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Monday, September 20, 2010

Smoked Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings...er...Drummettes

Confession of a novice smoker ... of meats that is:  I, Jenn of Jenn's Food Journey, confess that I finished these drummettes in the oven!  There, I said it, it's out in the open, no secrets...whew... I feel better!  I have found out, in the last two times I smoked, that sometimes what the recommended time is in a recipe can be WAY off.  I checked a few different sites with smoking recipes, just to see what the temperature and smoking time should be....all of them said smoke at 225 for 1.5-2 hours.  I smoked these almost twice as long as all those others, and they still weren't completely cooked through.  No worries, though, I actually liked having the skin be a little crispy....it was the perfect smokey flavor from the smoker and the perfect crispy skin from the oven...they were a thing of beauty, let me tell you!

Ok, so you don't have a smoker, no worries, you can do these in your oven...you could even use your grill to smoke them really.  Get some wood chips, soak them, wrap them in foil, poke a few holes in it....put it on the grill, shut the lid....viola! a smoker is born.   If you don't want that kind of a hassle...just throw these in a 425-450 degree oven and bake until cooked through (165-170 degree internal temperature).  These are worth trying, no matter how you cook them.  Ok, if you don't smoke them you aren't going to get that smokey goodness, true, BUT, you will get the sweet and spicy part and well, that's a pretty good thing too...trust me...these are mouth watering good!!


Smoked Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings (or Drummettes)
Adapted from dadgumthatsgood.com 
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
16-20 chicken wing/drummettes
1 1/4 Tablespoons black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup Spicy Barbecue Sauce
3 Tablespoons apple juice

Additional items needed for smoking-
Texas Roadhouse wood chips (or apple wood or hickory will do), soaked in water for 30 minutes
1 cup each apple juice and water

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together the pepper, onion powder, chili powder, garlic powder, and seasoned salt.  Sprinkle over the wings and toss to coat.  Cover and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.

Add the water and apple juice to the water pan of the smoker.  Add 1 cup wood chips.  Preheat smoker to 225 degrees.  Place the wings on the top shelf of the smoker and cook for 45 minutes.  Turn wings and cook for another 45 minutes.

While wings are smoking, in a small sauce pan over medium heat, add the honey, barbecue sauce, and apple juice.  Cook until warmed through.

Remove wings from smoker and place in a disposable aluminum pan.  Pour the warm sauce over the wings and put back in the smoker on the 2nd shelf.  Allow the wings to cook another 45 minutes.  You can finish them off in a 450 degree oven for 5-10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through (165-170 degrees).  Get out the napkins and enjoy!

10 comments:

Yenta Mary said...

OMG, those look so good!!! Sweet, spicy ... a perfect breakfast. No, I'm not kidding! I'm good with traditional breakfast foods, but I'll eat anything I've got a craving for ... and now that's chicken ... :)

Mary Bergfeld said...

Whatever difficulties you had, your wings looked luscious. I can imagine how good they must taste. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

I like the idea of finishing them in the oven, Jenn. Like you said, smoky flavor and crispy skin? Win/win!! they look so freaking good too. I love sweet & spicy wings, they're the best. I want these. I wonder if I have wings in the freezer...

I have a hard time smoking meats with the bone in them too. My smoke never seems to stay hot enough to finish things. I blame the altitude LOL :)

StephenC said...

That seems like a lot of spice, but then I under seasoned my smoked chicken the other day. Got to keep learning - and it's fun doing so via your experiences with the smoker.

Pam said...

They look and sound so good!!

Ma What's 4 dinner said...

I love that you're totally honest! :) They look great. I'm still trying to figure out when I can come over and steal your smoker...


Lots of yummy love,
Alex aka Ma What's for Dinner
www.mawhats4dinner.com

Chef Dennis Littley said...

you would never know you had any problems with those wings, they look positively delicious!!
great images of those little beauties too!

Miss Meat and Potatoes said...

Ha ha ha! I love the honesty! Don't feel bad - I finish most things I GRILL in the oven;) They look to die for no matter how they were 'finished'...and at least you're still using your new toy.

Unknown said...

I love that I'm not the only one things don't always go as planned for! :)

Chris said...

I don't like smoked wings for that reason. I fire roast mine at 375f for 30-20-10 (30 minutes flip, 20 minutes toss in sauce, 10 minutes at higher heat to crisp up the skin).

The subcutaneous fat in the chicken skin will not render at 225f which is why they stay rubbery. What you did is perfectly fine. Some guys will even smoke them until almost done and then deep fry them for a few minutes.