The Best Smoked Buffalo Hot Wings With Crispy Skin

These smoked buffalo wings deliver the best of both worlds. Crispy skin and a tangy, spicy buffalo sauce that clings to every bite.

In this guide, I’ll show you the tricks for getting ultra-crispy wings straight from the smoker (no need to finish in the oven or air fryer!). You’ll also pick up a simple recipe for an optional blue cheese dipping sauce to balance the heat.

Why I love smoking buffalo wings

Buffalo wings with blue cheese or ranch dip are a classic game-day combo. The tangy buffalo sauce and crispy skin are hard to beat. While most recipes call for frying or baking, smoked buffalo wings bring a smoky depth of flavor that takes them to the next level.

The challenge with smoked chicken is getting crispy skin. Cooking low and slow can leave it rubbery if you’re not careful. Fortunately, three simple steps guarantee crisp results straight from the smoker.

Best of all, you don’t need any additional accessories or a high-end smoker.

Related: For a spicy wing with an Asian kick, try our Chili Oil Smoked Wings.

Ingredients for Smoked Buffalo Wings

• Chicken wings – If you buy whole wings, separate into flats and drumettes. Smaller wings cook a little faster and crisp more evenly.
• Kosher salt – Essential for dry brining and drawing out moisture.
• Black pepper – Freshly cracked is best. It adds subtle heat and aroma. If you love peppery wings, you can push the amount higher.
• Cornstarch (or baking powder) – Both help crisp the skin, but in different ways. Cornstarch gives a crunchier, slightly breaded texture, while baking powder produces a thinner, blistered skin. Either works.
• Garlic powder or granulated garlic – Adds savory depth without burning the way fresh garlic would at high temps.
• Hot sauce – Frank’s Red Hot is the traditional choice for buffalo wings. Any Louisiana-style vinegar-based hot sauce will work.
• Butter – Softens the acidity of the hot sauce and creates that silky buffalo coating. Unsalted butter is best so you can control the salt level. If you only have salted, reduce the seasoning salt slightly.

How to get crispy skin on smoked chicken wings

Smoking low and slow can give your wings rubbery skin that’s downright unappetizing.

Luckily, there are a few tried and true methods to get perfect skin on your wings every time.

1. Get your wings as dry as possible. Start by drying them with a paper towel, and then leave them on a rack in the refrigerator for a few hours, preferably overnight.
2. Use corn starch in your wing seasoning – The starch doesn’t change the flavor, but it helps the wings get super crispy. You can also use baking powder.
3. Ramp up the heat – The exact method will depend on what you are cooking on, but you need to make sure you increase the heat to at least 350°F at some point during the cook.

If you want extra juicy wings, you could also do a chicken wing brine, but I find that’s usually overkill.

For this recipe, I smoked the wings on my Big Green Egg kamado at 350-400°F for the entire cook. You can still generate a nice smoke flavor at hotter temperatures using a charcoal grill and wood chunks.

If you are smoking wings in a pellet grill, cooking at those temperatures doesn’t produce much smoke, so in that case, I recommend a two-step smoke.

Start low and slow, around 225°F, for the first 30 minutes, and then ramp the heat up to 400°F for the final part of the cook. Higher temperatures are crucial for crispy skin.

I’ve tested this two-step method VS smoking at 400°F from the beginning. While both wings come out great, I noticed slightly more smoke flavor with the two-stage method. You can also use the 0-400 method and get similar results.

How long to smoke chicken wings?

If you’re smoking these wings hot at around 400°F for the entire cook, they should be done in around 45 minutes.

If you are cooking on a pellet grill where you need to cook at a lower temp to generate smoke, you should allow an extra 30 minutes.

How to make smoked buffalo wings

1. Season the wings

I use a simple dry rub of salt, pepper, granulated garlic (or garlic powder if you don’t have granules), and corn starch for the wing seasoning. The corn starch, combined with high heat, gets the wings nice and crispy.

I’ve also tested using baking powder and found that it produces a similar result, so feel free to substitute that.

2. Smoke the wings

If you’ve smoked chicken wings before and found the skin had a rubbery texture, the problem is you didn’t ramp the heat up enough.

This is why I love using my Big Green Egg to smoke wings. I can produce enough smoke at high temperatures, which is perfect for getting nice, crispy wings. 

See our note under “The secret to smoked wings with crispy skin” for tips on tweaking the recipe if you are using a pellet grill.

I like to add a chunk of apple wood, as it has a subtle flavor and pairs well with chicken.

I smoke wings around 350-400°F. At this temperature, the fat renders out, and the skin crisps up, giving that great fried texture you want.

Once your smoker is up to temperature, put the wings on. You want your grill nice and hot to sear the wings, which will prevent them from sticking. It will also start the caramelizing of the underside of our meat.

Close the lid once you’ve put the wings on, and leave them alone for the first thirty minutes. I like to turn and rotate at this point. Especially if you’re smoker runs hot around the outside you’ll want to rotate these wings into the middle.

The wings will take 45 minutes to one hour. Check with an instant-read thermometer. Wings are safe to eat at 165°F, but I prefer to cook them until they are around 175-185°F, by which point I’m more influenced by the look of the skin. I want to see going nice and crispy, golden color with the fat fendering.

3. Make the buffalo sauce

We’re keeping it simple here by using Frank’s Red Hot Wings sauce, buffalo flavor, and adding butter to cut through some of the tang.

You can use any Louisiana-style hot sauce, although Frank’s is the most traditional.

To make the wing sauce, I melt the butter in the microwave and then add it to the hot sauce, giving it a good stir to combine.

If you like your wings extra spicy, you can add cayenne pepper to the mix. I tend to like my stomach lining the way it is and feel this combo produces enough heat for my taste buds.

4. Toss the wings

Remove the wings from the smoker and place them in a large bowl. Add the buffalo sauce and give it a gentle toss to ensure all the wings are thoroughly coated in the sauce.

You can’t go wrong serving buffalo wings with sliced carrot and celery, and a bowl of blue cheese or ranch dipping sauce

Blue cheese dipping sauce 

No respectable smoked chicken wings recipe is complete without a good dipping sauce. While blue cheese can be a divisive ingredient, you can’t deny it’s a classic pairing with buffalo sauce.

This blue cheese sauce is simple. Add mayonnaise, blue cheese, sour cream, garlic, and lemon juice to a food processor and blitz it up.

Check out our blue cheese dipping sauce recipe for more detailed instructions.

Try these wing recipes next

• Smoked Chicken Wings with Garlic and Parmesan Sauce
• Smoked Lemon Pepper Wings
• 0-400 Traeger Wings
• Smoked Fried Chicken Wings

Smoked Buffalo Wings Recipe

These smoked buffalo wings are smoky, crispy and everything you want in a game-day snack. If you give them a try, I’d love it if you could come back and leave a review. Your feedback helps others find the recipe and lets me know what you think!