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–+ servings
Three-way wings on a sheet pan: jalapeño honey butter, honey lemon pepper, and Cajun-Dano's dry rub with ranch dipping sauce

Grilled Chicken Wings, Three Ways

Six pounds of chicken wings split into three two pound batches, each seasoned differently and grilled together at 350°F. One batch gets tossed in jalapeño honey butter, one in warm honey over lemon pepper, and one stays dry with Cajun and Dano’s.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Snack
Cuisine: American, BBQ
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Wings
  • 6 lbs chicken wings Split into three 2 lb batches.
  • Oil A light coating only. This is a binder, not cooking fat.
  • Cajun seasoning On batch one, and mixed into batch three.
  • Lemon pepper seasoning On batch two.
  • Dano’s seasoning On batch three, mixed with the Cajun.
Jalapeño Honey Butter Sauce
  • 1/4 cup honey Hot honey works if you want more heat.
  • 1/4 cup jalapeño sauce
  • 2 tbsp butter
Honey Lemon Pepper
  • 1/4 cup honey Warmed just enough to loosen it up.

Equipment

  • Charcoal Grill
  • Three large mixing bowls One per flavor, so the seasonings stay separate.
  • Small Saucepan For the jalapeño honey butter and for warming the honey.
  • Tongs
  • Instant-Read Thermometer

Method
 

Season the Three Batches
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
Grill
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
Finish Three Ways
  1. 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.
  2. Warm the honey on its own just enough to loosen it, then toss the lemon pepper batch in it.
  3. Leave the Cajun and Dano’s batch exactly as it is. That is the dry rub option.
  4. Serve all three flavors together with carrots, celery, ranch and blue cheese. Sauce the wings right before they hit the table, not earlier.

Notes

Oil first, season second: The oil is a binder, not cooking fat. Wings render plenty of their own. Pat them dry before oiling or the moisture thins the oil and the seasoning will not stick.
Keep them separated: Once the wings are flipped and coated in char, the Cajun and the Cajun-Dano’s look identical, and those two end up in completely different places.
Sauce at the last minute: Sauce softens a crispy wing within minutes and there is no getting it back. Leftovers keep better unsauced.
Mix and match: These three are what Miguel did. Any dry rub and any sauce works.
Timing: Prep and cook times are estimates. The internal temperatures are from the source recipe rather than the memo. Go by crispy, charred and cooked through.

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