- The Cookful - https://thecookful.com -

How To Grill Chicken Wings

Get the low-down on how to grill wings. It’s super-easy and they are so totally delicious.

Grilled chicken wings are vastly different from their deep-fried brothers. When you grill wings they don’t get that crisp skin. Not at all. But you don’t want the alternative, limp soggy skin.

Here I’m going to show you how to grill wings so that they have the best possible skin you can get from a grill. The key is getting a good char on them, and using a great sauce at the end.

Plate of grilled chicken wings with sauce.

Want To Save This Recipe?

Enter your email address & I’ll send this recipe straight to your inbox to save for later! Plus, you’ll get new recipe ideas from me every week!

Video: How To Grill Wings

Should I Marinate My Wings?

Note that some people marinate their wings first. I’m not opposed to this but I don’t find it necessary. Why not? Two reasons. First, wing meat is very tender and juicy as it is so you don’t need the marinade for extra moisture. Second, if you have a flavorful sauce smothering the wings at the end, it overpowers the marinade anyhow. I say, skip that extra time and effort and get the wings on the grill ASAP.

How To Grill Chicken Wings

Here’s how to grill chicken wings, step-by-step:

Step #1

Oil your grill racks and then prepare your grill for direct grilling over medium heat, about 350ºF. I like to keep one burner off or on low in case some of my wings are cooked before others.

Raw chicken wings on grill

Step #2

You’re going to cook the wings for about 18-25 minutes total. The way I do it is to start by leaving them on there, lid closed, for a few minutes. Then I use big tongs to have a look underneath them all. Some tend to get darker faster due to hot spots on the grill. If some are starting to char too much, I flip those over. Keep monitoring and flipping as they all darken. If a few pieces seem to be dark before others, shift them to a cooler part of the grill. They’ll keep cooking but not browning. After about 15 minutes of moving them around as needed, use an instant read thermometer in the center of a few wings to make sure that they’ve all reached 165ºF. If some aren’t quite there, give them another 5 minutes. What you want are wings that are nicely charred on all sides and cooked through. Note that the large range of times is because all grills are different in terms of heat, distance from grill to heat, etc., and also, chicken wings can vary in size.

Grilling chicken wings, half flipped over showing grill marks.

Step #3

Use tongs to transfer fully-cooked wings to a bowl.

Tongs being used to move chicken from grill to stainless bowl.

Step #4

Add sauce. You can go with a straight-up store-bought BBQ sauce or make something yourself.

Chicken wings in a bowl, drizzled with BBQ sauce.

Step #5

Stir them up, adding more sauce if needed to coat them well.

Mixing sauce and wings with wooden spoon.

Step #6

EAT!

Grilled chicken wings on a white plate.

Podcast Episode About Grilling Chicken Wings

Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this recipe, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:

Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.

Print
How to Grill Chicken Wings

How to Grill Chicken Wings Recipe

Contributor: Christine Pittman

Get the low-down on how to grill wings. It’s super-easy and they are so totally delicious.

  • Author: Christine Pittman
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 18 minutes
  • Total Time: 23 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
  • Category: Appetizer
  • Method: Grilled
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Units Scale

Instructions

  1. Oil your grill racks and then prepare your grill for direct grilling over medium heat, about 350ºF. Keep one burner off or on low in case some wings are cooked before others.
  2. Put the wings in a single layer on the grill over the heat. You’ll be cooking the wings for about 18-25 minutes total. Start by leaving them on there, lid closed, for a few minutes. Then use big tongs to have look underneath them all. Some tend to get darker faster due to hot spots on the grill. If some are starting to char too much, flip those over. Keep monitoring and flipping as they all darken. If a few pieces seem to be dark before others, shift them to a cooler part of the grill. They’ll keep cooking but not browning.
  3. After about 15 minutes of flipping and moving them around as needed, use an instant read thermometer in the center of a few wings to make sure that they’ve all reached 165ºF. If some aren’t quite there, give them another 5 minutes. What you want are wings that are nicely charred on all sides and cooked through.
  4. Use tongs to transfer fully-cooked wings to a bowl. Add BBQ sauce. Start with 1/2 cup. Toss. If it’s a strong-tasting sauce, don’t add more. If it’s milder, add up to another 1/4 cup.

Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!

This post was originally published in January 2016 and was revised and republished in February 2017.