Smoked Tar Pit Chicken Wings on the Green Egg

Tar Pit Wings on the Green Egg

Smoked wings are one of the easiest and quickest things one can cook “low and slow.” Typically, at 225° wings can be done in as little as 2.5 hours, far faster than pork shoulder or ribs. Smoking wings make them tender, juicy and finger licking good. Prepare to be amazed!

I was browsing online for ideas for this year’s super bowl party and I came across these amazing looking wings on the Washington Post.  I’m still relatively new to the Green Egg, but since I got, I adapt every recipe for grilling on the Green Egg. If you don’t have one, this recipe should do well on any type of smoker.

These wings are easy, tasty, and will be gone quickly! Their salty sweetness balances well with a mild wood (I used Cherry). The original recipe called for baking at 400 degrees, which the Green Egg can do, but I wanted a low, slow smoked flavor. The higher heat causes the sauce to become sticky as the sugar caramelizes. To replicate that stickiness, I boiled down the leftover sauce to get it nice and thick and then gave the wings a second coat about an hour in to the cook.

How to Make Smoked Tar Pit Chicken Wings

  1. Prep the ingredients and combine the sugar, ginger, soy sauce, and dry red wine in a small sauce pan over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved
  2. Coat the wings in the sauce and set in the fridge to marinate for at least 30 minutes. Take a sip of that leftover wine, you deserve it.
  3. While the wings are marinating, prepare your smoker for 225. 
  4. When the grill is prepped and the wings have marinated, place the wings on the smoker but save the sauce, you’ll need it later!
  5. Put the leftover sauce in a small pan and reduce until it’s nice, and thick – about half
  6. About an hour into the cook – take the now reduced sauce and give the wings another coat on both sides
  7. You have a thermometer right? The wings will be done when they hit an internal temperature of 165. This should be about 2~2.5 hours.

Try these out and let me know your results. I’m always learning!

Recipe and Instructions for Smoked Tar Pit Chicken Wings

Smoked Tar Pit Chicken Wings on the Green Egg
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Easy, tasty, and with salty sweetness that balances well with a mild fruit wood (e.g., Cherry, Apple). Guaranteed to be gone quickly!
Author:
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • ½ cup Soy Sauce
  • ¼ cup Dry Red Wine
  • ¼ cup + 1 tbs Sugar
  • ⅛ tsp Ginger (Ground or freshly grated)
  • 2 pounds of Chicken Wings
  • Charcoal and wood smoking chips or chunks for the grill
Instructions
  1. Combine the Soy Sauce, Wine, Sugar and ginger in a small sauce pan and heat until the sugar is dissolved
  2. Coat the wings in the sauce and set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes
  3. Prepare the grill for smoking at 225
  4. Begin smoking the wings
  5. Take the left over sauce and boil down until it thickens (i.e., reduces by half)
  6. About an hour into the smoke, coat the wings in the reduced sauce and flip, coating the other side
  7. Finish smoking the wings until a thermometer registers at least 165, about 2 to 2½ hours depending on the grill
Notes
Chicken does best with milder fruit based wood. I use cherry but apple would work too.

The original recipe called for ground ginger, I substituted a small sliver of freshly grated ginger.

If you are in a time crunch then smoking at 250 or 275 should speed things up.

An alternative to reducing the sauce would be to recoat them after smoking and broiling the wings in the oven for 5~10min.

 

 

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