Smoked spicy chicken wings — the ultimate party food. Dry-rubbed with a fiery spice blend, slow-smoked over apple wood, then tossed in a sweet-hot honey BBQ glaze for the last 25 minutes. Crispy, sticky, properly spicy.

Recipe is calibrated for HEAT — adjust the chilli powder to taste if you're cooking for kids or wimps.

Photo by Proper Quality Shandis on Unsplash

Serves: 6-8 as a starter or 4 as a main · Prep: 30 min + marinating · Smoke: 70 min · Wood: apple

Photo: Elena Leya / Unsplash

Dry rub:

• 2½ tablespoons ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon chilli powder (reduce to 1 teaspoon for milder)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon seasoned salt

Wings + glaze:

• 2kg chicken wings, rinsed and dried
• 1 cup honey
• ½ cup hot BBQ sauce (or regular if you prefer)
• 3 tablespoons apple juice

1. Mix the dry rub. Combine all the rub spices in a small bowl.

2. Coat the wings. Place wings in a large Ziplock bag, pour the rub in, seal and shake to coat thoroughly. Marinate at least 30 minutes at room temperature, or up to 24 hours in the fridge for deeper flavour.

3. Pre-heat smoker to 107°C (225°F) with apple wood chunks/chips ready.

4. First smoke (45 minutes): place wings on the top rack. Smoke 20 minutes, turn, smoke another 25 minutes. Internal temperature should reach 65°C.

5. While wings smoke, make the glaze: combine honey, BBQ sauce and apple juice in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until warm and smooth. Don't boil.

6. Glaze and finish (25 minutes): remove wings from smoker, place in a disposable foil pan. Pour the warm glaze over and toss until every wing is coated.

7. Return to smoker on the second rack. Smoke 25 more minutes, stirring every 8-10 minutes to redistribute the glaze.

8. Serve immediately with extra napkins, cold beer, blue cheese dressing for dipping (cuts the heat), and celery sticks.

• Heat scale: as written it's properly hot. For mild, use 1 tsp chilli + sub the hot BBQ sauce for sweet baby ray's. For nuclear, add cayenne to the rub and use sriracha-based hot sauce in the glaze
• No smoker? Same recipe works in a covered Weber kettle with charcoal pushed to one side (indirect heat) and apple chunks. Or in the oven at 110°C — won't have smoke flavour, but technique still works
• Crisper skin: increase smoker temp to 135°C for the last 10 minutes; or pop in a 220°C oven for 5-10 minutes to crisp up
• Wing tips: save them in the freezer for stock — don't waste
• Glaze applications: the same honey-BBQ glaze works on smoked drumsticks, ribs, pork shoulder, even tofu

Game-day food, party food, weekend BBQ food. The dry rub + apple smoke + sweet-hot glaze combination is just bulletproof. Pair with a cold lager, blue cheese dressing, and stop apologising for the pile of bones at the end.