grilled buffalo wings

Grilled chicken wings are one of my all-time favorite foods – I fell in love with them when one of our Milwaukee apartments was just around the corner from a neighborhood restaurant that served the BEST crispy char-grilled wings. When we moved out of the neighborhood &amp; out of the city, we craved them constantly, so my quest to figuring out how the to grill chicken wings perfectly began. 
It all comes down to 2 secrets: 

Beer brine. Soaking the chicken wings in a beer brine infuses them with rich, earthy flavor &amp; helps them stay super juicy &amp; tender on the grill. (Don't love beer? No problem. Check the Recipe Notes, below, for some easy swaps.)
2-zone grilling. Perfect grilled wings cook up 2 phases with 2 different heat zones. Gentle indirect heat slowly cooks the wings evenly &amp; prevents them from drying out or burning – they stay super juicy. Finishing them over direct hot heat creates delicious char &amp; makes them super crispy. (Never grilled with the 2-zone method before? No worries! Learn all about 2-zone grilling here.)

This particular recipe is written for grilled buffalo chicken wings (my go-to buffalo sauce is included below!), but it's a great base recipe to make whatever wings you love – BBQ dry rubbed, lemon pepper, teriyaki style wings, &amp; more. Be sure to check out the blog post, above, for plenty of inspiration &amp; a few of my favorite variations. Happy grilling!

Best-Ever Grilled Chicken Wings

chicken

beer of choice (see Recipe Notes)

salt

Frank’s RedHot Original

unsalted butter

garlic powder

smoked paprika

Brine the chicken wings in beer

Place the chicken wings in a large airtight container or resealable plastic bag. Pour the beer over top &amp; season with the kosher salt. Toss to combine well, ensuring all the of the chicken wings are submerged in the brine. Cover/seal &amp; transfer to the refrigerator to brine for at least 12 hours or up to 3 days. The longer you’re able to brine, the juicier &amp; more flavorful your grilled buffalo chicken wings will be.

Grill prep

About 30 minutes before you’re ready to grill, pull the wings out of the refrigerator to come to room temperature for more even grilling. Prepare your grill for indirect cooking, creating a zone of direct high heat &amp; a second zone of indirect heat. If using a gas grill, begin preheating at least 15 minutes before grilling. If using charcoal, light the charcoal at least 30 minutes prior to grilling. (To learn more about zone grilling, be sure to check out this post.) This is also a great time to mix up the buffalo sauce – simply add the Frank&#8217;s RedHot Original, melted butter, garlic powder, &amp; smoked paprika to a small bowl &amp; mix to combine well.

Grill the wings with indirect heat

Once the grill is hot, place the brined chicken wings on the indirect side of the grill, shaking off &amp; discarding any excess beer brine. Arrange the wings as close to the fire as possible without being over the direct heat. Close the grill lid &amp; cook the wings with indirect heat for 7-10 minutes. Flip the wings, rearranging them so the wings furthest from the direct heat source in the first half of the cook are closest to the heat during the second half, &amp; vice versa. Close the grill lid &amp; cook the wings with indirect heat for 7-10 minutes more. If your wing sections are smaller, they’ll grill up in closer to 7 minutes per side, if larger it’ll take closer to 10 minutes per side – the goal is to cook the wings almost entirely with indirect heat.

Char the wings over direct heat

Arrange the cooked wings over the direct heat to finish them off with a good crispy char, about 2 minutes per side or until as charred as desired, carefully brushing with the prepared buffalo sauce as they cook.

Serve

Transfer the grilled buffalo wings to a serving platter, drizzling any remaining buffalo sauce over top. As desired, finish with freshly snipped chives or green onions &amp; crumbled blue cheese. Serve immediately with blue cheese dressing or ranch dressing. Enjoy!

I’m crazy picky about chicken wings. Mostly, crazy picky about texture. And this recipe gives the most perfectly charred/juicy wing! I was a bit nervous about the brine because I’m not a beer drinker but, trust me, nothing tops that flavor.

Just finished eating these and omg!!!! Thank you! I’ve never brined in beer and I could totally tell the difference. Soooo juicy! I didn’t use traditional wing sauce though. I used Buffalo Wild Wings Asian zing and it was amazing!

These were so good!!  We doubled the recipe and are still fighting over the leftovers!  Best chicken I’ve ever had :)

I grilled these up for Fourth of July. It was about 300 degrees outside in front of that grill under the beating sun but soooo worth it!!  Once plated everyone shouted “you cooked too many” and then they ate them all. So juicy, so tasty, so easy!  Awesome

I just tried this, super salty. I do not recommend.

These were INCREDIBLE and I felt like a rockstar for grilling these on my own! Thanks for the inspiration, Jess!

You used an Furious IPA for the wings and have a PBR to drink in the picture with the final product? Child please

These wings are seriously the best. The beer brine makes it so juicy and flavorful. I’ve made it twice now and the directions are clear so I can execute perfectly cooked chicken. And that char! A+ !

This is THE BEST wing recipe ever! I used this recipe the first time I ever tried grilling and these wings came out incredibly juicy and flavorful. Brining in beer and zone grilling is the way to go! I’ll never make wings any other way.

it is very delicious and full of nutrition and good for health thanks for share it

These look amazing. I am hoping to grill these up this weekend. We love buffalo, but my kids love lemon pepper. Have you ever tried with any other seasonings? Or any recommendations?

I used a dry rub instead of the brine (personal preference,) but followed your cooking times on my Weber kettle grill.  Your indirect-then-direct method worked perfectly with charcoal, too.  The wings were right around 165 degrees after the total cook time, and were super moist inside.  Most other grill recipes I've seen call for longer cook times, but the wings dry out if cooked much longer.  

I'm bookmarking this page as the best method.  

Oh, I did still have the beer - with the meal!

These were so.good. o.m.g. Jesse. The grilled flavor came through so perfectly due to your technique, and the brine gave the chicken itself such amazing flavor. Perfect for a Memorial Day cookout and will be easy enough to put together for a fun weeknight supper too. Thank you for sharing!

I was stunned…STUNNED…at how good these wings were. In my opinion, better than fried wings (I know, but trust me). Easily the best wings we’ve ever made at home. We will be grilling wings all summer long for sure!

Wow, these were the best wings I have  ever made or tasted.  I can’t believe the difference in the brining and the zone cooking.  Thanks you so much for this wonderful recipe.  Hubby loves wings and also said they were the best. He had his doubts with the brining.  All I had was Guinness stout so used that and they were delish!

My family thought these were the best wings they have ever had. I would also agree! I feel brining is the key. This is now a requested meal. Thank you for sharing!

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/JL5WGVbI.mp4

The BEST Grilled Chicken Wings you’ll ever make! There are 2 secrets to grilling chicken wings perfectly: 1) soak in flavorful brine & 2) grill with indirect & direct heat. These grilled wings are so juicy thanks to beer brine, & they get deliciously charred & crispy using 2-zone grilling. Buffalo wings for hot wing lovers, & includes easy variations for dry-rub & marinated wings. Perfect for a summer BBQ or game day! 

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Best-Ever Grilled Chicken Wings

Top 2 grilled buffalo wings recipes from across the web

The most viewed grilled buffalo wings recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Best-Ever Grilled Chicken Wings

Best-Ever Grilled Chicken Wings

The most viewed grilled buffalo wings recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine