Smoked & Fried Chicken Wings
Howdy y'all, and thanks for stopping by the website to check out our smoked and deep fried chicken wings. Everybody and their mama is out there making chicken wings these days, and I will bet you my right arm that nobody can touch the flavor that comes with smoking your wings before you fry them. Stick around and I'll give you some tips on how to make the best chicken wings you've ever tasted.
How to Separate a Whole Chicken Wing
You'll want to separate the wing at the joint in the middle like the picture here. I demonstrated how to do this when I taught y'all to bake chicken wings. If you'd like a closer look at the chicken wing surgery, you can watch it here.
The Marinade
Like I always tell you, when you are cooking meat, you want to marinate it in something acidic to help break down the meat and let the flavor sink way in there. For chicken wings, I want you to use buttermilk, catsup, W sauce, and some mustard & onion powder. Mix all of this together quite well and set in the ice box for at least three hours before you go on to the next step.
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Tip: The catsup in the marinade is acidic, and will break down the surface proteins in the chicken to let in more flavor.
Smoke the Chicken Wings
Preheat your smoker about 220 - 250 degrees.
While the smoker pre-heats, get out a wire rack and place the marinated chicken wings on it. This is an essential step - all of the excess will drip off and that buttermilk will dry up just a little bit. Let them sit for five or ten minutes and the seasoning will stick right on 'em.
Season well on both sides with my Rib Rub or your favorite wing seasoning. The Rib Rub is a brown-sugar based seasoning with south of the border flavors built in to give you a spicy sweet flavor that will caramelize on the smoker. It's as good as any seasoning on the market, I dare say.
For chicken, I like to add a fruit wood mixed with a little oak to the hardwood lump charcoal. If you don't have any fruit wood, Alderwood is a good mild smoke flavor you can use.
Flip the wings about half way through the smoke. Put the wings on the smoker for 20 minutes or so.
Deep Fry the Smoked Chicken Wings
Add about 4 cups of peanut oil or a similar fry oil to your Dutch oven and preheat to 350 degrees. You want the temperature on your thermometer to be right at 350, especially since you're adding wings that are already hot to the oil.
Fry the wings, just a few at a time, for about a minute or until they reach a color that makes you realize you can't wait another minute to eat these chicken wings. Drain the wings on a wire rack or a paper towel until cool enough to dip and eat.
- 2 tablespoons honey dijon mustard
- ⅓ cup ranch dressing
- ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 3 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
Mix these ingredients together, and chill in the ice box until ready to use as a dip for the chicken wings. I highly recommend having some of my Red River Mud on hand to dip in, as well.
