If you love grilling as much as I do, you’re going to love my Grilled Dry Rub Chicken Wings! I especially love those extra charred bits.
I love the wing seasoning I use for my dry rub wings. It’s a blend of garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder and other favorite seasonings.
My dry rub wings are perfect for game day or anytime your friends gather to enjoy life and all the deliciousness it has to offer.
Ingredients
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Grilled Dry Rub Chicken Wings. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
How do I split Chicken Wings?
Let’s talk about safety first.
Always use a cutting board to cut meats, seafood or vegetables. That being said, always make sure your cutting board has been properly cleaned and sanitized between uses. Use your favorite household cleaner and always wash the board twice.
*You can also place the once cleaned cutting board into your dishwasher for a really good cleaning. This is super important when cutting any meat or seafood.
Cutting chicken wings is really simple. All you need to do is locate the joint and cut through it.
Hold one end firmly and securely while cutting through the joint carefully. I leave the wing tips on for some of the wing dishes I create, but feel free to chop off the wing tip if you prefer. (If you do remove the wingtip, save them in a ziplock bag in the freezer for the next time you make chicken soup)
Chef Dennis Tip: If you keep the knife down low (directly on the joint) you’ll have less chance of cutting yourself.
How do I decide what spices to use for Dry Rub Wings?
A lot of what I do is my take on foods I’ve seen or eaten on my travels. These wings were recreated from a dishful of deliciousness I enjoyed on a recent adventure. I simply pulled out a few spices from my cabinet and started blending until I got the flavor profile just right.
Cooking is rocket science and lots of times it comes down to using ingredients that you like, rather than exactly what the recipe calls for. I went through a few variations of spice combinations to come up with the one I eventually used for my dry rub and hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
If you’re not sure about the flavors, make half a batch my way and try your own seasoning blend on the other half. Who knows maybe you’ll find a tasty compromise or enjoy them as is.
Pat the seasoning into the wing to get an overall coverage of the wings with the seasoning. Feel free to use less seasoning, I like mine bursting with flavor!
The next step is to place them on your preheated grill (medium-high heat) and cook for about 20 minutes. Turn the wings often to avoid burning them. The brown sugar in the seasoning mixture will caramelize and burn faster than you think.
That being said I love the charred parts as you’ll find most men do. Just serve green vegetables or a big salad along with them to add as a detox for the charring. Here’s a good article to read about foods that help detoxify the body.
You can reduce charing by placing a doubled sheet of tinfoil on the grill. This can be used as early in the process as you like, but I would recommend getting a little color on them before placing them on the foil.
*You will still need to turn the wings often, even on the foil.
Can I cook dry rub chicken wings in the oven?
You certainly can. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and place the prepared wings on a cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheet on an oven rack placed in the top third of the oven. After 7-10 minutes turn the wings over and return to the oven.
Turn the oven down to 350 and cook for another 10-12 minutes or until the wings have good color and the internal temperature of the chicken is at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you love oven-baked chicken try my Crispy Chicken Legs Recipe.
Can I cook wings in an air fryer?
Yes, you can. Place the wings in a non-preheated air fryer at 375°F and let them cook for about 20 minutes. The dry rub wings should be crispy on the outside and fully cooked through in the center.
Wouldn’t you love to sit down to this delicious plate of wings?
Recipe FAQ’s
Definitely before is the preferred method of using this wing seasoning. But you can always add a little more using a shaker to apply the seasoning after cooking if you like.
The natural moisture in the wings will attract the seasoning, allowing you to get a good coating on the wings.
You can dry the wings with paper towels and add a light coating of oil to the wings before the seasoning, but this step isn’t really necessary.
You can let the rub marinate on the wings for up to 8 hours, but 30 minutes should be more than enough time to let the seasonings penetrate the wings.
More Chicken Wing Recipes You’ll Love!
Dry Rub Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken wings split at first joint. *remove wing tip if desired
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 ½ tsp granulated onion
- 1 ½ tsp granulated garlic
- 1 ½ tsp chili powder
- 1 ½ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Measure all ingredients into a small mixing bowl and thoroughly mix to fully incorporate spices.
- Rub the chicken wings on all sides with a generous amount of the dry rub.
- Preheat the grill to medium high heat (350º-400ºF)
- Place dry-rubbed wings on the grill allowing to cook for 6-8 minutes. Turn wings occasionally to crisp them all over. They can cook longer if they don’t look crisp enough.
- *Be careful not to burn in the wings, the sugar in the dry rub can cause the wings to burn.
- Move the chicken wings to indirect heat and continue to cook with the lid closed for another 8-10 minutes.
Brie
These are great. Very easy and a crowd pleaser. Thank you Dennis love your site.
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks for the great review and comment Brie, I’m very happy to hear you enjoyed the wings!
Terri Pierracos
OMG this is amazing! I have tried this recipe both on the barbecue and in the Air Fryer. These are the best wings I have ever tasted and I have tried many recipes! In the Air Fryer I sprayed the wings with cooking spray and used the Chicken setting for 28 minutes. They are better than the oven, so crispy and delicious! This is now my go to chicken wing recipe. I love how healthy and tasty they are! Thank you for this great recipe!
Brienne
Hi chef!! As you know we love this.. do you think it would work on ribs? Or do you have any other suggestions.
Thanks !
Chef Dennis Littley
Hi Brienne
the rub would work on ribs, but ribs need to be cooked much longer over indirect heat or in the oven. I have a dry rub recipe for ribs, that is really good -> https://www.askchefdennis.com/grilled-baby-back-ribs/
Bloome
Listen! These were amazing. I substituted the salt for lawry’s seasoned salt and that’s it. Popped these babies right in the air fryer and they were crispy and delicious! I couldn’t stop eating. I’ll be adding some kick to them next time. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Janet DeLeon
Tried your rub this eve. And OMG, I didn’t even deviate or add to it. It was sooooo delicious, I was be saving this for more wings. Thank you for sharing
Tina T
Hello,
Before starting I would like to know what I can add to give the receipe some hotness Please!
Chef Dennis Littley
you can add more chili powder, siracha dry spice, chipotle, cajun seasoning, or any other type of chili spice you have on hand.
Natalie
Oh wow, this looks fantastic. I love the spices you used here. What a lovely flavor combo. I’m super excited to give this a try. We’re having a bbq this weekend 🙂
Colleen
I only like dry rubs for chicken wings – and this was an interesting combination with the brown sugar which does add a bit of ‘wet’ but also serves to give the ‘grilled’ effect. I made mine in the oven, and they took about 45 minutes at 400 – but I swear my new oven has a problem with the thermostat. I ended up turning it to broil for less than 5 minutes at the end – and got the charred look from the brown sugar. The wings were moist and flavourful – without a lot of heat – which I liked because I could taste all the flavours of the spices along with the chicken. This is an excellent recipe and I have tried a few. This one will become my staple. Thank you Chef Dennis.
Joanne
These were finger licking good!! Sweet, savory, and easy to make! 😋 My fiancé loved them. I saved this recipe to make again!
Stephanie
I cooked these once in the oven as directed. Delicious but they took quite a bit more time than you indicate to get crispy.
E
Top notch
Joe
This is now my go to dry rub for poultry, so good!
Jeanne
These are so easy and delicious! I have made these several times and family and friends love them!
Kathy Rogers
Made these tonight. OMG the best! Thanks for sharing your recipe.