Grilling Chicken Wings

Chicken wings have quickly gained massive popularity, and many have approached me asking: “What’s the best method to cook them on the grill?” or “When should I use the sauce?”

These instructions work for both wings and drumsticks; depending on the size of the pieces, you can slightly extend or shorten the cooking time. We also provide instructions for oven or deep fryer preparation (at the end of the article). Of course, you can also smoke them!

Poppamies Marko’s favorite methods

There are a couple of ways to grill wings; here are my personal favorites.

Regardless of the method (except for the deep fryer), I always prep the same way.

Preparation

• Rinse the wings under cold water
• Lightly coat the wings with oil, mayonnaise (e.g. Poppamies Mango-Habanero Majonen) or melted butter (liquid butter products work great). NOTE! Don’t overdo it – one tablespoon per 500 g of wings and mix by hand.
• Season the surface with RUB seasoning, 2 tbsp per 500 g of wings or to your taste. Poppamies offers 8 different flavors perfect for hot wings:
  
  • Louisiana Cajun RUB – Authentic cajun seasoning without sugar, a little heat.
  • Garlic RUB – Very garlicky
  • Burger & Ribs RUB – American BBQ (this is the most common option)
  • Sriracha RUB – Medium hot with Asian flavor
  • One For ALL RUB – Mildly hot blend, suitable for everyone
  • Slow Food RUB – Smoky and herby seasoning with a coarse grind
  • Grillmix RUB – Spicy garlic-pepper seasoning
  • You can also try TexMex seasonings
    

Grilling or smoking

Direct method. Grill over direct heat at medium temperature, around 150 degrees, turning regularly. The wings are done when the meat comes off the bone easily and the surface is golden brown and crispy. Don’t grill them dry 😉

Indirect heat (food positioned away from the heat source). Set up indirect heat in your grill (about 125–150 degrees) and cook the wings for about 45–60 minutes. No need to obsess over temperature – many grills don’t even have thermometers, the idea is simply to keep it clearly below full blast.

Smoke lovers can place a handful of wood chips in a smoker box or foil pouch, and once the smoke starts coming out, put the wings on the grill. After one hour, move the wings briefly over direct heat to get a crispy surface, turning as you go. You can brush them with melted butter if the seasoning layer looks dry. If your heat has been closer to 150 degrees, the surface may already be crisp enough and no final sear is needed.

Using a smoker. Heat your smoker to around 125–140 degrees, and once smoke production begins, place the wings in the smoker and start smoking. At this temperature, wings take about 45–60 minutes depending on the heat level. Depending on how smoky you want them, you may want to limit the smoke.

Chicken absorbs smoke flavor very easily, and for many people, more than an hour of smoking is already too much. You can also experiment with wood type; I personally prefer oak because it’s mild and allows for longer smoking. Apple and hickory offer great flavor too but are very strong – use carefully 🙂

If you want extra crispiness in the skin, finish with a short grill over direct heat, skin side down, until the surface is to your liking.

Saucing during grilling or smoking

When I make BBQ-style wings, I brush them with BBQ spice sauce at the end of cooking or right before serving. From Poppamies’ selection, I especially recommend Classic BBQ, Texas BBQ, Smoky Hickory BBQ, Hot Bourbon BBQ, or Smoky Apple BBQ. Another option is to dip the wings into BBQ spice sauce just like with wing sauce.

The best results come when basting is done only at the end, because you want to build a good surface on the wings first – and only then add the sauce. This way the wings won’t be soggy but still flavorful and crispy, because the Maillard reaction has time to develop. (You can read more about the Maillard reaction in this article)

Oven method

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees and cook the wings on a baking sheet for about 20–30 minutes. Flip the wings and cook for another 10 minutes so they don’t dry out and a good surface develops all around. If you’re working with large wings, check doneness by cutting into one to the bone – the meat should be fully cooked and pull away easily. I recommend using the oven’s broiler/grill function.

Air fryer method

Place the wings in the air fryer basket. Depending on the size of your air fryer and the wings, you can fit about 10–20 pieces. Cook frozen wings at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes, non-frozen cooked wings for 10 minutes, and raw wings for about 20 minutes. You can turn the wings halfway through cooking.

Deep fryer method

Fry in a 185-degree deep fryer for about 8 minutes. Brush the wings generously with wing sauce before serving. Pour wing sauce into a dipping bowl too so people can dip as they like.

Serving and dipping

Serving. The traditional way is to brush the wings lightly with wing sauce before serving, alongside vegetable sticks. Pour some wing sauce into a bowl for dipping if desired.

In restaurants, wings are usually served with carrot, celery, or cucumber sticks. It’s a matter of taste whether you want those, but a bit of freshness in between bites is nice. Then again, so is a pint of beer.

Dipping while eating. The classic dip served with wings is a sour cream-based blue cheese dip. Poppamies offers a ready-made Blue Cheese Style dipmix for this, and we dare say it’s the best on the market 🙂 Try our other dipmix flavors too!

Besides blue cheese dip, wing sauces like Poppamies’ work great for dipping. So do mayonnaise-based sauces and BBQ spice sauces with hot wings.