To Make Spicy Smoked Chicken Wings:

 Rub your chicken with spice and allow it to sit while you do the rest of the prep work for the smoker.

Pull your water bin, chip holder, and racks out of your smoker and cap off the exhaust pipe. I used a vertical electric smoker but these can also be made in a pellet grill as well, i have a Pit Boss Pro 1100 I love, Traeger Pellet Grill is another popular one!

Fire the smoker up to start raising the temperature.

Fill the water dish with water and the chip holder with the smoker chips of your choice.  I used apple disks to give a sweet flavor to the meat.

Now I like to use pucks in my smoke hollow vertical smoker! I also recommend having a good meat thermometer and oven gloves. Pulling out meat from the smoker with oven gloves is so much easier.

Vertical SmokersBradley PucksMeat Thermometer

 

Once your smoker gets hot, put in the chips so they can start to smoke. You may do this differently, but I like to get the chips hot and start smoking, then put them in the water dish.

While waiting for a good smoke, spray down the racks to your smoker.

Spread your chicken wings onto your rack.

Once you have a good smoke going, slide your wings in, close the smoker uptight, and open up the smoke stack! You can place them on the top rack of the smoker if using a pellet smoker, these are best cooked on indirect heat.

I keep my smoker between 200 and 250 degrees. I prefer to smoke on a low heat you can smoker at a higher heat which will give a crispier skin for your wings. Low and slow will give a stronger smoke flavor.

I set a timer to check it every half hour. I did replace my smoking disks at about the 1.5-hour mark. You know your smoker, and each will vary in how they smoke and what you want to be done.

Remove once wings are at 165 degrees or more. Mine took about 2.5 hours.

Even though they are unique without sauce, we are a sauce family!! Place your hot wings in a large mixing bowl.

We did one for hot sauce and one with barbecue sauce for the kids.

Toss the wings in the sauce. You can also combing hot sauce and bbq sauce to make a wing sauce or add a dry rub to either.

Once you have your wings coated, plate and serve them. We love our wings with ranch, carrots, and celery!

Plus you can always make a fun platter of wings!! We love to eat family style, so we placed spicy and BBQ on the other and shared it while watching football!!

What is your favorite way to smoke chicken wings?

Expert Tips

• After smoking the chicken wings, put them on a hot grill to crisp up at high heat to make crisper skin.
• Crispy skin can also be dried with paper towels before dry rubbing the chicken wing.
• If using a new smoker, keep an extra how it is cooking. Each type of smoker has its own best way of operating.
• Remember, the wood chips or pellets will flavor the wings, too. Cherry wood and hickory wood are great for the smoky flavor of chicken wings.
• Coking at a low temperature can make more rubbery skin than crispy skin.

How to Store Leftover chicken Wings

Cooked chicken wings can be stored in an airtight container or a Ziploc bag for up to three days after they are cooked. Freezing cooked chicken wings can be tricky because it changes the sauce’s texture and the wings’ skin, so it’s not something I would do.

How To Reheat Leftover Chicken Wings

While you can reheat in the microwave, using the oven is the best way to reheat chicken wings. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spread your wings in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-20 minutes until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. You may need to resauce them as reheating may dry the sauce out.

Alternate Rub Ingredients For Spicy Smoked Chicken Wings

• Garlic Powder
• Brown Sugar
• Onion Powder
• Black Pepper
• Chili Powder
• Hot Oil
• Cayenne Pepper
• Spice Rub
• Apple Juice

What To Serve With Chicken Wings

There is no right or wrong combo regarding chicken wings; some things are more classic. And I have been known to eat chicken wings as is. I tend to throw in smoked side dishes while other food is cooking.

• Celery and Carrot
• Blue Cheese Dip
• Ranch Dip
• Smoked Macaroni And Cheese
• Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries
• Coleslaw
• Loaded Baked Beans
• Cornbread

Chicken Wing Recipes: 

Chicken wings are one of my favorite appetizers! Plus, they can be made with so many different rubs and flavor combinations!

• Coke BBQ Smoked Wings
• Coca-Cola Grilled BBQ Wings
• Honey Garlic Chicken Wings
• Mango Jerk Chicken Wings