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Grilled Buffalo Chicken Wings. Chicken wings on the grill with homemade Buffalo wing sauce. For extra crispy skin, I use the food science trick of dry brining the wings with a mix of kosher salt and baking powder. Then I grill them over indirect high heat for 50 minutes, until the skin is crisp and crackling, and I toss them in wing sauce to finish.
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Kenji Lopez-Alt is on a roll in his Food Lab series over at Serious Eats. A favorite of mine is his investigation into oven-roasted chicken wings. He wanted to make oven roasted chicken wings that were the same as deep-fried wings, without the mess of deep frying. His answer, in a nutshell? Dry brine the wings for at least eight hours in the refrigerator, using a mix of salt and baking powder. All three of these things (the refrigerator, salt, and baking powder) help crisp up the skin on the wings. How? By drying the skin out and increasing its alkalinity, you increase its browning. (Yes, increasing the alkalinity of a food helps in browning. And yes, I know my wife is the chemist in the family, and will probably want to correct everything I’ve just said.)
I’d rather grill my chicken wings than bake them, so I used Kenji’s approach with my grill roasted wings. These wings come out browned, crispy and delicious. Obsessive food science combined with grilling makes a wonderful combination!
Ingredients
4 pounds chicken wing pieces (wingette and drumette sections)
3 teaspoons diamond crystal kosher salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
Wing Sauce (or use your favorite store-bought buffalo wing sauce)
1 stick of butter, melted (4 ounces)
½ cup Frank’s Red Hot sauce (traditional for Buffalo wings)
How to Make Grilled Buffalo Chicken Wings
Dry brine the wings
Toss the wings with the kosher salt and baking powder in three batches – 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and ⅓rd of the wings per batch. On a rimmed sheet pan with a rack, spread the wings out so they aren’t touching each other. Refrigerate, uncovered, for eight hours to 24 hours before cooking.
Prepare the grill for Indirect High Heat (450°F)
Set your grill up for indirect high-heat cooking. For my Weber Summit gas grill, I preheat the grill for 15 minutes with all the burners turned on; then, I turn off all the burners except for the two outer burners (burners 1 and 6), which I leave on high, with the indirect section in the middle. For my Weber Kettle charcoal grill, I light a chimney full of charcoal, wait for it to be covered with white ash, then pour the charcoal in two tight piles on each side of the grill, with the indirect section in the middle. (I us charcoal baskets to hold the coals in place, and put an aluminum foil drip pan between the baskets to catch the dripping chicken fat).
Prepare the wing sauce
Melt the butter and whisk in the Frank’s Red Hot. (I melt the butter in my pyrex measuring cup in the microwave).
Grill the wings over indirect high heat for 50 minutes
Put the wings on the grill grate over the unlit section so they are cooking with indirect heat. Cook with the lid closed for 25 minutes. Flip the wings, then cook, lid closed, for another 25 minutes or until the wings are well browned.
Sauce and serve
Move the wings to a large bowl, pour the sauce over them, and toss until the wings are coated with sauce. Let them rest in the sauce for a few minutes, toss them again, then serve.
What to serve with grilled chicken wings
For a traditional chicken wing experience, serve the wings with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing and your tasty beverage of choice. If I’m being a little fancy, I serve a salad with the blue cheese dressing instead of the celery.
Smoked wings
To make the wings even better, smoke the wings while you’re grilling them. This works better on a charcoal grill – there’s less airflow for the smoke to escape, so the wings are smoked more. On a charcoal grill, soak 1 fist-sized chunk of hickory wood for an hour, then add it to the coals when you are setting up the grill. If you want to smoke on a gas grill, soak 1 cup of wood chips for an hour. Wrap the chips in an envelope of aluminum foil, poke a couple of holes in the top, and put it over one of the lit burners on your grill. (Or, if you have a smoker box like my Weber Summit does, pour the chips in that box.
Tips and Tricks
Hot wing sauce? The equal ratio of butter to hot sauce in the recipe gives you a “medium” heat level for your wings. If you want hot wings, go with ¾ cup Franks, and ¼ cup butter (half a stick). Or, substitute a hotter hot sauce for the Franks Red Hot. (Tabasco is the one I use for “Hot” sauce, or El Yucateco Red habanero if I want really, really hot sauce.)
Mild Wing Sauce? If you want milder wings, cut back on the hot sauce. Go with ¼ cup Franks, and ¾ cup butter (a stick and a half).
Dripping chicken fat: Chicken wings drip a lot of fat into your grill, and because of the indirect cooking, it won’t burn away…until the next time you preheat your grill. Then you’ll have a grease fire on your hands. I recommend making a drip pan out of aluminum foil and putting it under the grill grate over the unlit burners. (Or use a short disposable foil pan). Or, the next time you cook, do an extra ten minutes of preheating so the grease fire has time to die down before you start cooking.
No time to dry brine: If you don’t have time to dry brine the wings, they won’t turn out as crispy – the baking powder really does work. But grilled wings are better than no wings. If you don’t have time, skip the dry brine step and the baking powder. Sprinkle the wings evenly with the salt right before you put them on the grill. Everything else in the recipe works the same.
Grilled Buffalo Chicken Wings. Chicken wings on the grill with homemade Buffalo wing sauce.
4 pounds chicken wing pieces (wingette and drumette sections)
3 teaspoons diamond crystal kosher salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
Wing Sauce (or use your favorite store-bought buffalo wing sauce)
1 stick of butter, melted (4 ounces)
½ cup Frank’s Red Hot sauce (traditional for Buffalo wings)
Instructions
Dry brine the wings: Toss the wings with the kosher salt and baking powder in three batches – 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and ⅓rd of the wings per batch. On a rimmed sheet pan with a rack, spread the wings out so they aren’t touching each other. Refrigerate, uncovered, for eight hours to 24 hours before cooking.
Prepare the grill for Indirect High Heat (450°F): Set your grill up for indirect high-heat cooking. For my Weber Summit gas grill, I preheat the grill for 15 minutes with all the burners turned on; then, I turn off all the burners except for the two outer burners (burners 1 and 6), which I leave on high, with the indirect section in the middle. For my Weber Kettle charcoal grill, I light a chimney full of charcoal, wait for it to be covered with white ash, then pour the charcoal in two tight piles on each side of the grill, with the indirect section in the middle. (I us charcoal baskets to hold the coals in place, and put an aluminum foil drip pan between the baskets to catch the dripping chicken fat).
Prepare the wing sauce: Melt the butter and whisk in the Frank’s Red Hot. (I melt the butter in my pyrex measuring cup in the microwave).
Grill the wings over indirect high heat for 50 minutes: Put the wings on the grill grate over the unlit section so they are cooking with indirect heat. Cook with the lid closed for 25 minutes. Flip the wings, then cook, lid closed, for another 25 minutes or until the wings are well browned.
Sauce and serve: Move the wings to a large bowl, pour the sauce over them, and toss until the wings are coated with sauce. Let them rest in the sauce for a few minutes, toss them again, then serve.
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