Most people either bake wings or grill them. Martha Stewart does both and that is what makes her Barbecued Chicken Wings better than both methods on their own.
You bake 24 whole wings at 400 degrees until cooked through, then finish them on a hot grill with barbecue sauce until they are charred and sticky.
Three ingredients plus sauce. This Martha Stewart chicken wings recipe is the simplest thing at any summer cookout and people always ask what is different about them.
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Bake First, Then Grill
The trick is that the oven does the cooking and the grill does the finishing. Thirty minutes at 400 degrees gets the wings fully cooked through without you worrying about raw spots or flare-ups on the grill.
Then all the grill has to do is caramelize the BBQ sauce and put char marks on the outside, which takes 6 to 7 minutes. No babysitting, no burned-outside-raw-inside wings.
Barbecued Chicken Wings Ingredients
- 24 whole chicken wings
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
- Pierre’s Barbecue Sauce (or your favorite store-bought BBQ sauce)
How To Make Martha Stewart Barbecued Chicken Wings
- Bake the wings: Set the oven to 400 degrees. Split the wings between 2 rimmed baking sheets. Drizzle each sheet with about 4 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper. Toss to coat. Bake until cooked through, about 30 minutes.
- Heat the grill: While the wings bake, preheat the grill to medium-high. If using charcoal, the coals are ready when you can hold your hand 5 inches above the grill for just 3 to 4 seconds.
- Grill with sauce: Brush the baked wings with barbecue sauce and put them on the grill. Turn and brush with more sauce occasionally until heated through and marked by the grill, 6 to 7 minutes. Serve right away.
Why Baking First Changes Everything
Raw wings on a grill are a gamble. The fat drips, the flames jump, and the outside burns before the inside is done.
Baking them first takes all of that stress away. By the time they hit the grill they are already cooked through and all the sauce has to do is caramelize.
The BBQ Sauce Question
Martha calls for Pierre’s Barbecue Sauce which is her own recipe. Any thick store-bought BBQ sauce works if you do not want to make it from scratch.
Brush the sauce on at the grill stage, not during baking. Sugar in BBQ sauce burns fast in a 400 degree oven but caramelizes perfectly over direct grill heat in minutes.
Make These The Day Before
Martha says you can bake the wings a day ahead and refrigerate them. Bring them to room temperature before grilling and you get the messy oven step out of the way early.
The day of, you just brush sauce and grill for 7 minutes while your guests are already there. Nobody sees the prep and everyone thinks you just casually grilled 24 wings from scratch.
What To Bring To The Cookout
If I am bringing these somewhere I also make coleslaw because it travels cold and cuts through all that sticky sauce. Potato salad is the other thing that always shows up with wings at my house.
For a full spread I add baked beans and call it a cookout. Pasta salad works too if someone else already brought the potato salad.
FAQs
- Do I have to grill these or can I just bake them? You can skip the grill and brush the sauce on during the last 10 minutes of baking. You will not get the char marks or the smoky flavor but the wings will still be good. I have done oven-only when it rained on a cookout and nobody complained.
- Can I cut the wings into drumettes and flats first? Yes and they are easier to eat that way. The bake time stays about the same. I leave them whole when I am being lazy and cut them when I want them to look more like restaurant wings.
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Nutrition Facts
(1 serving, serves 12)
- Calories: 320
- Total Fat: 22g
- Saturated Fat: 6g
- Cholesterol: 95mg
- Sodium: 420mg
- Total Carbohydrates: 5g
- Protein: 24g
Martha Stewart Barbecued Chicken Wings Recipe
Description
Most people either bake wings or grill them. Martha Stewart does both and that is what makes her Barbecued Chicken Wings better than both methods on their own. You bake 24 whole wings at 400 degrees until cooked through, then finish them on a hot grill with barbecue sauce until they are charred and sticky.
Three ingredients plus sauce. This Martha Stewart chicken wings recipe is the simplest thing I bring to a summer cookout and people always ask what I did differently. The answer is the oven step that nobody sees.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Bake the wings: Set the oven to 400 degrees. Split the wings between 2 rimmed baking sheets. Drizzle each sheet with about 4 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper. Toss to coat. Bake until cooked through, about 30 minutes.
- Heat the grill: While the wings bake, preheat the grill to medium-high. If using charcoal, the coals are ready when you can hold your hand 5 inches above the grill for just 3 to 4 seconds.
- Grill with sauce: Brush the baked wings with barbecue sauce and put them on the grill. Turn and brush with more sauce occasionally until heated through and marked by the grill, 6 to 7 minutes. Serve right away.
Notes
- Bake a day ahead: You can bake the wings and refrigerate them. Bring to room temperature before grilling the next day.
- Save the sauce for the grill: BBQ sauce burns in the oven because of the sugar. Brush it on at the grill stage only.
- Charcoal test: Hold your hand 5 inches above the grill. If you can only last 3 to 4 seconds, the heat is right.