Level up your game day eats with sweet, sticky, spicy, and tangy Pepper Jelly Glazed Chicken Wings that will have you licking your fingers clean. These crispy grilled chicken wings will satisfy every craving bringing layers of flavor and all of the texture you love in the perfect wing…crispy, juicy, and fall of the bone tender.
Is there anything more satisfying than a plate piled high with charred, saucy, messy chicken wings? Whether it’s completely savory and spicy beer brined buffalo wings, or these gorgeously glazed sassy wings, they instantly get any game day or party started. With just a few simple ingredients including the beloved southern favorite, hot pepper jelly, these wings are as easy to toss together as they are finger licking delicious.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple Process – There’s nothing complicated about grilling chicken wings. They give you that balance of super crispy skin with juicy meat every time without any need to fry them. These grill indirect for the majority of the cooking time making them pretty much hands off.
- Texture and Flavor – These wings truly hit all of the flavor notes we crave in wings, spicy, sweet, tangy, savory, all wrapped into one. And the texture is everything! You get that super crispy skin, sticky sauce, and tender bite all in one.
- Minimal Ingredients – You don’t need a lot of complicated ingredients to pack a punch of big, bold flavor. Using hot pepper jelly as the sauce base, it’s just about adding a few flavor accents to give the sauce depth and dimension. And if you’re a true southerner, you probably already have a jar in your pantry…it’s not just for topping cream cheese!
Ingredients
- Chicken Wings – I prefer buying whole chicken wings and breaking them down myself. They’re not only usually larger, but also more budget friendly.
- Seasoning – Keep it simple with either salt, pepper, and granulated garlic, or your favorite savory seasoning. I like Spice & Tea’s Tailgater’s Spice Blend.
- Pepper Jelly – You will find pepper jelly in super mild varieties made pretty much from just red bell peppers to mild jalapeno pepper jellies, all the way to more fiery variations with habanero. Use what you like. This is how you can control the heat.
- Flavor Accents – This sauce is all about balance. Pepper jelly is on the sweet side, so soy sauce adds both salt and umami while fresh lime juice at the end adds tang. Fresh ginger and garlic bring a punch, and crushed red pepper flakes add a little additional heat without being over powering. Green onions add a delicate onion flavor.
- Butter – Wings and butter just belong together. This adds a glossy finish and a little richness to the sauce. You don’t need a lot and unsalted butter is recommended so you can control the final flavor profile.
- Toppings – Finish off your wings with a sprinkle of cilantro and thinly sliced green onions. You can also add pickled Fresno peppers for another layer of sweet heat.
How to Make Pepper Jelly Glazed Chicken Wings
- Season your wings. Pat your wings dry. Season both sides of the wings and place them on a rack fit into a baking sheet. Allow them to refrigerate for at least an hour up to overnight. This will allow the skin to dry out ensuring you get that crispy bite.
- Fire up the grill! Prepare your grill for indirect grilling. If using a kettle style grill position your charcoal in the center of the grill leaving the outer perimeter as the cooler zone. Other types of charcoal grills, bank the charcoal to one side leaving the opposite side cooler. For a gas grill only light a couple of burners, leaving a cooler zone. Close the lid and allow the grill to heat to between 375-400 degrees.
- Grill the wings. Place the wings on the cooler zone of the grill and close the lid. Allow them to grill for 20-25 minutes undisturbed.
- Make the glaze. While your wings are grilling make your sauce. Add the pepper jelly, grated garlic, grated ginger, crushed red pepper flakes, and soy sauce to a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until melted and then let come to a simmer for a couple of minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the cold butter and lime juice, and green onions. Set aside.
- Give them a check and a flip. After about 25 minutes flip your pepper jelly hot wings. You can reposition them if needed. Let them go for another 20-25 minutes. Allow them to continue grilling until they reach 175 internal and are crisped to your liking. You can continue to flip as needed. If you want them extra crispy place them over direct heat until charred.
- Sauce them up! Place cooked wings in a large bowl. Pour the glaze over the top and toss to fully coat them.
- Garnish and dive in! Pour the grilled pepper jelly chicken wings onto your serving platter. Sprinkle with additional green onions and cilantro. You can also top with pickled Fresno peppers and serve with lime wedges if desired.
Tips From the Beach
- For additional flavor, add your favorite wood chips to the charcoal.
- Most pepper jellies don’t have a lot of heat. To spice these up even more add additional crushed red pepper flakes or a hit of your favorite hot sauce.
- This glaze isn’t just for grilled chicken wings. It is equally delicious on pork chops, pork tenderloin, or grilled chicken breast or thighs.
- For the best flavor and crispy skin, always allow your wings to hang out in the fridge with the seasoning on a rack. This will allow the cool air to circulate around them, drying out the skin and deeply seasoning the meat.
- Unlike other parts of the chicken, wings are at their best when they’re cooked beyond 165. I aim for around 175 or a little beyond. This gives you that crave worthy combination of both super crispy skin, but fall off the bone tender meat.
- For the best flavor use fresh garlic and ginger, not the stuff from the tube that has additives. Because it’s grated into the glaze it easily dissolves while adding incredible depth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are pepper jelly glazed chicken wings spicy?
Many grocery store varieties of pepper jelly are made with just bell peppers and aren’t spicy at all. It depends on the brand of pepper jelly you use, but you can always add more heat.
Pepper Jelly Glazed Chicken Wings
Level up your game day eats with sweet, sticky, spicy, and tangy Pepper Jelly Glazed Chicken Wings.
- Prep Time: 10
- Chilling Time: 60
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Category: Entree
- Method: Grilling
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 pounds chicken wings, tips removed, flats and drums seperated
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
- 1 cup pepper jelly
- 1” ginger, grated
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 1/2 tablespoons less sodium soy sauce
- 1/2–1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, depending on preferred heat level
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 tablespoons green onions, plus additional for serving
- Cilantro for garnish
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- Mix together the salt, pepper, garlic, and cayenne if using. You can also use 3 teaspoons of your favorite savory seasoning instead.
- Sprinkle the seasoning evenly over both sides of the chicken wings. Place the wings on a wire rack fit into a baking sheet. Allow to refrigerate for at least an hour before grilling. This can be done the night before.
- Take your wings out while you heat up the grill.
- Prepare your grill for indirect grilling. If using a kettle style grill place the charcoal into the center of the grill, leaving the outer perimeter as the cooler zone. For all other types of grills bank the charcoal to one side of the grill leaving the other side of the grill cooler. For gas grills only ignite 2-3 burners. Close the lid and let your grill heat to between 375-400 degrees.
- Place the seasoned wings on the cooler side of the grill and close the lid. Let them grill for 20-25 minutes undisturbed.
- While the wings are grilling make your sauce. Add the pepper jelly, ginger, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, and soy sauce to a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until melted. Once melted let come to a simmer and bubble for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Stir in the cold butter, lime juice, and green onions. Set aside.
- Flip the wings, and rotate them if needed. Allow them to grill another 20-25 minutes.
- Continue to flip and rotate until your wings have reached 175 degrees or until your wings have reached your desired crispness. You can place them over direct heat to get them extra crispy if desired.
- Remove the wings from the grill and place into a large bowl. Pour the sauce over the top and sauce to combine and fully coat.
- Arrange the sauced wings on a serving platter. Garnish with cilantro, green onions, and lime wedges. You can also top with pickled Fresno chilis if desired.