Grilled Chicken Wings
These grilled chicken wings are split into three flavors cooked on one grill at once. All three batches cook together with separate sections of the grill, but are finished in three different ways. Batch one goes into a jalapeño honey butter, batch two gets tossed in warm honey over lemon pepper and batch three is left dry. Everyone chooses their own flavor.
What You’ll Need
| Ingredient | Notes |
|---|---|
| Chicken wings | Six pounds total, but you’ll split that into thirds. |
| Oil | Only a light coating, and don’t think of it as cooking oil. It’s a binder. |
| Seasonings | Cajun on the first batch. Lemon pepper on batch two. A mix of Cajun and Dano’s on batch three. |
| Honey | Regular or hot honey work. You’ll mix it into butter for batch one, and it’s also all that happens to batch two. |
| Jalapeño sauce | Mixed with butter and honey for the first flavor. |
| Butter | Simply melted into the honey and jalapeño mixture. |
I’ve got exact measurements below in the recipe card.
The Prep
Pat the wings totally dry.
Oil lightly so the seasoning has something to grab onto instead of sliding right off.
Split them into three two-pound batches, seasoning each batch as noted above.
Throw them on the grill, making sure to keep each batch separated so you don’t lose track of which is which.
Flip often to get even charring on all sides.
Pull them off once they’re cooked through.
Mix the jalapeño sauce, honey and butter together until the butter melts, then toss batch one in it. The wings are already off the grill and their residual heat will help the sauce coat.
Warm the honey on its own in a sauce pan, then toss batch two in that.
Leave batch three alone.
Times and temperatures for each step are below in the recipe card.
Oil First, Season Second
The oil is not there to cook the wings. They will render plenty of fat on the grill themselves, and you don’t need any extra there.
It’s there to act as a binder. Seasoning on wings will slide right off if it doesn’t have something to adhere to. A little oil mixed into the rub lets it stick to the wings so what you season them with is what you end up tasting when you bite in.
But don’t oil before seasoning without patting them dry first. Oil and water don’t mix. If you oil the wings before patting them dry the water in that moisture will thin out the oil, and you’ll end up with seasoning sitting in watery oil that won’t stick.
Keep Them Separated on the Grill
You need a system or you’ll get confused fast. I gave each flavor its own third of the grill and made sure they never mix.
You’d think you can see where each section starts and stops, but once they’re flipped and coated in char you won’t be able to tell the Cajun wings from the Cajun-Dano’s. Don’t let them mingle or you’ll lose track.
It also helps keep the seasoning you add to each batch isolated. You don’t want plain wings sitting next to spiced up ones or they’ll start to pick up each other’s flavors.
Author’s Notes
Everybody Can Pick Their Own Flavor
It’s a fun way. You know, everybody can pick their own color, or their own flavor, and you can choose either sauce or not sauce.
You can mix up these wings with a variety of different flavors. You can even dry rub, or you can do any sauce that you like.
Miguel
Meal Prep and Storage
Season them now if you want. Wings are fine to sit with a rub on them for a few hours in the fridge.
Make the jalapeño honey butter ahead of time too. You can warm it up when you’re ready to use it. Since there’s butter in it, it will firm up once it cools in the fridge.
Sauce them right before serving. Sauced wings get soft quickly. Toss them right before they hit the table if you can. They actually reheat better unsauced too since you can sauce them after warming them up.
To reheat, put them in the oven or air fryer to crisp the skin back up.
Tips from Miguel
- Dry, oil, season. In that order.
- Six pounds sounds like a lot, but two pounds of each flavor gives everyone a real portion of what they want.
- Flip them often. That’s how you get char without burning the coating off.
- Wait to sauce until right before serving. Not a minute before, RIGHT before.
- Mix and match any sauce and seasoning you like. I did these three because these are our favorites. You can use any dry seasoning you want on them. So can your guests. Any sauce works too.
The Three Grilled Wing Flavors
Jalapeño honey butter. By far the messiest of the three, but also the one people go back to get more of. It’s spicy and sweet with honey, jalapeño sauce and melted butter mixed together. Toss the Cajun seasoned wings in it and serve. Feel free to use hot honey if you want more heat.
Honey lemon pepper. Bright and sweet. Warm honey tossed over grilled wings seasoned with lemon pepper. You have to warm the honey to liquefy it enough to drizzle. Once it hits the wings it’ll quickly thicken up again. It doesn’t look like much, but tastes like you slaved away in the kitchen.
Cajun and Dano’s. Nothing added here except the seasonings. Cajun seasoning and Dano’s mixed together then sprinkled over the wings. No sauce, no butter, just spices. If you grill wings you need at least one dry batch. Some people don’t like sticky fingers, and this one is my go-to dry seasoning mix.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make these in the oven?
Sure. Your wings won’t get charred like they do on the grill, but you can still do the same process. Cook them in the oven till crispy and cooked through, then finish them off in three batches. One tossed in the honey butter sauce, one tossed in warm honey, and one left plain.
What if I don’t want to make three flavors?
Make six pounds of one. Nothing about the cook changes, you just need three times the sauce.
Why do my sauced wings get soggy?
That’s because you put the sauce on too early. Wait to toss them in sauce until right before you serve them. Sauce starts to soften cooked wings in minutes. There’s no going back.
Related Recipes
- Parmesan Garlic Grilled Chicken Wings
- Buffalo Parmesan Garlic Wings
- Glazed Honey Jalapeno Orange Chicken Skewers
- Nashville Hot Chicken Pizza
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Grilled Chicken Wings, Three Ways
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Pat all 6 pounds of wings completely dry. Lightly coat them with oil to act as a binder, then divide them into three equal 2 pound batches.
- Season the first batch with Cajun seasoning, the second with lemon pepper seasoning, and the third with Dano’s seasoning mixed with Cajun seasoning. Keep each flavor separated so you can tell them apart through the cook.
- Preheat your grill to 350°F. Place the wings on the grill, keeping each flavor in its own section. Cook until crispy, nicely charred and cooked through, flipping every so often for even browning.
- Cook until the thickest wings reach at least 165°F internal temperature. For even crispier wings you can take them closer to 175°F to 185°F.
- Combine the honey, jalapeño sauce and butter in a small saucepan and warm over low heat until the butter is melted and everything is combined. Toss the Cajun batch in the sauce until fully coated.
- Warm the honey on its own just enough to loosen it, then toss the lemon pepper batch in it.
- Leave the Cajun and Dano’s batch exactly as it is. That is the dry rub option.
- Serve all three flavors together with carrots, celery, ranch and blue cheese. Sauce the wings right before they hit the table, not earlier.
