Grill/Barbecue

Hot Lemon Pepper Wings

by:
September 21, 2010
5
1 Ratings
  • Makes 50 wings
Author Notes

I've been cooking chicken wings this way for my family for over 20 years - always a crowd pleaser. —Bigour

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 50 chicken wings with tips removed
  • enough apple cider vinegar to cover wings in a stock pot plus more for spritzing
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt for parboiling
  • 1.5 tablespoons ground pepper for parboiling
  • 1 bottle Louisiana Hot Sauce
  • lots of lemon pepper
  • kosher salt to taste
  • black pepper to taste
  • apple juice for spritzing
Directions
  1. Place wings with tips removed into a large stock pot.
  2. Pour enough apple cider vinegar into the pot to completely cover the wings.
  3. Add to the pot 2 tablespoons of kosher salt and 1.5 tablespoons of freshly ground black pepper.
  4. Bring the vinegar with the wings to a boil and then reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes.
  5. Remove wings from pot and place on tin foil all with the same side facing up. We'll call this Side 1.
  6. On Side 1 of the wings, pour half the bottle of Louisiana Hot Sauce, generously cover them in lemon pepper, then sprinkle over them a light coating of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
  7. Flip all wings and repeat Step 6 for Side 2.
  8. Set up a grill (I use a Big Green Egg) with an indirect heat setup and get it stabilized on low heat (275 - 300 degrees).
  9. Place the wings on the grill making sure that none of them are over any direct flames.
  10. Fill a clean plastic spray bottle (the kind you can get at the grocery store to fill with water or other cleaning liquids) 50/50 with apple juice and apple cider vinegar.
  11. After the wings have cooked about an hour, spritz them with the apple juice / vinegar mixture and the reapply more lemon pepper. If you like them hot, reapply more hot sauce.
  12. At the 1.5 hour mark, flip all the wings, spritz them with the juice/vinegar mixture, and reapply more lemon pepper.
  13. Continue to cook on low heat, spritzing and reapplying lemon pepper about every half hour, for a total time of about 3 hours, or until they begin to crisp up.
  14. You can increase the heat to 350 or so at the 3 hour mark to increase the crispiness, but make sure to check the meat against the bone to make sure you're not drying out the meat.
  15. I usually cook these for a total of about 3 - 4 hrs, but the time will vary depending on your grill setup. In the end you want crispy wings with pull-off-the-bone tender meat that is still tender and moist. These are great right off the grill, or served with a simple vinegar based coleslaw. Enjoy!!
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See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • ShoeboxKitchen
    ShoeboxKitchen
  • TiggyBee
    TiggyBee
  • Mike Davis
    Mike Davis
  • PegLeg
    PegLeg

7 Reviews

Mike D. July 15, 2015
Can I do it using drumsticks as well?
 
PegLeg September 23, 2010
They do look delicious. I don't have a grill. Do you think an oven preperation could still do them justice?
 
Bigour September 24, 2010
I don't have any idea about the oven prep. You could just give it a try and see what happens. I would be interested to see. Let me know.

Bigour
 
ABC September 21, 2010
love this recipe! we will have to do them this fall.
 
Shirley27 September 21, 2010
these look delish!
 
ShoeboxKitchen September 21, 2010
I (Jason of theshoeboxkitchen) can personally vouch for these wings. Bigour is my dad and I've been eating these wings since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. They are delicious.
 
TiggyBee September 21, 2010
That is so sweet Shoeboxkitchen!! I love lemon pepper, they look delish!! : )