This asian style grilled chicken wings is a great twist on the classic chicken wing recipe.
In this recipe, we’ll apply a chicken wing rub first, then finish with an Asian-inspired glaze, and grill them with both direct and indirect heat. This means there are a few more prepping and grilling steps than traditional Buffalo chicken wings, but the resulting combination of flavors is amazing.
Why You Should Try This Asian Style Grilled Chicken Wings Recipe
- The combination of chicken wing rub and glaze – The “mouth feel” when you bite through the Asian glaze into the crispy chicken wing rub is remarkable, resulting in a heavenly and luscious texture and flavor.
- And chicken wings are so much fun to eat – Let’s get real now! Who doesn’t like devouring wing after wing at a backyard barbecue, while tailgating at a football game or partying with friends and family? What could be better? Really? Nothing!
Ingredients For Asian Style Chicken Wings
Ingredients for the chicken wing rub:
- 3 pounds chicken wings and drumettes (roughly 15 wings)
- (We’re calling the combination of wings and drumettes “chicken wings” in this recipe)
- ¾ cup chicken wing rub (plain chicken rub is fine too)
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
Ingredients for the Asian glaze:
- 2 cups hoisin sauce
- 1 ½ cups soy sauce
- ½ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons garlic
- 2 tablespoons minced ginger
- 2 tablespoons crunchy chili oil
- 2 green onions, thinly diced
How To Grill Chicken Wings
1. Set up your Weber Kettle for indirect smoking – Fill your charcoal chimney fire starter with charcoal briquets, and when ready, empty the chimney in the center of the charcoal grate. With tongs, move the charcoal to both sides of the Weber Kettle, creating two equal piles. Add three more charcoal briquets to each pile.
2. Bring the chicken wings to room temperature – Pat the chicken wings dry with a paper towel. Combine the chicken wing rub with the cornstarch in a medium-sized bowl. Place each wing individually in the bowl, and roll the chicken wing in the rub, making sure the entire chicken wing is completely covered with the rub.
3. Place the chicken wings on the Weber Kettle grill grate – Place the chicken wings in the center of the Weber Kettle grill grate and grill indirectly for 20 minutes, then flip the chicken wings over and grill indirectly for another 20 minutes. Rotate the chicken wings away from the heat of the coals if necessary. Add more charcoal to both piles if necessary as well.
4. As the chicken wings are grilling, make the chicken wing glaze – Combine all the chicken wing glaze ingredients in a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a low simmer.
5. Brush the chicken wings in the warm glaze – While at the grill, brush each chicken wing with glaze, making sure each chicken wing is completely covered with the glaze. Grill for 5 minutes, then flip and brush the glaze on again, and grill for another 5 minutes.
6. Move the chicken wings over the charcoal pile for extra char –With grill tongs, move the chicken wings to the sides of the Weber Kettle grill grate for direct grilling. This will complete the grilling of the chicken wings and add a nice char-finishing flavor. This step should take about a minute a side. Watch the chicken wings carefully, as you don’t want to burn your precious hard-earned yumminess.
Variations And Substitutions For Asian Style Chicken Wings
- Try using other cuts of chicken or other poultry – The chicken wing rub and the Asian glaze are perfect for any other cuts of chicken as well. A boneless breast, thigh, leg quarters, or even a whole chicken will be just as delicious as the chicken wings when prepared with this recipe. Experiment with turkey legs and breasts, or a whole Cornish game hen as well.
- Mix up the ingredients in the glaze – The base of the chicken wing glaze is Hoisin sauce, but any other deep, rich flavored Asian sauce will do as well. Try using plum sauce, oyster sauce, duck sauce, kung pow sauce, orange sauce, sweet chili sauce, General Tao’s sauce, or teriyaki sauce.
- Add soaked wood chips – If you want to add a bit of smokey flavor to your chicken wings, add some small wood chunks or wood chips soaked in water to the top of your charcoal pile. The smoke from the soaked wood will add just a hint of smokey goodness to your chicken wings.
Tips And Tricks For Grilling Chicken Wings
- Use a Weber Kettle hinged grilling grate – The hinged portion of the grill grate on both sides lifts up so you can add more charcoal or wood chips as you need to. This is an incredible game changer because you don’t need to lift the entire grill grate off the Weber Kettle every time you need to add more fuel.
- How do I know when my chicken wing are done – Using ameat thermometer, check the thickest part of a drumette. The chicken wings are safe to eat at the standard 165 degrees, but the chicken wings taste better at 175 degrees. This is because the dark meat has more connective tissue that needs to dissolve into gelatin to be more flavorful and less chewy.
- Why add cornstarch to the chicken wing rub – Again, taking a page out of the historic Asian cookbook, adding cornstarch helps create a crispier and crackling coating. So our chicken wings have a more crispy and crunchy base, eagerly ready to accept the Asian glaze.
Grilled Asian Style Chicken Wings
Equipment
- 1 Weber Kettle Grill
- 1 Charcoal Chimney Fire Starter
- 1 BBQ Tons
Ingredients
Ingredients for the chicken wing rub:
- 3 pounds chicken wings and drumettes, roughly 15 wings or 4 wings per serving: We’re calling the combination of wings and drumettes “chicken wings” in this recipe
- ¾ cup chicken wing rub, plain chicken rub is fine too
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
Ingredients for the Asian glaze:
- 2 cups hoisin sauce
- 1 ½ cups soy sauce
- ½ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons garlic
- 2 tablespoons minced ginger
- 2 tablespoons crunchy chili oil
- 2 stalks green onions, thinly diced
Instructions
- Set up your Weber Kettle for indirect smoking – Fill your charcoal chimney fire starter with charcoal briquettes, and when ready, empty the chimney in the center of the charcoal grate. With tongs, move the charcoal to both sides of the Weber Kettle, creating two equal piles. Add three more charcoal briquets to each pile.
- Bring the chicken wings to room temperature – Pat the chicken wings dry with a paper towel. Combine the chicken wing rub with the cornstarch in a medium-sized bowl. Place each wing individually in the bowl, and roll the chicken wing in the rub, making sure the entire chicken wing is completely covered with the rub.
- Place the chicken wings on the Weber Kettle grill grate – Place the chicken wings in the center of the Weber Kettle grill grate and grill indirectly for 20 minutes, then flip the chicken wings over and grill indirectly for another 20 minutes. Rotate the chicken wings away from the heat of the coals if necessary. Add more charcoal to both piles if necessary as well.
- As the chicken wings are grilling, make the chicken wing glaze –
- Combine all the chicken wing glaze ingredients in a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a low simmer.
- Brush the chicken wings in the warm glaze – While at the grill, brush each chicken wing with glaze, making sure each chicken wing is completely covered with the glaze. Grill for 5 minutes, then flip and brush the glaze on again, and grill for another 5 minutes.
- Move the chicken wings over the charcoal pile for extra char –
- With grill tongs, move the chicken wings to the sides of the Weber Kettle grill grate for direct grilling. This will complete the grilling of the chicken wings and add a nice char-finishing flavor. This step should take about a minute a side. Watch the chicken wings carefully, as you don’t want to burn your precious hard-earned yumminess.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
