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Hot Honey Wings — Smoked, hot off the pit
ChickenEditor’s pick

Hot Honey Wings

Crispy-skinned wings smoked low, then lacquered in hot honey with a vinegar backbone, sweet heat that cuts the smoke.

PTby Pitmaster Tripp4.7 (3)

Recipe to cook

Wood-Smoked Hot Honey Chicken Wings

Sweeter smoke, like Pecan or similar, does the heavy lifting here. Low & slow to render, then a hot finish to crisp. Riff on the wood or the heat once you own the base cook.

2 hrsCook Time
250°FPit Temp
Pecan or similarWood
175°FTarget Internal
MediumDifficulty

Gather

Ingredients

Everything you need, whichever way you cook it.

  • 2 lbs chicken wings, split
  • Kosher salt (for the dry brine)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp Wang Dust Smoke City Shake
  • 1/2 cup hot honey
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • Chives or green onions (for finishing)

Before the pit

Prep

If you're able, start this the day before. It's the difference between good wings and great wings your friends ask for by name.

  1. Dry-brine the wings with kosher salt at least 24 hours ahead.

  2. Remove wings from fridge and pat dry any moisture with paper towels.

  3. Apply a light binder for the rub. Lightly coat wings in a higher temp cooking oil (avocado or grape seed work well). In a pinch, you can add your shake dry or even use regular yellow mustard (doesn't impart any flavor), but this adds water to the skin, which we want to avoid for crispier skin.

  4. Toss or shake in the Smoke City Shake // Wang Dust rub and baking powder until evenly coated.

  5. Rest uncovered on a wire rack in the fridge so the skin dries.

Smoke 'em

The Cook

Low and slow over pecan until the skin snaps.

  1. Set the pit to 250°F over pecan, running clean thin smoke.

  2. Smoke the wings about 1.5 hours to 165°F internal.

  3. Crisp the skin over higher heat until they hit 175°F.

  4. Toss in warm hot honey with a splash of vinegar and the butter.

Bring it home

Finish & Serve

Bring the heat home and get them to the table.

  1. Finish with flake salt and chopped chives or green onions

  2. Serve immediately with additional hot honey on the side

  3. Optional: If the spicy heat is a concern, also serve with a dipping sauce like traditional Ranch or Cool Avocado Crema Sauce

In this cook

Techniques & Methods

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Gear for this cook

Smoked Setup

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From the community

Cook photos

See how the community pulled it off — then add your own.

Marcus Webb’s Hot Honey Wings cook
MWMarcus WebbFeatured

Sunday batch over pecan.

Dana Tillman’s Hot Honey Wings cook
DTDana Tillman

First smoke on the new pit.

Terrell Boone’s Hot Honey Wings cook
TBTerrell Boone

Char-grilled, two-zone.

Talk it out

Discussion

Questions, tweaks, and results from cooks who have made this.

MWMarcus WebbJuly 6, 2026

Pecan vs cherry on these?

Made these twice on pecan — thinking cherry next for color. Anyone tried it?

2 replies
DTDana TillmanJuly 6, 2026

Glaze timing

Tossed at the end like the steps say — zero burn. These are in the rotation.

0 replies

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