I’m still on my gochujang kick - and it looks like I’m not the only one. Recently, Korean BBQ wings are popping up all over the place. Now, why didn’t I think of that? Sweet, spicy Korean gochujang paste is halfway to barbecue sauce already.
I pulled out my favorite chicken wing technique, grilling the wings with indirect heat. The long cooking time crisps up the chicken skin without the chicken fat fire that results from grilling chicken directly over the flames. I marinate the wings in a salty asian marinade, with a lot of soy sauce, so the marinade does double duty as a brine. I don’t put the Korean BBQ glaze on the wings right away, because the sugar in the glaze will burn in the heat of a grill. I save the glaze for the last five minutes of cooking, so it has time to tighten up on the grill.
Looking for a new Korean BBQ flavor? Try these wings.
Recipe: Grilled Korean Chicken Wings
Equipment
- I love my massive Weber Summit gas grill
Print
Grilled Korean Chicken Wings
-
Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
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Yield: 24 to 36 wings 1x
Description
Grilled Korean Chicken Wings recipe. Grilled chicken wings with a Korean gochujang barbecue sauce - a sweet and spicy treat.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 pounds chicken wings (If you buy whole wings, separate into wing and drumette portions, and discard the wingtip)
Marinade
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled
- 1 scallion, root end trimmed, cut into 2 inch lengths
- ¼ cup gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
- ¼ cup mirin (or rice wine vinegar plus 1 teaspoon sugar)
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil (or vegetable oil)
Glaze
- ¼ cup of the marinade
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken wings: One piece at a time, drop the garlic, ginger, and scallion into a running blender or food processor, and blend until they are completely minced, about 30 seconds. Add the rest of the marinade ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth. Reserve ¼ cup of the marinade for the glaze. Put the chicken wings in a gallon zip-top bag, pour the marinade over them, squeeze all the air out of the bag, and seal. Flip and turn the bag to completely coat the chicken wings with the marinade, then let rest at room temperature for one hour, turning the bag every fifteen minutes. (Or refrigerate for up to 4 hours, turning the bag occasionally to redistribute the marinade.)
- Make the glaze: Whisk the reserved marinade with the rest of the glaze ingredients and set aside.
- Prepare the grill: Set the grill up for cooking with indirect high heat, about 450°F. For my Weber Summit, I preheat the grill with all the burners set to high for fifteen minutes, brush the grate clean with my grill brush, and turn off the middle burners. (To get 450°F I have to leave three burners on. I turn off burners 3, 4 and 5, and leave burners 1, 2 and 6 lit).
- Grill the wings: Put the chicken wings on the grill over indirect heat (that is, away from the lit burners). Close the lid and cook for twenty minutes, then flip the wings and cook until the wings are browned and crispy, about twenty more minutes. Brush the wings with glaze, close the lid, and cook for five more minutes to thicken up the glaze. Remove the wings from the grill, brush the wings with another layer of glaze, and serve.
Notes
The total cooking time is for average wings. For some reason, my last batch of wings was massive. (I think they came from a pteranodon.) They took closer to 50 minutes to get browned and crispy. It’s hard to overcook chicken wings, so if there is any doubt, cook them longer.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Grilling
- Cuisine: Korean
Grilled Korean Chicken Wings
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 24 to 36 wings 1x
Description
Grilled Korean Chicken Wings recipe. Grilled chicken wings with a Korean gochujang barbecue sauce - a sweet and spicy treat.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds chicken wings (If you buy whole wings, separate into wing and drumette portions, and discard the wingtip)
Marinade
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled
- 1 scallion, root end trimmed, cut into 2 inch lengths
- ¼ cup gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
- ¼ cup mirin (or rice wine vinegar plus 1 teaspoon sugar)
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil (or vegetable oil)
Glaze
- ¼ cup of the marinade
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken wings: One piece at a time, drop the garlic, ginger, and scallion into a running blender or food processor, and blend until they are completely minced, about 30 seconds. Add the rest of the marinade ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth. Reserve ¼ cup of the marinade for the glaze. Put the chicken wings in a gallon zip-top bag, pour the marinade over them, squeeze all the air out of the bag, and seal. Flip and turn the bag to completely coat the chicken wings with the marinade, then let rest at room temperature for one hour, turning the bag every fifteen minutes. (Or refrigerate for up to 4 hours, turning the bag occasionally to redistribute the marinade.)
- Make the glaze: Whisk the reserved marinade with the rest of the glaze ingredients and set aside.
- Prepare the grill: Set the grill up for cooking with indirect high heat, about 450°F. For my Weber Summit, I preheat the grill with all the burners set to high for fifteen minutes, brush the grate clean with my grill brush, and turn off the middle burners. (To get 450°F I have to leave three burners on. I turn off burners 3, 4 and 5, and leave burners 1, 2 and 6 lit).
- Grill the wings: Put the chicken wings on the grill over indirect heat (that is, away from the lit burners). Close the lid and cook for twenty minutes, then flip the wings and cook until the wings are browned and crispy, about twenty more minutes. Brush the wings with glaze, close the lid, and cook for five more minutes to thicken up the glaze. Remove the wings from the grill, brush the wings with another layer of glaze, and serve.
Notes
The total cooking time is for average wings. For some reason, my last batch of wings was massive. (I think they came from a pteranodon.) They took closer to 50 minutes to get browned and crispy. It’s hard to overcook chicken wings, so if there is any doubt, cook them longer.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Grilling
- Cuisine: Korean
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Grilled Chinese Chicken Wings (Chaunr Chicken Wings)
Grilled Miso BBQ Chicken Wings
Grilled Buffalo Chicken Wings
My other Grilling Recipes
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Sue says
Have you tried this with chicken breasts?
Chrissy says
I made these for dinner tonight and they were delicious!! The glaze was fantastic - lots of flavor, not too spicy and the perfect balance of sweetness! I think I may try this recipe with drumsticks and thighs - always need new flavors for chicken!!
Bob Paluck says
I usually do chicken wings on the rotisserie on the grill. Cant wait to try your recipe because we love gochujang (eg your Korean short ribs are our favorite). Any thoughts about doing this wing recipe on the rotisserie? ....just replace the indirect grilling step with the rotisserie and then applying the glaze for maybe the last 10 minutes?
Mike V says
That sounds about right - let me know how it goes on the rotisserie.
Bob Paluck says
The rotisserie worked great. Perfectly browned. I just substituted it for the indirect grilling step. Followed everything else in your recipe.
Mike V says
Thanks for the follow up!
Amy @ Pressure Cook Recipes says
Hi Mike!
These grilled sweet & spicy wings are one of our favorites. I can probably eat the whole batch myself! haha~
Actually, we just made some Coca Cola wings the other day. Have you tried them before? They're quite popular in Hong Kong.
Anyways, hope you're enjoying your summer. 🙂
Amy