Question about cooking wings

Volgrill

Last night I cooked some wings.  They were good, but not crispy.  I marinated for 3 hours in an Asian wet marinade.  I patted them dry with paper towels.  I smoked indirect with the plate at 300 for about 45 minutes.  Then I took the plate off, brushed the wings with a glaze, fired the grill up to 450, and cooked them tried to get a char on them for the next 2 or 3 minutes. 

The wings were good.  They tasted great.  The meat was moist, but the skin was not at all crispy.  Where did I go wrong?  Should I have coated them with oil after patting them dry?  Did the wet marinade kill any chance of crispy skin?  the glaze?

Thanks!

THEBuckeye

Common fixes:

1. Crisp skin requires drying time, uncovered, in the fridge. Several hours to overnight (or more)

2. Go raised direct at 375 for the entire cook. 

3. Dust with corn starch prior to cooking. 

pgprescott

You need to either lightly dust them with corn starch or cook them at a higher temp. 

Nanook

Raised indirect high in the dome at 400°

DieselkW

I get crispy skin by cooking raised direct to 140f meat temp. with a cast iron pan of oil on the lower grill at 350f dome temp. Don't go too high on the dome temp or you'll smoke your oil. (about wing deep on the oil)

Then take the wings off the grill, remove the top grill, and put the wings in the hot oil for 30 seconds per side.

Set the crispy wings in a bowl of Franks Hot Sauce and butter, put the top grill back on, and finish for a minute or so at 350 with the dome closed to dry the hot sauce.

ROllTIDEEGGING

I've worked on this a while.. and  everyone has their version of crispy. last week I tried a method that produced good results for me.
1. dry overnight in fridge on paper towels
2. smoke raised at 235 or so until temp.
3. Flash fry for 12 seconds in a fry daddy.

This one below I haven't tried yet but should work. It's a direct smoke high in the grid and you toss in peanut oil before hand.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuwasAmjuDQ

Legume

If crispy is important, I try to stay away from marinating the wings and use just rub and baking powder or corn starch.  If you do marinate, I would go overnight, uncovered in the fridge.  Agree with the comments about high heat in the dome - this is key for crisp skin as well.  It's hard to overcook wing meat with the all of the bone and skin, so crank it up and leave it there.  

pgprescott

Trust me the corn starch works like frying. You will be shocked. 

ChokeOnSmoke

Easiest way to get crispy skin is to dry rub them and cook them indirect at 400º for about an hour.  You'll get crispy skin and moist meat without any extra work.  I do them this way all the time.

ksmyrl

+1 raised direct at 375 or 400 for about an hour. Always turns out great for me this way. I use full size parts though. 

DMW

Today I'm going to do my wings whole and uncut on a wing hanger on a raised grid in my XL at 275* direct with some pecan wood. Dried in the fridge for a few hours. Rubbed with leftover Montreal chicken, Meadow Creek BBQ, and a little Chinese 5 spice. At the end I'll toss some with Hoisin and some with General Tso's. I've never done this combo before, we'll see how it turns out.

paqman

The key of success for me was higher temperatures (>400F), cooking indirect and sugar in my rub

EastTNbbqer

DieselkW said:

I get crispy skin by cooking raised direct to 140f meat temp. with a cast iron pan of oil on the lower grill at 350f dome temp. Don't go too high on the dome temp or you'll smoke your oil. (about wing deep on the oil)

Then take the wings off the grill, remove the top grill, and put the wings in the hot oil for 30 seconds per side.

Set the crispy wings in a bowl of Franks Hot Sauce and butter, put the top grill back on, and finish for a minute or so at 350 with the dome closed to dry the hot sauce.

Have you ever tried this method with thighs? I love wings, and I love the texture and smoke that this triple treatment gives. Just intrigued about using it with the bigger, more-meat-to-bone ratio thighs. 

It is alot of work, but crispy grilled smoked chicken is to die for. 

hondabbq

Il ways go 400. 30-20-10. Cook for 30, flip for 20, sauce for 10.
if I want naked wings it's 30-30. 

Little Steven

Don't marinade. Cook the wings raised direct. You can use corn starch if you want. I actually came up with that first. Add some sugar to your marinade and glaze with it. 

MunchkinRedux

ChokeOnSmoke said:

Easiest way to get crispy skin is to dry rub them and cook them indirect at 400º for about an hour.  You'll get crispy skin and moist meat without any extra work.  I do them this way all the time.

+1 on the method.   Dry rub only with 1-2 day air-dry in the fridge.   I cook them raised, indirect at 500-550 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Then I toss them in a little sauce, and put them back on the direct side turning rapidly 2-3 minutes total 'til they get a few black marks.  You can drizzle with extra sauce once plated (optional).