Name: The Best Grilled Buffalo Wings
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 44 min
Total time: 59 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 4 lb chicken wings, split into flats and drumettes; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1/4 cup BBQ seasoning; 3 tbsp cornstarch; 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter; 1 cup Frank's RedHot; 2 tbsp white vinegar; 1 tsp garlic powder; 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce; 1/2 to 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper

The Best Grilled Buffalo Wings

Prep

15m

Cook

44m

Total

59m

Bigly says

Buffalo sauce is two ingredients. TWO. Butter and Frank's. That's the whole thing, that's the entire secret, and somehow an entire industry has been built on top of it selling you a bottle of something orange with twenty-nine ingredients and a shelf life measured in decades. I've read those labels. Nobody should be putting xanthan gum on a chicken wing. We're not doing that here. We melt butter, we pour in the hot sauce, we whisk, and we make the sauce that every one of those bottles is a bad photocopy of.

But the wing underneath it — that's where everybody falls down. The fryer people will tell you it has to be fried. Wrong. The oven people will tell you convection is just as good. Also wrong, and they know it, you can hear it in their voice. This wing goes on a pellet grill at 375, a Traeger or whatever your cousin talked you into buying, and it comes off with smoke IN it. Not on it. In it. You cannot fake that. There is no oven setting called 'wood.'

Two rules and then I'll leave you alone. One — the wings dry out in the refrigerator overnight, uncovered, on a rack. That is where the crisp comes from and it does not come from anywhere else. Two — when the sauce is done, do NOT let it boil. The second that butter breaks, the sauce splits into grease and vinegar and you have to start over, and you will be standing there at halftime holding a broken sauce and a bowl of naked wings, and that is a bad place to be. Medium-low. Whisk. Five minutes. Keep it warm and keep it calm.

Ingredients

4 lbchicken wings, split into flats and drumettes
2 tbspolive oil(just enough to lightly coat)
1/4 cupBBQ seasoning(whatever rub you already like)
3 tbspcornstarch(several tablespoons — this is the crisp)
1 cup (2 sticks)unsalted butter(for the Buffalo sauce)
1 cupFrank's RedHot
2 tbspwhite vinegar(optional, adds tang)
1 tspgarlic powder
1/2 tspWorcestershire sauce
1/2 to 3/4 tspcayenne pepper

Steps

1
The day before cooking, spread the wings out on a wire rack set over a sheet pan. Leave them uncovered in the refrigerator overnight to dry the skin.
2
Combine the BBQ seasoning and cornstarch in a small bowl and mix well.
3
Put the wings in a large bowl and toss with the olive oil until lightly coated.
4
Add the seasoning mixture and toss until every wing is evenly coated.
5
Preheat a pellet grill or smoker to 375F.
6
Grill the wings for 22 minutes, then flip and grill another 22 minutes.
7
While the wings cook, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
8
Add the Frank's RedHot, vinegar, garlic powder, Worcestershire, and cayenne. Whisk together and simmer 5 minutes.
9
Keep the sauce warm but do not let it boil, or it will separate.
10
Transfer the wings to a large bowl, pour the sauce over, and toss until coated. Serve immediately.

One more thing

That's a Buffalo wing that earns the name. Crisp from the overnight dry, smoke from the pellets, and a sauce with two ingredients doing more work than a bottle with twenty-nine. Celery if you want it. Blue cheese if that's who you are — I won't fight you on it today. This one's a house recipe, straight out of my own kitchen, and it has never once lost a game day. Now go outside and use the grill.