Three-Ingredient Grilled Chicken Wings

4.91 from 11 votes

Three-Ingredient Grilled Chicken Wings

We’ve been making these wings for a solid 20 years. They are a staple of our summer dinner table to the point that the first wing grill of the season is actually an observance in our family. But MOST notable is that they only require three ingredients–chicken wings, salt, and pepper.

Prep Time5

Cook Time20

Total Time5 20

Course: Chicken

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 319kcal

Ingredients

3 1/2 pounds chicken wings (about 1.5 kg)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Instructions

First, wash the chicken wings and pat dry. Place in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the wings and mix thoroughly with your hands. This helps the seasoning really adhere to the chicken.
Let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours. If you let them marinate overnight, all the better! When the wings are done marinating, fire up your grill. Let it get pretty hot--if your grill has one of those fancy thermometers, let it get all the way up to max heat.
Grilling is a rather inexact science, so let your resident grillmaster handle these. I'm happy to say that in recent years, I've very nearly usurped my dad--at least when it comes to wings! If you're a grilling novice and need a few more tips, though, here's how I cook them:
Place the wings on the grill, topside down. After about 3-5 minutes, you can turn them 90 degrees to brown them evenly. Close the grill to let them cook through as well. Though you should only close the grill for 45-60 seconds at a time, as grease flare-ups can occur pretty easily with wings. When the top of the wing is thoroughly grilled (you'll know it by the golden, lightly crisped and charred skin), flip the wings. Lower the heat to medium/medium high, and repeat these steps until the wings are cooked through, periodically closing the grill to let them cook through. Some wings will cook faster than others, so you can place those on indirect heat while the rest finish up.

Nutrition

Three-Ingredient Grilled Chicken Wings by The Woks of Life. Recipe URL: https://body-goals.fit/three-ingredient-grilled-chicken-wings/%3C/em%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cscript%3Ewindow.wprm_recipes = {"recipe-31611":{"type":"food","name":"Three-Ingredient Grilled Chicken Wings","slug":"wprm-three-ingredient-grilled-chicken-wings","image_url":"https:\/\/thewoksoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/grilled-chicken-wings-4-1.jpg","rating":{"count":11,"total":54,"average":4.91,"type":{"comment":10,"no_comment":1,"user":0},"user":0},"ingredients":[{"amount":"3 1\/2","unit":"pounds","name":"chicken wings","notes":"(about 1.5 kg)","id":728,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"3 1\/2","unit":"pounds","timestamp":1774159782000},"type":"ingredient","uid":0,"unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"3 1\/2","unit":"pounds","unitParsed":"pounds"}}},{"amount":"2","unit":"teaspoons","name":"salt","notes":"","id":260,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"2","unit":"teaspoons","timestamp":1774159782000},"type":"ingredient","uid":1,"unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"2","unit":"teaspoons","unitParsed":"teaspoons"}}},{"amount":"2","unit":"teaspoons","name":"ground black pepper","notes":"","id":490,"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"2","unit":"teaspoons","timestamp":1774159782000},"type":"ingredient","uid":2,"unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"2","unit":"teaspoons","unitParsed":"teaspoons"}}}],"originalServings":"6","originalServingsParsed":6,"currentServings":"6","currentServingsParsed":6,"currentServingsFormatted":"6","currentServingsMultiplier":1,"originalSystem":1,"currentSystem":1,"unitSystems":[1],"originalAdvancedServings":{"shape":"round","unit":"inch","diameter":0,"width":0,"length":0,"height":0},"currentAdvancedServings":{"shape":"round","unit":"inch","diameter":0,"width":0,"length":0,"height":0}}}