Smoked Buffalo Chicken Wings Recipe (with Crispy Skin)
The best method for smoked chicken wings with crispy skin. This success of this recipe is ALL in the technique. Well, that, and the sauce. But seriously pay attention to the technique!
Servings: 4 servings
Cost: $15.00
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Chicken Wings, or "Party Wings" as you'll sometimes find them labeled
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon coarse ground pepper
Buffalo Wing Sauce:
- 1 cup Frank’s RedHot hot sauce
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Instructions
- Dehydrate Wings: Pat dry your wings with some paper towels, then place them on a baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for up to 3 hours. This is crucial to the end texture of the chicken. This process will prevent the wings from steaming when you cook it, which creates a rubbery texture.
- Preheat Smoker: When ready to cook, preheat smoker to 225 degrees F, and remove wings from fridge.
- Season Wings: In a large bowl, toss the wings with olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Smoke Wings: Place wings on the smoker for one hour, at 225 degrees F.
- Increase Heat: After one hour, increase the heat to 375 degrees F for 30 minutes to finish them off at that higher temperature.
- Serve: Remove from smoker and toss immediately with Buffalo wing sauce mix. Serve with your favorite ranch or blue cheese dip.
For the Buffalo Wing Sauce:
- Prep sauce just before the wings come off the smoker.In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring butter and sauce to a simmer (not boil!!) and remove from heat. Place into a large bowl to toss with the hot wings just as they come off the smoker. *see notes
Video
Notes
Read these tips before you make this to avoid making any mistakes (trust us!).
1. The first, most important step, is patting dry, and then dehydrating your wings in the fridge. If you don’t do this you run the risk of your wings steaming in the smoker, creating a rubbery skin.
2. Troubleshooting crispiness: If, when they are fully cooked, you don’t see a nice char or crispy outside, feel free to adjust the temperature on your smoker. I like to jack up the heat for a few minutes to give them a burst of heat helping to create a crispy outside.
3. The sauce: Watch the temperature as you melt the butter. Slowly simmer and don’t fully melt at a high heat. If you melt the butter at too high a heat, and then add the Frank’s, the result is oily and the Frank’s does not integrate with the sauce. Instead, the hot sauce separates from the butter and the sauce won't stick to the wings.
Nutrition
Calories: 463kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 149mg | Sodium: 2279mg | Potassium: 313mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 296IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 2mg