5-step ♨️ Smoked Chicken Wings!

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webpoppy8

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jul 4, 2016
58
21
Boston North
I'd love some comments on this creation!

We vacationed in Tampa/St Pete and had amazing wings at The Smoke Shack.  What was their secret?  Dry rub, then smoke, then deep fry.  He uses a regular pork rub, actually.  I think he may have skinned them to rub.

I wanted to do a bit more with buffalo wings than even just smoking them.  And even though those wings were great, the rub didn't survive much as a bark.  So I added a marinade/wash with mustard and got a nifty bark that came beautifully through the deep fryer.

So - the five steps:
  1. Marinade/wash 8-12 hours
  2. Rub 4-12 hours
  3. Smoke 4-1/2 hours
  4. Deep fry 4-5 minutes
  5. Serve as quickly as possible, multiple sauce options for diners
Ooops!  Not too many left!


This is for FIVE pounds of wings - split, no winglets.
[h2]1. Marinade/wash?[/h2]
The idea is to do a glue like mustard on pork, but I wanted more penetration so I did a wash of each piece individually, then added more water to marinade.  I added peanut oil with the thought it could help keep moisture.

2 Tablespoon (Gulden's) Spicy mustard
3 Tablespoons cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon peanut oil
4 teaspoons ground mustard
6 ounces water

Individually dip each one and put into marinade container.

When finished add to the remaining wash:

24 ounces water

Pour into marinade container, avoid excess air (I used a ziplock?)

Refrigerate 8-12 hours
[h2]2. Dry Rub[/h2]
Mix these and use dry.  It's very spicy!!!

3 tablespoons ground pepper (black)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon one powder
1.5 teaspoon corn starch
2 teaspoon paprika
4 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
2 tablespoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon citric acid

Now I had thought of patting dry before rubbing, then putting them on a tray in the fridge so they'd dry.  I think that might have worked better.

What I did instead was to drain the marinade, get a fresh ziplock, and put in the damp wings in, pouring rub over every half dozen or so, then shaking the whole thing and rubbing through the bag.

Refrigerate in rub - probably four hours or so will do, but I did longer.
[h2]3. Smoke 4-1/2 hours at 205º[/h2]
I used cherry.  I had at IMT 155º for at least 80 minutes, finished around 160º.  This satisfies the IMT tables for chicken safety.

I tried one after smoking - the meat had a great smoke flavor.

However, the rub is so spicy it burned my tongue!  If you use my rub and don't deep-fry, you've been warned!

Wife tasted also and was shocked at the spiciness, insisted I wash off the rub on half.  This turned out to be unnecessary.  It also tore some of the skin.
[h2]4. Deep fry 355 º[/h2]
5 minutes for drumettes

4 minutes for wing-ettes

This took the spiciness way down, even on the unwashed wings.  The 'bark' survived, not only on the skin but also on much of the meat.

I foil wrapped lightly after smoking.
[h2]5. Sauce and Eat Right Away![/h2]
I was going for buffalo style, others used teriyaki, sweet-and-spicy, or honey BBQ.
[h2]Results were Celebrated by Victims Diners[/h2]
So first of all, I totally loved them and could have eaten them all night.

Skin was crispy but could have been crispier.  Will definitely let rubbed wings dry.

I loved the bark.  Smoke flavor in the meat seemed to have diminished after frying.

Rave reviews from family.

Meat was juicy, not totally tender, sort of 'al dente.'

Comments invited!
 
Sounds like a lot of work for some wings, but I have to give you a point for your effort!

And the wings look delicious!

Al
 
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