The Best Way To Smoke Chicken Wings? Tried & Tested

Written by Chris - PelHeat in Food Last Updated 7th July 2024
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There is obviously not just a single recipe to cook chicken wings or smoke chicken wings. But which method is the best? Well, the guys at Camp Chef conducted a little experiment where they seasoned and smoked with five different methods. The winner of this experiment actually surprised me, as its a method I’ve not tried before, but I definitely will after watching this experiment.

Tap/Click above to watch the test or scroll below to see the various steps/results: Video – CampChef.com

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For this experiment they gave all the chicken wings a base seasoning, then they prepared/cooked them in five different ways.

  • Just Smoked
  • Smoked and then Fried
  • Smoked with a covering of oil
  • Smoked with a covering of baking powder
  • Smoked, covered in Panko crumbs, and then fried
Step 1: First, all of the chicken was seasoned with the Camp Chef Veggievore seasoning.
Step 2: The chicken wings were then rolled around in the seasoning so they all got a good even covering.
Step 3: A portion of the chicken wings were then dressed in olive oil as well.
Step 4: A separate portion of chicken wings was then given a dusting of baking powder (this was a new one on me).
Step 5: All of the different types of chicken wings were placed on the Camp Chef Apex to get some smoke flavor into them, but kept in different areas on the grates for the test.
Step 6: After around an hour on the Apex, the internal temperature of the chicken wings showed 130 degrees and this is how they looked, all pretty similar.
Step 7: Some of the wings (without olive oil or baking powder) were then removed to be fried up.
Step 8: As the Apex has a propane side burner, a pan of oil (350 degrees) was ready to go. Frying the chicken will provide them with both additional flavor and texture.
Step 9: This is what the chicken wings looked like directly from the frier.
Step 10: Some of the smoked chicken wings were then coated in Panko breadcrumbs and then placed into the frier.
Step 11: This was the end result after the Panko breadcrumbed chicken came out of the frier which definitely has a very appealing appearance, to me anyway.
Step 12: The smoked chicken wings that remained in the Apex (Smoked, Oil & Smoked, Baking Powder and Smoked) were then seared off to finish cooking them and to provide additional flavor/texture.
Step 13: So in the background, those are the smoked and then fried chicken wings.
Step 14: These are the smoked, then Panko coated, and then fried chicken wings (they do look fantastic).
Step 15: These chicken wings were just smoked and then seared.
Step 16: These ones were covered in olive oil and then smoked.
Step 17: Finally, these are the chicken wings were coated in baking powder and then smoked and seared.

After all that, the guys at Camp Chef went through scoring the chicken wings in various categories. In terms of look, the Panko coated and then fried wings came out on top. Which, I think many people like myself will agree with.

In terms of crispy texture the Panko/fired chicken wings also won, and they also won on taste. When it came to the final category, the Panko/fired wings did come last on ease to produce, but that’s simply because there were more steps involved.

When it came to the final scoring, the baking powder smoked chicken wings came in 5th place, followed by the ‘control’ chicken wings, which were just seasoned, smoked, and then seared.

The chicken wings coated in oil and then smoked/seared and those that were actually fried in oil got the same overall score and came in second place, which surprised me. But, as you will have worked out overall, the smoked then Panko/fried chicken wings came out on top.

It’s not a method I’ve thought of before for preparing smoked chicken wings, but it’s definitely something I’m not going to try.

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