Crispy Smoked Wings with Ranch

Chicken wings are one of my favorite foods, and after eating them at just about every wing spot I’ve come across, I still think the best ones are from a Greenville BBQ joint called Local Cue.  I’ve been going there for more than 10 years, and we even rented their private room for our rehearsal dinner, so you could say I have a pretty strong connection to the place.  Their wings are smoked, flash-fried until crispy, and tossed in a BBQ dry rub, which is the inspiration for this recipe.  With football season here, I wanted to share my take on these wings so you can make a batch for your next tailgate, watch party, or Saturday afternoon with friends.

Link to Video on Instagram

Ingredients:

Wings- 

4.5 pounds of whole chicken wings, split into wing and drumette sections

2 TBSP canola oil (plus 3 QT for frying)

BBQ Rub (I used the Sweet Preacher BBQ rub for this edition)

Ranch Dressing-

2 large cloves of garlic, minced (I used 5 small ones in this video because that’s what I had)

1 TSP salt

1 TSP pepper

1 cup good mayonnaise (I use Duke’s)

½ cup of sour cream

⅓ cup of buttermilk

2 TBSP of fresh dill, minced

2 TBSP of chives, minced

¼ cup of flat-leaf parsley, minced

3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce

3 dashes of hot sauce (I used Frank’s)

½ TSP white vinegar

¼ TSP paprika

¼ TSP cayenne pepper

1 large mason jar for storage

Recipe:

  1. Mince the garlic, dill, chives, and parsley, then add everything to your mason jar.

  2. Add the remaining ingredients to your mason jar and stir to combine.  Let it rest in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

  3. Taste the dressing and add any salt and pepper as needed.

  4. While your ranch dressing melds, remove your chicken wings from the fridge and split the wings and drumettes into separate sections.  

  5. Cover a large sheet pan with aluminum foil and then place your wings on the pan.  Coat the wings in canola oil and BBQ rub, and let them rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes.  This lets the seasoning penetrate the meat.  Make sure that you don’t over-season your wings with the dry rub because this can limit the smoke’s ability to penetrate the meat.

  6. After the wings have rested, arrange them evenly across the grates of a cold smoker.  Starting with a cold smoker is key because the wings will cook quickly, and we want to achieve as much smoke flavor as possible.

  7. Once the wings are arranged on the smoker, preheat it as you normally would, then turn the temperature up to 225 degrees.  Smoke until the wings and drumettes reach 165 degrees - about 30 minutes for the wing sections and 50 minutes for the drumettes.

  8. When all the wings have cooked, transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature.

  9. Add 3 QT of canola oil to a large Dutch oven and heat to 375 degrees.

  10. Add your wings to the hot oil in batches of 6-8 wings/drumettes at a time so you don’t overcrowd the pot.  Cook for 3-4 minutes per batch, until the wings are crispy, making sure your oil is back up to 375 before adding the next batch.

  11. As soon as the wings/drummettes are done frying, transfer them to a medium bowl and toss with 1-2 TBSP of the BBQ rub, then put them back on your wire rack to cool while you finish cooking the rest.

  12. Serve the wings with the ranch and/or any other BBQ/wing sauce you prefer.