Chicken wings are one of the best cuts of chicken to cook on the grill. Today I’m going to show you how to grill chicken wings that turn out fantastic. Grilled chicken wings are perfect for an appetizer or a whole meal. The skin of the wings crisps up so nice when grilled; it really gives the wings a great flavor.
Chicken wings are relatively easy to grill, the one thing however is that they need to grill for a longer time to crisp up the skin. Another thing to keep in mind is flare-ups. When the fat starts to melt on the wings, you may get the flare-ups, so you have to keep an eye on them and keep them moving during grilling.
Sometimes I like to just use a bit of seasoning or a nice chicken rub on my wings, but a good marinade is also really tasty. I like to make a Buffalo wing style marinade using Sriracha sauce. If you haven’t heard of Sriracha, it is a Thai hot sauce, which is really good.
All right, let’s get to making some grilled chicken wings. First off you will need around 3 ½ to 4 pounds of chicken wings. This should be enough for appetizers for 4 to 8 people. You will want to rinse the chicken wings under cold water, then pat dry with a paper towel. Next we will make the marinade.
Grilled Chicken Wing Marinade
For the marinade you will need the following:
2 sticks of butter
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 scallions, white part minced, greens finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 cup Sriracha sauce
3 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp black pepper
salt
Melt 3 tbsp of the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add in the garlic, the white part of the scallions, and ginger. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add in the rest of the butter, the Sriracha sauce, lime juice, black pepper, and salt to taste. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then remove from the heat. Let this cool to room temperature.
Once the mixture is cooled pour it over the wings. Turn the wings so they are evenly coated. Cover and let them marinate in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
Set up your gas or charcoal grill for direct grilling over medium heat. Once the grill is heated, drain the wings and reserve the marinade. Put the marinade in a saucepan and boil for about 3 minutes. Place the wings on the grill. Grill the wings until the skins is crisp and golden brown, this will be about 8 to 12 minutes per side.
Once the wings are done, transfer them to a platter and pour the boiled marinade over them. Sprinkle with the scallion greens and serve. I like to have a bit of blue cheese dressing for dipping as well.
That is how to grill chicken wings that turn out perfect. Now, you don’t have to marinate them, you can just season with your favorite spices and rubs. Just a bit of salt and pepper makes for some great grilled wings too. Just experiment; that is half the fun of grilling.
In the marinade recipe I used Sriracha sauce, which is a Thai chili sauce. Now you don’t have to use it, you can substitute a different hot sauce. However I really recommend you get some of it. I use Sriracha pretty much every day. It is a great hot sauce to put on all kinds of things. I like to zip up my eggs in the morning so I put a bit of it on them. It is really good stuff. You can get some here.
image courtesy of avlxyz/flickr