The Best Grilled Hot Wings Ever

I’m just going to say it:  these are the best grilled Buffalo-style hot wings ever. Classic Buffalo wings are fried, but I love the flavor and ease of cooking them on the grill.

This 3-step process makes it easier to make a batch of any size for your barbecue party.  You can partially prepare the wings before guests arrive, and finish them off on the grill right before serving the hungry crowd.

The key difference with these wings is they are coated in a seasoning blend, then steamed, before hitting the grill for the finishing touches. If this sounds too fussy, don’t fret. No special equipment is needed for the steaming–just some aluminum pans.

This may seem like an extra step, but it keeps the wings super juicy during grilling, and infuses them with an unexpected layer of flavor.

The seasoning blend may look like a lot of ingredients, but they are basics spices that most people already have in the pantry. If you don’t have all the ingredients, or just want to simplify a bit–don’t worry, we won’t tell.  

I recommend using a combination of charcoal and wood, but a propane grill will definitely do the job. Wood chips will work in either case to add some savory smoke notes.

Special Equipment:  You’re also going to want to make sure you have a 3-4 disposable aluminum pans, half size around 9″ x 13″ x 3″, or any similar size. These are used for steaming the wings. If you have larger pans, that’s fine, they just tend to get a little heavy. Or if you’re doubling or tripling the recipe, full size aluminum pans are fine as well.

You can buy chicken wings already cut up or whole. I’d recommend ones already cut up, typically called “Party Wings”. If you buy them whole, the wings will consist of three parts: the drum, the flat/double-boned “wing” part, and the tip. To cut up a whole wing, start by cutting off the tip (which you can either discard or save for stock), then cut between the drum and the wing part.  Try to cut the sections apart at the joints, where the cartilage is softer than solid bone.

To start, combine the seasoning blend ingredients into a large bowl. You’re going to toss the wings in this bowl so grab a large enough bowl. Throughly coat each wing with the seasoning blend.

In 2 or 3 disposable aluminum pans (9″ x 13″ x 3″) or anywhere near that size, add about 2 tablespoons of the cubed butter into the bottom of each pan. Split the butter into 4-5 pats so you can distribute it around the pan. Since you can never really have too much butter, feel free to add more if wanted! Add the chicken broth to each pan so it’s about 1/4 inch high (about 1/2 cup.)

Arrange the seasoned coated wings in an even layer into the pans. You can pack them in side-to-side, but don’t stack them up. They should all be touching the broth and butter. Cover each pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil; crimp to seal. 

Place the wings into the grill and cook for 45 minutes at about 275 degrees, low and slow. If you end up stacking up some trays, be sure to switch them around about halfway through. This steaming step can also be done in the oven.

After about 45 minutes steaming, your wings will look like this. As tempting as they look, they are not fully cooked at this point and still need to be finished on the grill. As you get near the end of the steaming process, you should prepare your woodfire or charcoal grill as well as the wing sauce.

Making the Wing Sauce

This recipes uses the classic combination of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and butter. For us heat lovers, Frank’s may seem pretty mild. You can certainly use different hot sauces. If looking for a Louisiana-style hot sauce alternative, I’d recommend Bootlikker Hot Sauce or Hoff Sauce (the original for medium wings, the Smoken Ghost for even more heat).

You can also grate a jalapeño or any other hot pepper (avoid the seeds) into the sauce to give it a fresh kick of heat!

Pour 1 cup of Frank’s Hot Sauce into a saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Add 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter and swirl until the butter is completely melted. Add the scallions and chives. Turn off the burner, stir to incorporate all ingredients and basically keep it in a warm spot until it’s ready to meet the wings. I leave it on the stove top until I’m ready to toss the wings.

Once the steaming and wing sauce are complete

After the steaming phase is complete, you can wait until guests arrive or just head for the grill. I like to use direct heat from a charcoal fire with smoldering wood chips for more smoke. Cook the wings in batches so everyone gets a chance to try them fresh and hot off the grill.

Grilling takes about 10-15 minutes and may take a bit of finesse to get just right. The spice coating should blacken a bit. The meat is already mostly done from the steaming phase, so watch carefully, rotating wings around from hotter to cooler parts of the grate to make sure they get to a consistent level of doneness.