These crispy, seasoned, and juicy smoked wings are the perfect appetizer for your next party. We dry-brined these smoked wings with a seasoning mix of savory aromatics, smokey paprika, sweet brown sugar, and some Asian spices that round out the flavor. The key to getting crispy skin in the smoker is using two special ingredients right before smoking to remove excess moisture. Learn how to use your smoker to get these flavor-packed and delicious smoked wings.
Why smoke chicken wings?
Honestly, why not smoke wings?! I love air frying, baking, deep-frying, and sauteing chicken wings, but smoke just adds more flavor to my favorite part of the bird. Wings are a good part of the chicken to smoke because it only takes one hour to smoke compared to other recipes (like smoked beef ribs, smoked turkey breast, smoked turkey legs, or 3-2-1 ribs) that can take multiple hours to smoke.
Smoked chicken wings are also an easy party pleaser because they’re finger food, and you can make a bunch in the smoker quickly. If your guests want different flavors, you can also give options for dipping sauces or BBQ sauces that you can baste onto the chicken after you smoke them. The extra-crispy chicken skin is the perfect base for BBQ sauce, and it can be eaten perfectly on its own because of the dry brine that tenderizes and seasons each wing.
Dry brine ingredients
This smoked chicken wing recipe uses a dry brine to season the wings. I use a combination of spices that give the wings a smokey, sweet, and Asian-influenced flavor similar to my air fryer chicken thighs and smoked chicken thighs recipes. To make the dry brine, coat the chicken with these ingredients:
- Kosher salt, specifically Diamond Crystal, will give you tender and fully seasoned wings. If you use another salt brand, reduce the amount because Diamond Crystal is less salty by volume than traditional table or even other brands of kosher salt.
- Dark brown sugar gives us a sweet and caramelized flavor that offers a sweet and savory taste.
- Garlic and onion powder are necessary aromatic spices that pump up the savory flavor.
- Ground mustard powder adds a slightly intense and pungent taste to the wings.
- Smoked paprika adds a mellow kick and smokey flavor.
- Five-spice brings an Asian-inspired flavor to these wings and adds complexity to the flavor. Don’t add too much because it will overpower all the other spices.
After dry brining the wings, use a paper towel to pat them dry and then add a 1:1 ratio of cornstarch and baking powder. This duo helps dry the skin on the wings and creates crispy skin while we smoke.
Type of wood pellets to use
Since we’re working with poultry, we used pecan wood pellets with our smoker. Different types of meat require different types of wood that complement the flavor of the meat. For example, you’ll want to stick to mild wood varieties that are smoky and won’t overpower the chicken or turkey, like pecan or applewood. Read my detailed page for more information on the best wood for smoking.
Tips for smoking chicken wings
To get the crispiest and smokiest chicken wings in your pellet smoker, use these cooking tips:
- To get the crispiest skin in a smoker, dry the chicken as much as possible with paper towels before placing them on the grill. Also, using a light coating of a 1:1 ratio of cornstarch and baking powder will help dry out the chicken skin. Just make sure to dust off excess coating before adding it onto the grill, or you’ll have white spots on the chicken. (Note that the smoker cannot give you the same texture as deep-fried chicken, but it can give your chicken wings a nice crunch with every bite)
- Use an instant-read thermometer that you can keep in the wing while smoking and monitor the internal temperature of the chicken. This helps prevent burning the chicken without opening up the smoker every 10 minutes and lets you know when to raise the heat.
- Smoking chicken wings can last anywhere between 30 minutes to one hour, from my experience, so again, use an instant-read probe thermometer to keep track of cooking. Several factors can determine how long you are smoking chicken wings, like the size/type of the wings (whole wings vs flats) or your type of smoker (are there hot spots?). I found that using flats was faster and easier to cook evenly and that my 300 square foot-sized Traeger cooked chicken wings faster than my much larger 590 square foot-sized Recteq pellet smoker because I had more hot spots in the smaller version.
- I prefer smoking chicken wings at 250°F until they reach 150°F internally (about 20 minutes) and then crank the heat up to 425°F for another 10-15 minutes until the wings are golden brown. Smoking the chicken below 250°F took way too long and didn’t affect the flavor as much, so I like using a higher heat to speed up smoking. I cooked my chicken wings until they reached an internal temperature of 200-210°F and found they were still very juicy and tender due to the dry brining.
- Let the chicken rest on a rack for 2-3 minutes after removing them from the smoker. I found that this helped them crisp up a bit more.
More smoker recipes
If you liked these chicken wings, try my other smoker recipes for pork, beef, turkey, and even more chicken recipes on the smoker!:
- smoked beef ribs
- smoked turkey breast
- smoked salmon
- smoked turkey legs
- smoked chicken thighs
- baby back ribs
Smoked Chicken Wings Recipe
Ingredients
Dry brine seasoning
- 3 lb chicken wings flats
- 4 tsp kosher salt Diamond Crystal brand
- 4 tsp dark brown sugar
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp ground mustard powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp five spice
Coating
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp baking powder
Equipment Used
- 2 mixing bowls
- whisks or spoon
- paper towels
- 2 Sheet pans
- 2 cooling racks
- tongs
- grill smoker
- pellets fruitwood like pecan or applewood
Instructions
Dry brining
- Use paper towels to dry off the 3 lb chicken wings.
- In a bowl, combine the seasoning ingredients: 4 tsp kosher salt, 4 tsp dark brown sugar, 2 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp ground mustard powder, 1 tsp smoked paprika, and ¼ tsp five spice. Mix thoroughly.
- Mix the wings with the seasoning until all parts of the chicken are covered evenly.
- Place the wings on a sheet pan lined with a cooling rack in one even layer.
- Keep the wings in the fridge, uncovered to marinate for at least 4 hours and no more than 8 hours. An hour before smoking, remove the wings from the fridge and place them on the counter to come to room temperature.
Smoking
- Preheat the smoker to 250°F.
- Use paper towels to dry the wings gently, try not to remove too much of the seasoning. Wipe down the cooling racks so they are dry too.
- In a bowl, combine the 2 tbsp cornstarch and 2 tbsp baking powder until thoroughly mixed. Gently coat the wings with the starch and powder mixture and remove any excess powder back into the bowl.
- Place the wings back on the racks as you finish.
- Place the wings flat side up (or the smoothest side) on the smoker and smoke until the internal temperature of the wings reaches 150°F. Occasionally turn the wings over or move them in different spots in your smoker to prevent them from burning.
- Once the wings reach 150°F (about 20 min), raise the smoker's heat to 425°F. Note: It's okay if the wings are still a little white from the coating. The natural fat from the wings will begin to render and crisp the wings as they cook at a higher temperature.
- Cook until the wings reach an internal temperature of 200°F or until they get a nice golden brown texture. Continue to check on the wings and move them around the smoker or turn them over to prevent burning. Note: while this may seem like a high temperature for chicken wings, we have smoked dozens of wings to this temperature and they are always still juicy and tender due to the dry brining before smoking.
- Remove the wings and transfer them onto a clean cooling rack-lined sheet pan. Let them rest for about 2-3 minutes, and then serve. They should crisp up a little more while resting.
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