Question for anyone who makes chicken wings on a smoker

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Bigheaded

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Mar 14, 2021
223
234
Philippines
I made wings for the 1st time on my smoker the other night. One of my roommates ask if I was trying to kill them with undercooked chicken. I explained the pink was the smoke ring, and thought I could find at least 1 photo on Google that would back up what I said. Which I could not, so they're convinced I still need to learn how to cook on a smoker. I even did some Googling to read up but not finding exactly what I wanted to know. I cooked them for an hour at 225, then 30 minutes at 400. I only probed one and it was good. Is 90 minutes enough to get a good smoke ring on wings? Since they're small I'm wondering if that causes the smoke to penetrate them more and faster. I don't even know if there should be a smoke ring, just assuming on my part. I won't lie one of the drummets looked pretty pink to me so I can see why my roomie automatically thought it was only semi-cooked lol. I see tons of pics online of the smoke ring for ribs and brisket, but nothing for wings so I can show them they looked normal. Or maybe a few of them weren't and I was trying to get people sick I don't know. But either way, I'd like confirmation here so I can show this thread to my roomie.

I obviously wasn't worried enough to not eat them, and I didn't die or get bathroom issues so I'm confident they were cooked, but debbie downer here's still questioning if I know what I'm doing.
 
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Did you check the final temp with an instant read thermometer? You don't generally get a smoke ring on a chicken wing as they are so thin. With that said you can still end up with some pinkish meat which is from the smoke......as long as they reached a high enough temp. 165 is safe for chicken. Wings are dark meat and can handle going to 180 or so and remaining juicy. Do yourself and your friends a favor and get an instant read thermometer. Then next time they bust your nuts you can prove to them they are safe!
 
I made wings for the 1st time on my smoker the other night. One of my roommates ask if I was trying to kill them with undercooked chicken. I explained the pink was the smoke ring, and thought I could find at least 1 photo on Google that would back up what I said. Which I could not, so they're convinced I still need to learn how to cook on a smoker. I even did some Googling to read up but not finding exactly what I wanted to know. I cooked them for an hour at 225, then 30 minutes at 400. I only probed one and it was good. Is 90 minutes enough to get a good smoke ring on wings? Since they're small I'm wondering if that causes the smoke to penetrate them more and faster. I don't even know if there should be a smoke ring, just assuming on my part. I won't lie one of the drummets looked pretty pink to me so I can see why my roomie automatically thought it was only semi-cooked lol. I see tons of pics online of the smoke ring for ribs and brisket, but nothing for wings so I can show them they looked normal. Or maybe a few of them weren't and I was trying to get people sick I don't know. But either way, I'd like confirmation here so I can show this thread to my roomie.

I obviously wasn't worried enough to not eat them, and I didn't die or get bathroom issues so I'm confident they were cooked, but debbie downer here's still questioning if I know what I'm doing.
The best way to put the argument to rest is to probe it and show it. A smoke ring doesn't mean meat is done, it just means it's reacted with the smoke. However, you can't argue with temperatures. I take my my chicken wings to at least 180°, and I'm not afraid of 190° either. That's when they really get tender and just slide off of the bone.

With that being said, I do often get a smoke ring on my bigger cuts of chicken. I can't say if I've seen one on my chicken wings, but usually I ain't lookin'. I'm just trying to get a few in my own mouth while everyone else is suckin' em down.

Here's a couple of pics:

This is a drumstick I schmoked a few weeks back. I was making chicken lollipops and these had been on for almost 2 hours. You can see a slight smoke ring around the edges.
PXL_20210327_190459894.PORTRAIT_2.jpg

This was from a half-chicken I did about a month ago (alabama style). Again, there's a slight smoke ring, but definitely nothing like a pork butt or brisket. These were on for 3.5 hours.
PXL_20210324_002600415.jpg

Best way to figure it out is to throw more wings on the smoker, probe 'em to 180° or higher, then bite into them and see. It's the best kind of scientific experimentation there is.
 
One way to know if chicken is safe to eat is by cooking to at least to 165 deg F. Can't go by time or looks; I would never cook chicken without checking temperature with a good thermometer. As someone mentioned, wings you can take even higher and will be cooked, juicy, and flavorful.
 
Did you check the final temp with an instant read thermometer? You don't generally get a smoke ring on a chicken wing as they are so thin. With that said you can still end up with some pinkish meat which is from the smoke......as long as they reached a high enough temp. 165 is safe for chicken. Wings are dark meat and can handle going to 180 or so and remaining juicy. Do yourself and your friends a favor and get an instant read thermometer. Then next time they bust your nuts you can prove to them they are safe!

I checked one and it was 169, by the time he got around to making a plate like 40 minutes had passed, so using the instant-read would have shown an unsafe temp. I plan to make them again and have the probe ready to show as soon as they come off. I was curious about the pink because the one I probed at 169 I ate and it looked pretty pink. 3 other people ate the wings and none of us got sick, so by my logic they were all cooked lol. I do know the MB's have hot zones so next time I'll probe one from each side and the middle.
 
I checked one and it was 169, by the time he got around to making a plate like 40 minutes had passed, so using the instant-read would have shown an unsafe temp. I plan to make them again and have the probe ready to show as soon as they come off. I was curious about the pink because the one I probed at 169 I ate and it looked pretty pink. 3 other people ate the wings and none of us got sick, so by my logic they were all cooked lol. I do know the MB's have hot zones so next time I'll probe one from each side and the middle.
MB as in Masterbuilt?

If it's electric, those often do not produce smoke rings.
 
Wings, thighs and drums I usually go to 180 since they don’t really dry out too bad and stay pretty juicy. I’ll smoke them then toss them on a hot grill bc we don’t care for the rubbery texture of the skin. If I sauce them I usually do so in between the smoker and grill! For me 165 unless it’s a breast just makes me think every time “is it done” haha
 
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I don’t think I normally get smoke rings on my smoked wings, but they usually don’t last long enough to notice. I do mine at 225 for 2 hours then sauce and on the gasser at 500 for a few minutes to crisp.

Assuming you used fresh wings and they weren’t frozen, at those times and temps I’d guess they are done, but the only way to really know is to take the temps.
 
I've been wondering how those are. You like it?

I have nothing to compare it to as it's my 1st smoker. But 2 weeks and 5 cooks in I'm in love with it. Only thing I don't like so far is how damn fast it chews thru charcoal. The PID stays almost exactly at temp, and according to an Inkbird probe I ran along side the MB's one, the temps very accurate. I did a 5 hour sparerib cook and didn't have to mess with the temp dial once. I can't wait to cook a Pork shoulder on it. I know a lot of people rag on it for its poor build quality and low quality materials. I keep mine covered and if it dies in a year or falls apart I'll buy another. Nothing about it feels super cheap to me. The iOS apps works well enough too so I can stay inside and monitor the temp. Best $499 I've spent, it and the Ooni Pizza oven I bought about a year ago are my 2 favorite things. I made bacon wrapped dogs on it tonight, super basic but the charcoal flavor was amazing.

I know it's not a 400lb Yoder or a high end Memphis smoker, but for $499 it's damn nice. And it's charcoal which I like more than pellets. And there are 2 mods which help greatly with how fast it burns charcoal.



Thank you to everyone who replied, I wanted my roomie to read from other people. I told him the wing I checked was 169 which is fully cooked, but he thinks I'm making that up because of the pink color. next batch I guess I need to check the temp right in front of him,
 
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I have nothing to compare it to as it's my 1st smoker. But 2 weeks and 5 cooks in I'm in love with it. Only thing I don't like so far is how damn fast it chews thru charcoal.

How much charcoal would you say something like this wing smoke used? I am most likely picking up a 1050 within the next couple of weeks.
 
If you ever find a used decently priced weber kettle grab it and get a vortex for it...best wings you'll ever have in about 30 to 40 minutes! On a side note, I believe daveomak daveomak had posted something some time ago about pink chicken having something to do with modern day practices of how chickens are raised today. Maybe he will pipe in about that.

Ryan
 
How much charcoal would you say something like this wing smoke used? I am most likely picking up a 1050 within the next couple of weeks.

I couldn't even estimate as I didn't check the hopper after. I know I did the 2 burn ins, the seasoning, and a 4 hour ham and had used 75% of a 20lb bag of blue Kingsford. Talking to others I'm getting all sorts of times. Some people say 10-12 hours for a full hopper (16lbs) at 225-250. Others are saying 8 hours. I know the type of charcoal makes a difference. I plan to buy a bunch of bags from a few different brands. And some lump and the B&B char-logs and do like 6 different temp/length cooks and make a spreadsheet of the results. I've cooked:

Burn in (30 minutes 300, 30 minutes 400)
seasoning (25 minutes at 350)
Spareribs (5 hours at 235)
Ham (4 hours at 250)
Stuffed Burgers (1.5 hours at 300)
Wings (60 minutes 225, 20 at 400, 5 at 425)
Bacon wrapped dogs (35 minutes at 350, 5 at 425)

And I've used probably 1 and a half 20lb bags. Outside of one cook where I forgot to turn it off when I was done (went about 20 minutes before I remembered) right when I'm done I turn it off and put the dampers back in so the coals goes out.
 
Try using a little baking soda in your rub next time and watch that skin crisp up real nice!

I used it, even went all out and bought the Aluminum free kind off Amazon. They were crispy’ish but nothing like my good ol deep fryer. But the smokiness was real nice. I like them both ways. And I definitely like the Kosmo wing dusts. The Nashville one was nice and spicy.
 
Use a good instant read therm and 165+ and no problems, Tnjake all of our wings on this end of the state are white meat , not sure where the line is for dark meat wings start lol
 
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