What’s a big football weekend without some party wings? Buffalo Wings are a staple of any watch party or tailgate.
This is a simple and delicious wing recipe with a little backend heat. We seasoned our wings with some of my Garlic Jalapeño and Chicken rubs, grilled them off, and tossed them in our homemade buffalo sauce.
This recipe is guaranteed to be a party favorite.
Making Grilled Buffalo Wings
Sweet, spicy, hot, or dry rubbed. Dipped in the sauce of your choice. Buffalo chicken wings are THE party food. Whether you’re taking an appetizer to a friend’s house for the big game, having a throwdown for 70 of your closest friends at your own house, or getting half a dozen people together for movie night, these wings impress everybody who bites into them.
The Ingredients:
Here’s my list of ingredients to make my grilled buffalo wings.
- 3 pounds of chicken wings. I always separate the wings and trim off any extra fat I see. The drummies can have some stringy fat on them that you don’t want on your cooked wings.
- Heath Riles BBQ Garlic Jalapeño Rub. I use this as my base layer on the wings when I’m starting to spice them up.
- Heath Riles BBQ Chicken Rub. Sprinkle this on as the next layer of spice. My chicken rub has lots of ground down herbs in it that brings even more flavor to the grilled wings.
- ½ cup Killer Hogs Hot Sauce. Add this into the melted butter. Use as much or as little as you like, depending on how hot you want your wings to be. I typically use about ½ cup.
- Duck Fat Spray. I coat all my wings real good with this Duck Fat Spray to keep them moist while they’re cooking and give them extra flavor. I spray my grill with it, too.
- Minced garlic. You can either chop this up fresh or buy minced garlic. I’ve used both and it tastes delicious either way.
- 1 stick of butter. I melt a stick in an 8 inch cast iron skillet on my grill.
- ¼ cup brown sugar. At the last minute, I add brown sugar to the melted butter, hot sauce, and garlic mixture. It knocks just a little bit of the heat off.
The Equipment Setup:
I cook my party wings on my Goldens’ Cast Iron using Royal Oak Lump Charcoal. You’ll need a 2-zone fire.
The Process for Making Grilled Buffalo Wings
Watch the video I made to see everything I did when I cooked these party wings. I’ve also written out the instructions on the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here are the steps for making my mouth watering grilled chicken wings:
- Prep the grill. Get your grill heated up to about 350 F and create a 2-zone fire.
- Spice the wings. I added the duck fat spray and a couple of layers of the rub seasonings to my wings, and mixed it all up real good.
- Grill the chicken wings. Using tongs, I placed my wings on the cool side of the grill. I sprinkled a little bit more seasoning on them and let them cook for about 25 minutes.
- Heat the skillet. 15 minutes in, I added my 8 inch cast iron skillet to the hot side of the grill to get it hot.
- Make the sauce. Once the skillet was hot, I started on my tasty homemade sauce. I melted the butter, then added the garlic and Killer Hogs Hot Sauce. I mixed it up and let it cook for about 10 minutes.
- Flip and stir. I gave them about 25 more minutes, then I flipped every wing and stirred the sauce. I closed the lid back and let it all cook for 5 more minutes.
- Add brown sugar. Pour the brown sugar into the sauce. The sweet flavor cuts some of the heat and adds a nice coating to my wings. I stirred it into the sauce until it had mixed all the way in.
- Move the wings and sauce. I moved all the wings to the hot zone of the grill and sat the sauce on the cool side to simmer a little more. My wings cooked in the hot zone for about 4 minutes on each side.
- Pull everything off the grill. Using my tongs, I pulled the wings off the grill into my bowl. I pulled the sauce off, too.
- Pour the sauce. I poured the sauce mixture directly on the wings. I stirred them around and then tossed them several times to coat them completely.
- Serve and eat. Once they cooled down, we dug into these spicy, delicious wings.
The Results
With the taste of buffalo sauce and the hint of garlic mixed with the grill smoke, these wings were tender, juicy, and flavorful. They were an instant classic at my house. If you make them, they’ll be famous at your place, too.
Serving Suggestions for My Grilled Buffalo Wings
Depending on how hungry everybody is, plan on each person eating 4 to 8 wings.
Storing Instructions
Let the buffalo wings cool completely and store them in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 3 days. Heat them on low in the oven or for 2-3 minutes in the microwave.
Equipment and Tools
Golden’s Cast Iron, Kitchen scissors, Large aluminum bowl, Cooking tongs
Thermapen, Lodge 8 inch cast iron skillet
*Notes About My Grilled Chicken Wings Recipe
- Look your drummies over before you start seasoning them and cut off any extra fat that’s on them.
- When you put your wings on the grill, line your drummies up closer to the hot side and your other wings closer to the cool side. The drummies have more meat on them, so they need a little more heat to cook through.
- If you like milder wings, use less of the Killer Hogs Hot Sauce than I did. If you love really hot wings, then load up on the hot sauce.
- Your wings should hit at least 165 F before you take them off the grill.
