These crispy Traeger Smoked Chicken Wings are bursting with smokey, tender and juicy flavor. With Traeger’s signature wood-fired taste, you’ll get that deep, campfire essence with a crisp and crackling skin.
Using a Traeger smoker is one of the best ways to smoke chicken wings.
Especially if you have one of the Ironwood models of their smoker grills, the temperature regulating technology in these devices ensure a nice even smoke, no matter what you are cooking and how long you are cooking it.
How Do You Make Traeger Smoked Chicken Wings?
First, we prep the chicken wings with our dry rub and seasoning process.
Then, we smoke the chicken wings on the Traeger until they’re crispy & golden brown – using our choice of wood pellets (I prefer hickory wood).
Key Elements Of This Recipe
- Quality Chicken Wings: Fresh, organic chicken wings work best
- Hickory Smoke: Using a good quality smoker, like the Traeger Ironwood XL Pellet Smoker
The Ingredients for Traeger Smoked Chicken Wings
- 800g Chicken Wings (about 12-18 wings)
- Dry Rub
- 2 tablespoons Salt
- 2 tablespoon Black Pepper
- 4 tablespoons Traeger Fin and Feather Rub
The Equipment Needed
- Traeger Ironwood Wood Pellet Grill (or any other quality smoker)
- Oven Rack
Prepare Your Chicken Wings
The key to having amazingly crispy and flavorful chicken wings, is to season them the night before and let them sit in the fridge so the skin can dry out.
Start by lining up your wings on a drying rack and then drying them out with a paper towel.
Sprinkle your dry rub ingredients liberally onto your wings, remembering to flip them once and coat the other side.
Afterwards, place the rack in the fridge overnight, so that the dry rub can penetrate the chicken wings and the skin can dry out a bit.
Pro Tip: Using a drying rack here is key so that there is good air flow on both the top and bottom of the wings. This will help the skin dry out and tighten a bit in the fridge.
Smoking Your Chicken Wings
Fire up your smoker to 300°F.
I’m running a Traeger Ironwood XL Pellet Smoker, with hickory pellets – but any quality smoker will work here.
Place your prepped chicken wings directly onto the grill and smoke them until they reach an internal temperature of 150°F. (This should take anywhere from 15-30 minutes depending on your smoker and your environment.)
Then, raise the temperature of your smoker to 450°F – so that we can crisp up the skin of the wings as they finish cooking. Finish smoking at this heat until the internal temperature of your wings reach 175°F.
Pro Tip: Watch your wings carefully after you raise your smoker temperature to 450°F. This last step can be really quick, and you’ll want to make sure you don’t burn your wings.
Once your wings have hit 175°F internal temp, remove from the grill.
No Smoker? No Problem – Oven Method
Heat up your oven to 350°F and bake the wings on a tray – until the internal temperature of the wings reach 175°F. You won’t have the smoke flavor this way, but the wings will still be crispy & delicious.
Serving Your Traeger Smoked Chicken Wings
Once removed from the smoker, plate in a large bowl and serve with your choice of dipping sauce, like Cowboy Butter or Bacon Honey Butter!
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 800 grams Chicken Wings, (about 12-18 wings)
Dry Rub
- 2 tablespoons Salt
- 2 tablespoons Black Pepper
- 4 tablespoons Traeger Fin and Feather Rub
Instructions
Prepare Your Chicken Wings
- The key to having amazingly crispy and flavorful chicken wings, is to season them the night before and let them sit in the fridge so the skin can dry out.
- Start by mixing all of your dry rub ingredients together.
- Next, dry your chicken wings with a paper towel, then line them up on a drying rack.
- Sprinkle your dry rub liberally onto your wings, remembering to flip them once and coat the other side.
- Afterwards, place the rack in the fridge overnight, so that the dry rub can penetrate the chicken wings and the skin can dry out a bit.
- Pro Tip: Using a drying rack here is key so that there is good air flow on both the top and bottom of the wings. This will help the skin dry out and tighten a bit in the fridge.
Smoking Your Chicken Wings
- Fire up your smoker to 300°F.
- I'm running a Traeger Ironwood XL Pellet Smoker, with hickory pellets – but any quality smoker will work here.
- Place your prepped chicken wings directly onto the grill and smoke them until they reach an internal temperature of 150°F. (This should take anywhere from 15-30 minutes depending on your smoker and your environment.)
- Then, raise the temperature of your smoker to 450°F – so that we can crisp up the skin of the wings as they finish cooking. Finish smoking at this heat until the internal temperature of your wings reach 175°F.
- Pro Tip: Watch your wings carefully after you raise your smoker temperature to 450°F. This last step can be really quick, and you'll want to make sure you don't burn your wings.
- Once your wings have hit 175°F internal temp, remove from the grill.
No Smoker? No Problem – Oven Method
- Heat up your oven to 350°F and bake the wings on a tray – until the internal temperature of the wings reach 175°F. You won't have the smoke flavor this way, but the wings will still be crispy & delicious.
Serving Your Traeger Smoked Chicken Wings
- Once removed from the smoker, plate in a large bowl and serve with your choice of dipping sauce, like Cowboy Butter or Bacon Honey Butter!
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is just an estimate derived by an online calculation tool.
FAQ
Do you need to flip chicken wings on a smoker?
As long as they are directly on the smoker racks, you do not need to flip them.
How long do you smoke chicken wings?
Smoke chicken wings until they reach an internal temperature of 175°F.
How do you get extra crispy skin when smoking chicken wings?
Flash frying (after you smoke) is probably the easiest way to get crispy skin on your smoked wings. But outside of that, in this recipe, we crank up the smoker from 300°F to 450°F, for the last leg of our smoke – which helps to crisp up the skin of our wings.
Paula
These wings were sooooo good on our traeger this memorial day. Yum!
Megan Ellam
Perfection! The fin and feather rub is insanely good too! A regular meal here.
Tammy
These sound marvelous! What a delicious summer recipe. I wish we had a smoker now!
Jenny
The seasoning is awesome and the chicken wings came out delicious. I think it is a great recipe for smoking protein, I am going to try it for other kinds of meat as well.
Jennifer
We recently purchased a smoker and I am trying several recipes. These chicken wings are fantastic, they came out delicious and tender. We loved them and will try more recipes from your site, you share great information and food ideas.
Lauren
This recipe worked out great on our smoker. The wings had really delicious flavor. Will use this recipe again!
Molly Kumar
Wow, these look so good and crispy yummm. The rub looks so good and will try find it in my local store.
Cathleen
I am obsessed with these chicken wings! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, I will be making it over and over this summer 🙂
Mikayla
Though I do not have a Traeger smoker I used the Traeger rub and my green egg and it turned out terrific.
Sean
I loved how these turned out. They were so easy to make and so flavorful!
Martin
Amazing recipe!! I finally got my Traeger grill and the first thing I made were these smoked wings. They came out so crispy and delicious! Raising the temperature really worked – thanks for the helpful tip. It’s now a family favorite!
Jacqueline Debono
These are the best smoked chicken wings ever! I think it really makes a difference seasoning the wings the night before!
Eden
We really enjoyed these wings Memorial Day weekend! Not a single wing left, they were BOMB! I’ll be keeping this on rotation all summer
Shelley
Traegers just do such amazing things with chicken! So why not wings?!? And seriously – these are no ordinary “sports bar” wings! Yum yum yum – crispy texture and so juicy and tender inside!!
Amy
This was an excellent recipe. I am so happy to have this smoker now and will be trying all the recipes.
chara
Love this recipe, best for lunch. Will try this soon. Thanks for sharing
Gianne
The wings came out incredibly juicy with a perfect smoky flavor that had my friends asking for seconds. I highly recommend this recipe for anyone looking to impress their guests with delicious, finger-licking goodness!
amy liu dong
Oh my gosh, these chicken wings look so good and tasty. I love that you provided us with a different way of cooking this aside from using a Traeger. Thank you and I will definitely make this recipe at home!
Carlo
This is the BEST smoked wings recipe! I could never get crispy chicken wings in the smoker until I tried this recipe! Great tip about letting them season overnight to dry out the skin. This is the only recipe I’ll use from now on. Thank you!!
Juyali
Delicious is an understatement. You knocked it out of the park with this recipe! These are my new favorite wings now. I’ll be making three batches for 4th of July. Thank you!
Riley
I meant to leave a comment after making this over the summer – the rub really is amazing and works well with the smoky flavor!