Smoked Dry Rubbed Chicken Wings

Protein:

Appetizers and Sharables

Method: Grill or Smoker

This post contains affiliate and sponsored content. As always, we will only ever recommend products that we absolutely love.

Step up your game day or tailgating appetizer game with these dry rubbed chicken wings. These party wings are hit with a sweet and slightly spicy dry rub and then smoked, hot and fast, resulting in perfectly balanced and crispy chicken wings.

Making Smoked Dry Rubbed Chicken Wings

Prepare the BBQ dry rub for the wings

To make the best hot wing dry rub you will need salt, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, chili powder, turbinado sugar, black pepper, mustard powder, and cayenne pepper. We prefer sweet paprika for this recipe but smoked paprika will work well too. For the chili powder, feel free to use your favorite chili powder or mix. Our personal favorite is chipotle powder, as it adds a perfect amount of heat and smokiness to the hot wing rub.

Mix all of the spice mix ingredients together in a bowl or spice shaker and then set aside.

Cooking the Smoked Chicken Wings

Heat your grill or smoker to 400 degrees. If using a smoker, set it up for indirect cooking. Chicken wings are best cooked hot and fast as this enables the skin to crisp up. Smoking at low heat can result in that dreaded rubbery skin that no one wants.

How do you get crispy chicken skin?

In addition to cooking the chicken at a higher temperature there are a couple of other tricks that you can use to achieve that perfectly crispy chicken skin. First, make sure the chicken wings are completely dry before applying your rub. Excess moisture can result in rubbery skin. Next, spray the wings and your grill grate with a little cooking oil. This not only helps keep the chicken from sticking but can also help crisp up the skin.

Prepare and season the chicken wings

Spray the wings with cooking spray or toss with vegetable oil, then place on a pan or cookie sheet.

Liberally season both sides of the wings with the chicken wings rub.

Once preheated, spray the grill grates with the cooking spray or lightly coat with vegetable oil. For this recipe we used our Cooking Steel griddle on our Gateway Drum smoker to really help crisp up the skin. If you do not have a griddle that works with your grill or smoker, you can also cook on the flat side of a GrillGrate or just directly on the grill.

Cooking the chicken wings in your oven, with a Cooking Steel, also works wonderfully for some perfectly crispy party wings, for those that do not want to use a grill or smoker.

Place the chicken wings on the grill or smoker and cook for 15-17 minutes.

Spray the wings with cooking oil then flip them over and cook an additional 15-17 minutes.

At this point check the wings for doneness and crispiness. Wings are safe to eat at a temp of 165 degrees, but dark meat like wings benefits from being brought up to a temp of 185-195 degrees to fully break down all of the connective tissues.

If you did not use a griddle or feel like the skin could be crisped up a bit more, you can cook the wings over direct heat for a few minutes per side.

Serving your Smoked Dry Rubbed Chicken Wings

Serve your smoked wings while warm with ranch or blue cheese dressing or mix things up with some Chimichurri Sauce. We think these wings are perfect served without sauce but if you wish to add a sauce to your wings, you can sauce them and toss them back on the grill for a few more minutes to set the sauce.

Serve the wings up with a pint of your favorite beer or perhaps a Smoked Manhattan.

For more great smoked and grilled chicken recipes, be sure to check out some of our favorites:

• Pollo Asado al Carbon: Mexican Grilled Chicken
• Smoked Lebanese Chicken Shawarma
• Grilled Chicken Spiedini
• Peruvian Anticuchos de Pollo: Peruvian Chicken Skewers
• Grilled Jamaican Jerk Chicken
• Smoked Fried Chicken

Don't forget to check out some of the best Game Day and Tailgating appetizers right here:

• Buffalo Chicken Wontons
• Smoked Taco Dip
• Bacon Wrapped Halibut Cheeks
• Grilled Clams Casino
• Smoked Bacon Pimento Cheese
• Italian Style Parmesan Wings
• Smoked German Beer Cheese Sauce
• Fried Sausage Wontons
• Cast Iron Spinach Artichoke Dip

Thank you for taking the time to visit our blog. If you tried and enjoyed our recipe, please share with others and please leave us a comment and review. We also love to see your pics so don’t forget to tag us @Carne_Diem_Culinary or #CarneDiemBlog. To be notified of future recipes please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest, or sign up for our e-mail notifications. Until next time, Carne Diem!

📖 Recipe

Smoked Dry Rubbed Chicken Wings

Carne Diem Culinary

Our smoked dry rubbed chicken wings are the perfect Game Day appetizer. Perfectly smoky and crispy with a hint of heat, these grilled wings are always a hit.

5 from 5 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Servings 6 people

Calories 192 kcal

Equipment

• Grill or Smoker

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 2 Pounds Party Style Chicken Wings 1st and 2nd sections (flats and drumettes)
• Cooking oil spray or vegetable oil

Spice Rub:

• 2 teaspoons Salt
• 2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Sweet Paprika
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder we like Chipotle or Ancho, but a mix is fine
• 1 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Turbinado Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
• ½ teaspoon Mustard Powder
• ¼ teaspoon Cayenne

Instructions

 

• Preheaqt your grill or smoker to 400 degrees and set up for indirect heat.
• Mix all of the spice mix ingredients together in a bowl.
• Spray the wings with cooking spray or toss with vegetable oil, then place on a pan or cookie sheet.
• Liberally season both sides of the wings with the BBQ rub.
• Once preheated, spray the grill grate with the cooking spray or lightly coat with vegetable oil.
• Place the chicken wings on the grill grate and cook for 15-17 minutes.
• Spray the wings with cooking oil then flip and cook an additional 15-17 minutes. Cook to an internal temperature of 185-195 degrees.
• If desired, finish over direct heat for a few minutes to further crisp up the skin.
• Serve warm with ranch or blue cheese dressing.

Notes

Note 1: For a sauced wing, toss with your favorite sauce at the end of cooking then return to the oven for 3-5 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 192kcalCarbohydrates: 2gProtein: 15gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 63mgSodium: 842mgPotassium: 167mgFiber: 0.5gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 424IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 18mgIron: 1mg

Keyword Appetizers, chicken, Game Day, grilled, Smoked, spicy

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!