Mexican-Inspired Grilled Chicken Wings

It's time to get your grill on!  Perfecto for impromptu barbecues, we love this Mexican-inspired, dry-rub grilled chicken wing recipe because there is no need to marinate the chicken beforehand.

Serving Size:

3 To 4 People

Total Cooking Time With Prep:

45 Minutes To An Hour

What You Will Need:

- Charcoal Grill - Large Bowl - 3 lbs of whole chicken wings (wing tips included) - Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Sea Salt (table salt is fine too) - Granulated Garlic Powder - Cayenne Pepper - Fresh Ground Pepper - Tapatio Hot Sauce - Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice - Small Stack of Cilantro

Directions:

First things first, prepare your charcoal grill with a heap of gray/white coals in the middle of the coal catcher. I insist that you leave the charcoal unadulterated (i.e. no lighter fluid) because it will ruin the flavors you are about to embark on. Normally I use a standard sized Weber grill that comfortably fits 3 lbs of chicken wings on the outer edge of the grill leaving the middle completely open for other food to grill with direct heat. You don’t want your chicken wings on top of direct heat for too long because they will char too quickly (and you don't want burnt, undercooked chicken wings!) The old barbeque adage goes, “Low And Slow Is the Way To Go!” While the coals are heating up nicely on the grill, grab a large sized bowl and put all the chicken wings in. Once you’ve done that, begin to add: sea salt, cayenne pepper, fresh ground pepper, granulated garlic powder, Tapatio Hot Sauce, and fresh squeezed lime juice, liberally. Now this is when things get dirty! Mix up all the ingredients in the bowl with your hands in order to massage all these ingredients into the chicken wings. Once you’ve done that, you might want to add another helping of the ingredients above in order to cover the wings that were on the bottom of the bowl, but that’s completely up to your discretion and taste buds. You want to make sure the chicken wings have a light red tint to them, if not add more cayenne pepper to the equation.  Before you put the wings on the grill, be sure to whip out that extra virgin olive oil and liberally coat the top of the bowl full of wings and stir it all up again. The Extra Virgin Olive Oil will act as a nice coating in order to keep the previous ingredients on the wings and to help crisp up the wings while they’re cooking on the grill. After all that elbow grease has been used up mixing the bowl full of wings, you’re about ready to go put these bad boys on the grill. Be sure to put the wings on the edges of your circular grill with the skin side facing down and the wing tips facing toward the middle of the grill. Once every 3 to 4 minutes you want to flip the wings over with the wing tips facing toward the edge of the grill and the skin side facing up. Be sure to rotate the wing tip and skin side positions in various ways to make sure that every portion of the wings has been on the grill. You want to achieve a nice golden brown hue to your wings, which usually takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour of flipping them every 3-4 minutes. Make sure to keep the lid on top of the grill during the last portion of the cooking process in order to achieve a nice smoky flavor. While you’re waiting for the wings to cook, be sure to grab that stack of cilantro and dice them up finely, which will serve as a nice garnish after you take the wings off the grill and onto a serving plate. Please send any pictures, success stories, or comments about this recipe to [email protected]. I’d love to hear how your chicken wings turn out!