I always find it to be a losing game to try and define the “Best of” something in a city. The Best Burrito in Denver. The Best Burger in Denver… I could give answers to these, but they are easily debatable.
One that I would feel the most comfortable with is wings. Grillin’ Wings and Things (RIP) is a small shop in a row of shops in Denver where I’ve had the best wings in the city. When I first saw their name I thought, “Not very original. ” But you don’t need to be original when you make good food.
Their name perfectly describes what they do. They grill wings… and things. And they do it well.
It turns out that grilling wings is actually one of the easiest and best ways to make them. No need to bust out the fryer or anything like that. Just light the grills and stack it with wings. It’s the best thing to do for a grilling weekend or game day.
Plus, unless you live in Denver, you can’t get Grillin Wings and Things (yet) so you’ll have to make them!.
Yeah, me too. Have you ever tried to cook chicken wings on a charcoal grill but got wings that were either burned and dry or undercooked and rubbery? After a lot of trial and error, I’ve finally figured out how to make grilled chicken wings that are juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Your neighbors will be jealous.
It’s not hard to grill wings, but there are a few important steps that can make the difference between average and delicious wings. Let’s get started with the ultimate guide to charcoal-grilled chicken wings!
What You’ll Need for Perfect Charcoal Grilled Wings
Before you fire up that grill, make sure you’ve got everything
Essential Equipment
- Charcoal grill (obviously!)
- Kingsford® Original Charcoal Briquets (my personal favorite)
- Digital meat thermometer (absolute must-have)
- Sharp knife for cutting wings
- Long-handled tongs or metal spatula
- Paper towels
- Large resealable bag or container for marinades
Ingredients:
- Whole chicken wings (I usually plan for 6-8 wings per person)
- Your choice of marinade, dry rub, or seasoning
- Salt and pepper
- Cooking oil
- Optional: BBQ sauce, buffalo sauce, or glaze
- Optional: Ranch or blue cheese dressing for dipping
Prepping Your Chicken Wings
Many folks skip this step, but proper prep is where the magic starts!
Step 1: Breaking Down the Wings
When you buy chicken wings, they often come whole with all three sections attached:
- The drumette (looks like a mini drumstick)
- The flat or wingette (the middle section)
- The wing tip (the pointy end)
You can grill them whole, but I prefer separating them. Here’s how:
- Place the wing on a cutting board
- Find the joint between the wing tip and the flat, and cut through it with a sharp knife
- Discard the wing tip (or save for stock!)
- Find the joint between the flat and the drumette, and cut through
Don’t worry if your first few cuts aren’t perfect – you’ll get better with practice!
Step 2: Season or Marinate
This is where you can get creative! You’ve got options:
Dry Rub: At least 30 minutes before grilling, mix your favorite spices together and rub them on the wings. My basic go-to is:
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon cayenne (adjust for heat preference)
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
Marinade: Place wings in a resealable bag with marinade for at least 2 hours (overnight is better). A simple option:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Pro tip: Don’t marinate wings for more than 24 hours as the acid can start breaking down the meat too much.
Setting Up Your Charcoal Grill
The grill setup is CRUCIAL for perfectly cooked wings. Here’s what I do:
Step 1: Building the Perfect Fire
- Clean your grill grates thoroughly
- Fill a chimney starter with Kingsford® Original Charcoal Briquets
- Light the chimney and let the coals get hot (they should be ash-gray)
- Arrange your coals using the two-zone method:
- Pile most coals on one side of the grill
- Leave the other side empty or with just a few coals
This two-zone setup gives you:
- A hot zone for searing and crisping skin
- A cooler zone for slower cooking to get the inside done perfectly
Step 2: Getting the Temperature Right
Aim for medium heat – around 400°F. If you don’t have a thermometer, try the hand test:
- Hold your hand 5-6 inches above the grate
- If you can keep it there for 5-6 seconds before it gets too hot, you’re at medium heat
Step 3: Oil the Grates
- Fold a paper towel and grab it with tongs
- Dip in cooking oil
- Rub across grates to prevent sticking
The Actual Grilling Process
Now for the fun part! Here’s how to cook those wings to perfection:
Step 1: Searing
- Place wings directly over the hot coals (skin side down first)
- Sear for 1-3 minutes per side until nicely browned and crispy
- Watch carefully and turn often! Chicken skin can burn quickly
This initial sear is what gives you that amazing crispy exterior. Don’t skip it!
Step 2: Indirect Cooking
- Once seared on all sides, move wings to the cooler side of the grill
- Close the lid (this is important!)
- Let wings cook for 8-10 minutes
- Check internal temperature with your digital thermometer
Important temperature note: Wings should reach 175°F internally. Unlike chicken breast, wings actually benefit from a higher temperature to break down the connective tissue.
Step 3: Adding Sauce (Optional)
If you want sauced wings:
- About 3 minutes before wings are done, brush with your sauce of choice
- Close the lid to let sauce caramelize
- Be careful with sugary sauces as they can burn quickly
Common Mistakes to Avoid
I’ve made all these mistakes so you don’t have to:
- Too much direct heat – This burns the outside before the inside cooks
- Not using two-zone heat – Essential for control
- No thermometer – Guessing is risky business with chicken
- Saucing too early – Leads to burnt, bitter sauce
- Opening the lid too often – Causes temperature fluctuations
My Favorite Wing Variations to Try
Once you’ve mastered the basic technique, try these variations:
Classic Buffalo
- Grill wings as directed
- Toss in buffalo sauce (1 part melted butter to 2 parts hot sauce)
- Serve with celery and blue cheese dressing
Smoky BBQ
- Add a handful of soaked wood chips to your coals for smoke
- Use a dry rub during cooking
- Brush with your favorite BBQ sauce in the last few minutes
Asian-Inspired
- Marinate in soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and honey
- Finish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and sliced green onions
Caribbean Jerk
- Use a jerk seasoning rub before grilling
- Serve with lime wedges and maybe a fruity salsa
Time-Saving Options for Busy Weeknights
Let’s be real – sometimes we don’t have time to do everything from scratch. On those days:
- Try COOK’s frozen ready meals alongside your wings for a complete meal without the fuss
- Or for a super easy option, CookUnity offers chef-crafted meals delivered to your door
Final Thoughts
Grilling chicken wings on a charcoal grill takes a bit of practice, but the results are so worth it. The charcoal adds that distinctive smoky flavor that you just can’t get from an oven or gas grill.
Remember the key points:
- Proper preparation (cutting and seasoning)
- Two-zone fire setup
- Sear first, then move to indirect heat
- Use a thermometer to check doneness
- Add sauce at the end if desired
Follow these steps, and I guarantee your next cookout will have everyone raving about your wings!
How to Grill Chicken Wings
As a disclaimer, I have no idea how GW&T actually makes their wings. I think they might bake them slowly first, like these, and then finish them off on the grill. If you’re not running a restaurant though, you can start and finish them on the grill.
The first thing you need to consider for grilled chicken wings is what sauce or rub you are using. If you’re using a dry rub only, you can rub your wings with it right from the beginning. You should wait to add a sauce or fresh rub, like the jerk rub I used in this post, until later. If you do, it will burn.
So, in most cases, you want to just toss your wings with some neutral oil, salt, and pepper.
You can grill wings over charcoal or gas. In either case, it’s important to have a really hot part of your grill and a big part that is only slightly hot.
When I use gas, I’ll just turn one burner one medium-low. For charcoal, once your coals are going, just push them to one side of the grill. Make sure you light enough charcoal to keep the heat going for two hours.
The first step of grilling wings is just to slowly cook the wings over indirect heat. You don’t really have to worry about these much assuming your indirect area isn’t too hot.
Maybe rotate the wings from front to back every 20 minutes or so, but really they can just chill on the grill (close the grill to speed up the process).
The sauce/rub you use isn’t really important. Once you have the method down you can use anything.
I tried something new though and made a jerk rub for my wings. It was basically just lots of spices, scallions, garlic, ginger, and habanero peppers pulsed together.
It smelled SO GOOD.
The Direct Heat Phase
I’d say at a minimum your wings will need to be on the indirect heat for 45 minutes. An hour is better. They are hard to overcook. You could leave them on for two hours. Assuming your grill isn’t too hot, the wings will just get more tender because more of the fat will break down.
Before you move on, I’d recommend testing a wing to make sure it’s cooked through.
Now it’s time to toss with your sauce of choice. This might be a classic buffalo sauce or, in my case, this killer jerk rub.
After you’ve sauced the wings, stick them back on the grill, but this time on the direct heat.
As my friend Matt would say, “BLAST ‘EM!”
Don’t leave the grill while these are over the high heat. They can burn quickly. Use tongs to turn them pretty constantly. They shouldn’t need more than a few minutes to get nice and crispy.
Serve these right off the grill with your favorite dipping sauce and lots of celery and carrots.
If you’re not grilling wings this fall, you’re doing it wrong!
- 3 pounds chicken wings
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- Blue cheese dressing, for serving
- 4 scallions, chopped
- 2 tablespoons onion
- 1 habanero pepper, seeded
- ½ inch peeled fresh ginger
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon dried allspice berries
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 lime, juice only
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ cup neutral oil
- If you want to use a dry rub on your wings, you can do so before you grill them. It’s best to cook the wings without the sauce or rub that has fresh herbs and spices in it. Then, add it during the sauce step of the recipe below.
- If your wings are whole, cut off the tips and throw them away or save them for chicken stock. Cut the drumsticks and flats out of the other part of the wings. Add some oil, salt, and pepper to the wings and toss them around. If you’re not using a dry rub, these are ready to go on the grill!
- Prepare your grill for indirect grilling. When you heat up a charcoal grill, make sure there are enough charcoals for two hours of cooking. You’ll need indirect heat for a while and then direct heat at the end. Move most of the coals to one side of your grill when they are hot.
- For gas grills, just turn on one of the burners to medium-low. Depending on the grill, this could be the back or far side.
- The coolest part of the grill is where you should start cooking the wings. Place the wings on the grill and cover it. Allow them to cook for 20 minutes. After that, turn the wings over and cook them for another 20 minutes. Do another rotation and another 15-20 minutes.
- It’s almost impossible to cook these wings too long, which is good news. They will be fine as long as they don’t come into direct contact with heat. It was fine for me to cook mine over indirect heat for up to two hours.
- When your wings are done cooking over indirect heat, they should be fully cooked and ready to fall off the bone. But try one to be sure! The skin will still be wet, though. Once the wings are no longer over direct heat, add some of the sauce or fresh rub you are using.
- Move the wings back to the grill’s direct, hottest spot. Don’t leave! These will cook very quickly now. Turn the wings over with tongs as they get nice char marks and crisp up. They should only be cooked over direct heat for three to five minutes at most. (If you have a gas grill, turn the burner up to high before you do this.) ).
- When wings are done, put blue cheese dressing, carrots, and celery on the table.
How to Grill CRISPY Wings over Charcoal
FAQ
How long should I cook chicken wings on a charcoal grill?
The exact time it takes to cook chicken wings on a charcoal grill depends on the size of the wings, the temperature of the grill, and whether they’re already seasoned. To cook the wings all the way through, start with indirect heat. Then, move them to direct heat to make the skin crispy.
How do you cook chicken on a charcoal grill without burning it?
For the best grill marks and juicy chicken, begin cooking the chicken on a hotter part of the grill for a few minutes and then move it to lower heat to finish cooking through. Using two heating zones keeps your chicken from burning on the outside or drying out while the inside cooks through.
Do you grill chicken wings on direct or indirect heat?
Chicken wings are typically grilled using a combination of direct and indirect heat. First, they are cooked over indirect heat to ensure they are cooked through and tender.
How do you keep chicken moist on a charcoal grill?
Brine or dry brine the chicken ahead of time. Sear and then slow roast on the grill over low or indirect heat. pull at internal temp btw 155F and 160F. It will carry over a bit and be perfectly safe, just very juicy.