Smoked Wings — Hot Method

Current Preferred Direction

225°F for 25 minutes → 375°F until rendered/crisp and ready.

This is a successful direction, but not fully finalized. The next cook should test only a shorter 375°F finishing period.

Cook History

9/27/26 — Smoked-Then-Hot Wings

Status: Successful experiment / current preferred direction

Amount

• Approximately 5 lb chicken wings.

Seasoning

• Batch split between Meat Church Texas Sugar and Meat Church Holy Voodoo.

Preparation

• Wings dried thoroughly, seasoned, and refrigerated uncovered before cooking.

Cook

• Traeger at 225°F.
• Wings on at 2:25 PM.
• Smoked at 225°F for 25 minutes.
• At 2:50 PM, increased smoker to 375°F.
• Flipped around 3:10 PM.
• Removed at 3:30 PM.
• Total cook time: approximately 65 minutes.
• Total high-heat portion: approximately 40 minutes.

Results

• Wings tasted good and the method was successful.
• Internal temperatures at removal were generally 190°F+, with one wing measuring approximately 207°F.
• The wings were allowed to cook somewhat longer than necessary.
• Retain the initial 225°F smoke stage for the next experiment because the overall result was good.

Next Experiment

• Keep the seasoning and 225°F × 25-minute smoke stage unchanged.
• Increase to 375°F as before.
• Begin checking/probing after approximately 25 minutes at 375°F rather than waiting 40 minutes.
• Target roughly 175-190°F on the larger pieces while also judging by rendered/crisp skin.
• Remove individual pieces as they become ready if necessary.
• Goal: retain the added smoke and good skin while avoiding unnecessary cooking past the desired temperature.

Previous Straight-375°F Cook

Prep

• Pat wings very dry.
• Season approximately 30 minutes before cooking.
• Tested:
  • Meat Church Texas Sugar
  • Meat Church Holy Voodoo

Cook

• Smoker at 375°F.
• Cook approximately 40 minutes.
• Cook until skin is crisp and chicken is properly cooked.

Result

• “Really good.”
• Excellent crispy skin.
• Much better skin than low-and-slow method.
• Wanted slightly more smoke flavor, but texture was considerably better.

Earlier Low-Temperature Experiment

• Produced more smoke but leathery skin.
• Not currently preferred.