Daughter wants Chicken Wings.. HELP!


 
Michael Richards

Michael Richards

TVWBB Emerald Member
Since I have gotten my WSM my daughter has been asking me to make wings. So she has literally mentioned it every day this week. I have the WSM 14 and the master touch with the Weber charcoal baskets, what is the best way to do wings to get a great smoke flavor and still get the crispy? Any and all tips welcome.
Thanks!
 
Check out the chicken wing recipe from Vindulge. I have made hundreds of pounds of wings using this recipe, perfect every time.
 
+1 for the Vortex!
If you don’t have one, put the two baskets together in the center. Place some wood on top of the grate if you want them smokier.
No wing pics but here’s some thighs I did. I always put foil under them for easier clean up. Still allows plenty of
air flow for high temps.
 

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Michael, since you probably have not gotten a Vortex (get the original from Owens BBQ, Marty is a contributor here and is great to work with) the best thing to do is use your baskets pushed to the center and fill the suckers about half full with unlit coal, then pour a full chimney of lit over the top. Then, arrange the wings around the perimeter as Duane shows.i don’t even look for the first half hour (I actually don’t even turn them with the Vortex most of the time)
Get a bunch and get right on it!
Full disclosure, I was skeptical about the Vortex but, I’m a serious convert! It’s a fabulous tool!
 
I think you can do on WSM or Kettle (indirect) cooking at about 350-375 for about one hour and they come out great. Just apply a good BBQ rub prior to cooking. I have a BBQ Guru and I cook them 275 for 1.5 hours, then crank up the temp to 350 for 15-20 min and get them crispy. I like sauce on the side. If you like to sauce them, you could add sauce at the end and cook directly over coals for a few min.
 
OK, now you know HOW to cook them. What about the FLAVOR? I would recommend this (posted back in Nov. and Timothy said it was a good recipe for the Vortex)

"DH made these last week. The recipe calls for them to be baked in the oven. I am going to post recipe as written, but I will tell you now, DH grilled them, and they were delicious!!!!!!!"

Bombay Chicken Wings

1 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
5 1/2 lbs. chicken wings (about 30)
1 1/2 TB minced fresh ginger
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 TB. ground coriander
1 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. plus 1/8 tsp. paprika
Coarse kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/3 cup plus 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
About 1/4 cup peanut or corn oil, for basting
2 TB. unsalted butter

1. In a small dry skillet, toast the cumin seeds over moderate heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer the seeds to a spice grinder or mortar and grind them.
2. Cut off the wing tips from the chicken wings (to me, the best part of the wing, DH leaves them on) and reserve for stock. Using a thin skewer, deeply pierce the wings all over.
3. In a large bowl, combine the ginger, garlic, coriander, ground cumin, 1 tsp. of the cayenne, 1/4 tsp. of the paprika, 1 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Stir in the yogurt and 1/3 cup of the lemon juice. Add the wings to the bowl and stir to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, turning the wings occasionally. Let the wings stand at room temperature for 1 hour before proceeding.
4. Preheat the oven to 450F. Lightly oil a large wire rack and set it over a large roasting pan. Remove the wings from the marinade and place them on the rack without touching. Reserve the marinade.
5. Using a pastry brush, dab the wings lightly with the peanut oil and roast them for 15 minutes. Turn them over, baste with the reserved marinade and dab lightly with more oil. Roast for about 20 minutes longer, or until cooked through. Transfer the wings to a warmed serving platter.
6. In a small nonreactive saucepan, melt the butter with the remaining 1/4 tsp. cayenne and 1/8 tsp. paprika. Stir in the remaining 1 tsp. lemon juice and a pinch of coarse salt and cook over moderately high heat until hot. Brush the spicy butter over the roasted chicken wings and serve.

Source: Food & Wine mag. May 1993
 
Joan's recipe looks delish! I think any rub with enough salt will help get the crispy skin. It may even help to dry brine the wings a bit if you have the time. I have used the vortex and webers baskets, and I really prefer the vortex BUT, the intense heat from the vortex can ruin your standard issue weber grill grates. I switched to a 304SS grill grate and had no issues with that. The vortex will almost "air fry" the chicken in the kettle. It's pretty amazing.

I think heaping the charcoal in the middle and cooking indirect around the heap on the kettle would be the best method. After a the wings are cooked/smokey, then you crisp em up over direct heat. Yum.
 
Joan said:
OK, now you know HOW to cook them. What about the FLAVOR? I would recommend this (posted back in Nov. and Timothy said it was a good recipe for the Vortex)

"DH made these last week. The recipe calls for them to be baked in the oven. I am going to post recipe as written, but I will tell you now, DH grilled them, and they were delicious!!!!!!!"

Bombay Chicken Wings

1 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
5 1/2 lbs. chicken wings (about 30)
1 1/2 TB minced fresh ginger
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 TB. ground coriander
1 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. plus 1/8 tsp. paprika
Coarse kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/3 cup plus 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
About 1/4 cup peanut or corn oil, for basting
2 TB. unsalted butter

1. In a small dry skillet, toast the cumin seeds over moderate heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer the seeds to a spice grinder or mortar and grind them.
2. Cut off the wing tips from the chicken wings (to me, the best part of the wing, DH leaves them on) and reserve for stock. Using a thin skewer, deeply pierce the wings all over.
3. In a large bowl, combine the ginger, garlic, coriander, ground cumin, 1 tsp. of the cayenne, 1/4 tsp. of the paprika, 1 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Stir in the yogurt and 1/3 cup of the lemon juice. Add the wings to the bowl and stir to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, turning the wings occasionally. Let the wings stand at room temperature for 1 hour before proceeding.
4. Preheat the oven to 450F. Lightly oil a large wire rack and set it over a large roasting pan. Remove the wings from the marinade and place them on the rack without touching. Reserve the marinade.
5. Using a pastry brush, dab the wings lightly with the peanut oil and roast them for 15 minutes. Turn them over, baste with the reserved marinade and dab lightly with more oil. Roast for about 20 minutes longer, or until cooked through. Transfer the wings to a warmed serving platter.
6. In a small nonreactive saucepan, melt the butter with the remaining 1/4 tsp. cayenne and 1/8 tsp. paprika. Stir in the remaining 1 tsp. lemon juice and a pinch of coarse salt and cook over moderately high heat until hot. Brush the spicy butter over the roasted chicken wings and serve.

Source: Food & Wine mag. May 1993
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Those sound good!!!
 
OK so my takeaway is kettle over WSM 100%. First attempt I am going to put the charcoal baskets together in the middle, following Tim's charcoal guide. Take out the center piece of my grate to not destroy that section. Try to run between 350 and 375 flip at 30 mins, check at an hour and go from there. First attempt a good rub, add sauce to some for the last few minutes, try some others dry. Then once I get those down go to flavor town with Joan's recipe and something honey mustard based. Once the family loves wings and wants them often get a vortex. Thank for the impute to this point, please, let me know what you guys think about this plan.
 
Michael Richards said:
OK so my takeaway is kettle over WSM 100%. First attempt I am going to put the charcoal baskets together in the middle, following Tim's charcoal guide. Take out the center piece of my grate to not destroy that section. Try to run between 350 and 375 flip at 30 mins, check at an hour and go from there. First attempt a good rub, add sauce to some for the last few minutes, try some others dry. Then once I get those down go to flavor town with Joan's recipe and something honey mustard based. Once the family loves wings and wants them often get a vortex. Thank for the impute to this point, please, let me know what you guys think about this plan.
Click to expand...
That's a perfect plan, Michael. Don't worry about the temp too much as long as it's at least 350. I'd flip every ten minutes, an hour may be long at that temp. I'd also pop that center grate in at the end, and do a quick direct sear......of course, that's me. If you get 100 people in a room, you'll probably get close to 100 opinions on the best way. Starting simple with dry rub, and maybe glaze half will help you figure out what you (and, more importantly, your daughter) like.......go from there. I've cooked A LOT of wings, and I don't have a Vortex. Not opposed to one, just haven't needed it (yet.)

R
 
I do smoked wings A LOT. My wife loves them. I will do a full open vent cook on the WSM, with empty water pan, or like suggested above, the baskets in the middle of the kettle with the wings around the sides. I like to do them for 3 hours if I can. They are done when the outside is crispy and pulling on a flat will pull the meat right off the bone.

I usually marinade the wings for at least an hour (overnight if I can) in a mix of 3 parts favorite wing sauce, 1 part olive oil, lingering splash of vinegar, and several shakes of my dry rub, all whisked together. And, when I put the wings on the grill I make sure they are still each covered in the marinade. After the full cook they have the great smokey sauce flavor cooked in and they don't have to be all sauced up and messy.
 
1. Kettle and a Vortex.

2. Smoke the wings on the WSM for 1-2 hours. Dry pan or no pan. Then remove the mid-section, put the cooking grate down on the charcoal ring and quickly grill/crisp/flip.

#2 isn't quite as good as #1, but it is extremely good. And doing #2 (depending on your set up details) allows you to cook a LOT more wings. I do 15 pounds of party wings at a time on my WSM 18 (jerry-rigged with five racks). I usually put the drumettes on the lowest racks (which are hotter and closer to the fire) and the flats on the uppers.

Either way, I just put a rub on the wings for grilling. No sauce. When serving, I put out 4 or 5 different sauces for people to choose and make up their own. The favorite in my house is the Alabama white sauce.
 
Last edited:
Michael Richards said:
Since I have gotten my WSM my daughter has been asking me to make wings. So she has literally mentioned it every day this week. I have the WSM 14 and the master touch with the Weber charcoal baskets, what is the best way to do wings to get a great smoke flavor and still get the crispy? Any and all tips welcome.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

You have totally got this, Michael. You will crush it.
 
I’ve done wings 2 different ways on my WSM 14:

1) Smoke with empty foiled pan 2 hours, then crisp up on a gasser. You could also put grate directly over coals ala roadside chicken to crisp if you’re feeling daring.

2) No water pan, wings on top rack for 1.5 hours, temps 300+. No need to crisp these up after cooking but it doesn’t hurt. This would be my preferred method however you can only cook half as many wings since only using top rack. Inspired by Hot n Fast chicken recipe on the site, heres a Thighs Wings combo I did a month back!

C032A1AD-0248-4A5A-BA2E-ABFC223C4F51.jpeg
Happy Smoking!
Kyle
 
I think your plan sounds rock solid!
You will probably be getting a Vortex so invest i plenty of foil too. One thing I failed to mention is the foil the “perimeter” around the area from the base of your baskets out the wall of the kettle, it will seriously aid in the cleanup!
 
OK so I went for it today on July 4th! Used the Kettle, put the two Weber Baskets in the center, foiled around the kettle, filled them 1/4 unlit, and the topped with a full lit Weber Chimney, and left out the middle section of the grate. Dried the wings then added my favorite rub and let the kettle come to temp and the put the wings around the edge. Flipped them every ten minutes and at 40 mins sauced half and put back on for ten more minutes.
They were soooo good. Crispy, juice, and so flavorful. Next time I will go five/ten minutes less, but besides that I will be doing it again and again and again.
I thought the baskets did amazing so if you guys love the vortex, man it must be good! I am so glad I foiled the sides, I didn't get the big deal until I I was doing the cook.
Thanks as always guys.
 
The Vortex is awesome, so is the Slow N Sear (for different reasons.)

Also, give it a try on your WSM with the water pan removed @300 degrees, you won't be disappointed!
 
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