Smoked Chicken Wings with Garlic and Parmesan Sauce

These wings are smoked, grilled, then topped with a buttery garlic and parmesan sauce that will have your taste buds singing! 

They are the perfect appetizer or anytime meal. Make these and be the hero at your next get together! These have long been a go to for me and hope you will love them just as much as me and my family do! 

Smoked chicken wings

There are a few secrets to getting crispy skin when smoking chicken wings.

For this recipe, I used my pellet smoker but you can use any smoker you want. My pellet smoker also has a sear feature which I used to finish the wings on to get them crispy and charred.  

You can skip this final grill step altogether as long as your wings are cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F or above, but I find it’s the best way to get perfectly crispy, crunchy skin. 

Before I season my wings I like to place them onto a wire cooking rack to let them dry out for a few hours. This helps the wings get a crispier skin and when you are applying your rub the excess falls underneath leaving you with an easy clean-up. 

You will notice that I do not separate the drum from the flat and just kept the wing whole. This is a personal thing, I like both parts, and not having to separate them cuts the prep time down as well.

A good pair of tongs will help you flip the wings periodically while on the smoker and as always, a good instant read thermometer like the Thermapen is needed to make sure everything is cooked properly. 

Finally, you will need something to mix the wing sauce in that can be heated up to melt the butter and incorporate all the sauce ingredients together. 

How to make smoked chicken wings with garlic and parmesan sauce

1. Leave on a rack in the fridge for a few hours to dry the skin

Remove the wings from the packaging and pat dry with paper towels.

Place them on a wire cooking rack with a pan underneath, and put them in the fridge to dry out for a few hours.

This is one of the best tricks for getting crispy skin when smoking chicken wings.

2. Apply your rub

After a couple of hours, remove from the fridge.

Apply your favorite poultry rub evenly on both sides. I used Sweet Heat by Pitboss which has a nice balance of flavors and gave the wings a good color as well or you could try our homemade poultry rub here.

3. Get the smoker ready

Preheat your smoker to 300-350°F.

Once the smoker is up to heat place wings in and smoke for 60-80 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.

I like to smoke chicken at higher temperatures as this helps avoid the dreaded rubbery texture that you often get with smoked chicken skin.

One downfall of cooking the wings at a higher temperature is the wings cook much faster and won’t get as much smoke. The trade-off is a crispier wing which is more appealing to me. 

However, if you want to take the time to smoke your wings and maximize the smoke flavor you can set your smoker to 225°F and then increase the temperature later. 

I love to use pecan or hickory wood when smoking wings. It gives them a more robust flavor which the wings can hold up to. If you were smoking a chicken breast I would say to use a fruit wood like apple or cherry. 

4. Make the wing sauce

While the wings are on the smoker make your garlic and parmesan sauce. This sauce is extremely easy to make and only requires a few ingredients. 

In a bowl mix together unsalted butter, grated parmesan cheese, dried Italian seasoning (or a mix of dried oregano, basil, thyme, and rosemary), minced garlic, and a little more of the rub that was used on the wings.  Warm everything up and mix together. 

5. Sear the wings

When the wings hit an internal temperature of 165°F I like to sear them for about a minute on each side before pulling them off. The final temperature of the wings will be anywhere from 175-190°F. Your wings will still be juicy even if they are cooked to a higher internal temperature. Chicken wings are very forgiving unlike chicken breasts, which dry out if they are cooked past 165°F.

6. Serving the wings

Once the wings are done cooking you can place them in a bowl and toss them with the sauce or just lay the wings out on a plate and pour your sauce right on top. I like to garnish them with chives and then serve them immediately. 

Each bite will give you a nice buttery garlic punch that is sure to satisfy all wing lovers. If you want to make a spicy version of the sauce you can always add a little buffalo or hot sauce to the mix for that extra kick! 

Some more chicken recipes you might like to try

• Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Sauce
• Smoked Turkey Legs
• Smoked Buffalo Hot Wings With Crispy Skin
• Smoked Chicken Maryland
• Easy Smoked Chicken Breast