Here is our tried and tested chicken wings on BBQ recipe. We love the crispiness of the wings, the juiciness of the chicken meat, finished off with a sweet, smoky, vinegary and spicy Buffalo Hot Sauce.

Ingredients for the Buffalo Hot Sauce

A Teaspoon of Fresh Minced Garlic

A Teaspoon of Sriracha Sauce (More if you like it hot! We like 2 but it’s not for everyone)

2 Teaspoons of Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 Cup or 8 Tablespoons of Butter

1/2 Teaspoon of Smoked Paprika

1 Teaspoon of Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1 Teaspoon of Fine Sea Salt

1 Teaspoon of Brown Sugar

Optional – A Splash of Tabasco Sauce (yes please)

Chicken Wings on BBQ Recipe – Step 1 Prepare Your Chicken

We would advise buying whole chicken wings because they are cheaper. It’s pretty easy to break them up once you know how.

There are 3 parts to a whole chicken wing – the tip, the flat, and the drum.

The tips are great for making a stock, gravy, or adding to a slow cooked stew or curry for extra flavour.  

The drum is where you will get the most meat from, and we are going to use the flats and the drums for our chicken wings recipe.

We are going to use a sharp knife or sharp kitchen scissors to divide each wing into the three parts. You can put your wing tips into a food bag and into the freezer for another time.

To separate each wing into three, you’ll need to find the joint which joins the tip to flat, and the flat to the drum and then cut through the joint.

The easiest way to do this is to shake the wing a little from side to side to see where the movement is. Where it moves is where you will find the knuckle which joins each piece together.

Cut through each joint to separate your wing pieces.

Place your chicken wings in a bowl and cover with buttermilk. Leave for around 30minutes to infuse.

Chicken Wings on BBQ Recipe – Step 2 Season and Roll Wings in Potato Starch

Season your wings generously with freshly ground salt and pepper.

Now for our top tip for extra crispy BBQ Chicken wings – roll your wings in potato starch. 

Potato starch is not the same as potato flour, so be careful here.

Plain or All-Purpose Flour just isn’t as good as it doesn’t give us as light a batter.

Chicken Wings on BBQ Recipe – Step 3 Make Your Buffalo Hot Sauce

While your chicken wings are marinating in the buttermilk, you can make your Buffalo Hot Sauce.

Put your butter in a saucepan at a medium heat.

Use a garlic crusher to mince up your garlic and add to the butter in the pan.

After a minute or two add your other ingredients and let your sauce simmer for a few minutes until the butter has melted. 

You will need to stir your sauce quite a lot, making sure it doesn’t stick to the pan or burn.

You can add your Tabasco sauce in at this point if you want it. We like the vinegary kick the Tabasco sauce gives, as well as the heat but it is optional.

We don’t the want the vinegar to evaporate, so we add it in at the end.

Take your sauce off the heat and whisk it for a few minutes. Keep some of the sauce as a reserve to serve with your wings later.

We don’t want our sauce that we serve to come into contact with raw poultry.

Chicken Wings on BBQ recipe Step 4 – Smoke Your Chicken

Make sure your smoker or barbecue is up to temperature at 120°C or 250°F.

Place your chicken wings on the grills away from direct heat as far as possible. We don’t want to burn the wings. Try to place them around the cooler parts of our BBQ.

Pull the lid down to decrease cooking time, and increase smoke flavour.

At this temperature your wings should take around an hour.

30minutes into cooking we are going to brush the wings with our Buffalo Hot Sauce, and turn them over. 15minutes later you can turn them over again, and brush them with the sauce.

After another 10minutes or so turn them over again and brush with the sauce. 

Although your wings will take around an hour, it’s always best to test the internal temperature, to make sure they are cooked.

Using a meat thermometer you should find your chicken is at 74°C or 165°F.

Serve your BBQ chicken wings with your reserved Buffalo Hot Sauce.

A few chicken wings are a great appetiser, but if you want to make them a main meal add some sides.

Think barbecued beans, fries, buttery corn on the cob or maybe some baked potatoes.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like our article ‘Prime Rib in a Smoker Recipe.’

https://bbqsmokergrill.org/prime-rib-in-a-smoker/

Or this one:

https://bbqsmokergrill.org/smoked-lamb-leg/

For more on the subject of Chicken Wings on the BBQ try here: 

https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/grill-barbecue-chicken-wings-recipes-tips-article