Smoked Turkey Wings

Make the juiciest, crispy-skinned smoked turkey wings for a stunning way to serve turkey year round. If you break out these unbelievably simple gigantic wings at your picnic or tailgate, you’ll be a superhero!

Smoked Turkey Wings

Who doesn’t love to dive into a pile of giant smoked turkey wings like a caveman from time to time? If you are a fan of chicken wings, these supersized smokey turkey wings will knock your socks off.

Do not -and I repeat do not- relegate turkey to Thanksgiving and Christmas only. While we usually reserve a whole smoked turkey for the holidays, smoked turkey wings and smoked turkey legs are year round fare at the Foodie with Family household. They’re incredibly easy to make and oh-so-good.

When I say it’s fool-proof, I mean it. No smoker? No problem! I’ve also included instructions for how to cook turkey wings in your oven. Of course, they’ll be less intensely smoky, but still incredibly tasty.

Smoked Turkey Wings Recipe

This recipe has two different methods for brining; you can choose to wet or dry brine the wings. Either method ensures a juicy, flavorful smoked wing. We brine the wings so they retain moisture through the smoking process. The salt in the brine helps draw the seasonings all the way through the meat. The touch of brown sugar helps the wings form crispy edges in the smoker as well as helping them to brown beautifully.

Wet brining entails mixing some commonly available spices and dried herbs with salt, brown sugar, and water. You then submerge the turkey wings in the brine for between twelve and twenty four hours before smoking.

In dry brining, you mix together the same salt, brown sugar, herbs, and spices you’d put in the wet brine. But you simply rub it over the turkey wings. Lay them out on a rack over a rimmed sheet pan and refrigerate them overnight before smoking them.

It’s worth noting that not all salts are milled equally. This recipe is made using Diamond Kosher Salt. You can most definitely substitute any other salt you like, but you’ll want to measure it by weight instead of by volume. One tablespoon of table salt is roughly equal to one and a half tablespoons of Diamond Kosher Salt or two tablespoons of Morton’s Kosher Salt.

If you put too much salt in, you’ll have an overly salty turkey wing. When all is said and done, it’s just easier to weigh it than wing it! Get it? Wing it?

Whether you choose to wet or dry brine is a matter of personal preference. I prefer to wet brine because I can fit more into a covered container in my refrigerator than I can on an uncovered sheet pan in my fridge. My method for preparing wet-brine makes the process much faster than most standard brine recipes; it’s ready to use almost immediately vs. having to wait hours for it to cool.

The key to my rapid brine method is to simmer the sugar, salt, and spices with one quart of the water, then add that to a heat-proof container filled to the 3 quart line with ice cubes. Pour the hot brine over the ice cubes and swirl. The ice will mostly melt while it cools the brine. It takes fewer than 5 minutes to have that brine ready to go!

And if you’re going to wet brine your wings, you’ll need a large enough container to fit a gallon of liquid and a bunch of turkey wings in it. I use these cambro containers which are excellent for keeping around if you make sourdough goodies, too!

No matter how you choose to brine or smoke the wings, you can eat these plain or brush them with your preferred barbecue sauce about 10 minutes before the wings are done. I prefer them au naturel, though!

How to Cook Smoked Turkey Wings

I prefer to make these on my pellet smoker. I have a Traeger pellet smoker which is brilliant at the job because I just plug it in, set it to the temperature I want, and let ‘er rip for two hours! You can also use a traditional smoker which requires ever so slightly more attention or build a very low charcoal fire or gas grill and add a smoke box. For my money, the Traeger is the best and easiest of the options.

If none of those are options for you, you can also use your home oven to cook your wings. There are ways to add a smoky flavour to them if you’re opting for the oven, but adding real smoke will involve investing in a smoke gun and spending about 25 minutes and a little engineering. That said, the brined turkey wings will be delicious if you put them on a rack over a sheet pan and roast at 350ºF for 45 minutes, or until the wings register 165ºF internally. And you can add a hint of smoke by adding a quarter teaspoon of liquid smoke to your brine.

How to Make Smoked Turkey Wings

Truly, I never make fewer than about twelve or fifteen turkey wings at once. If I have my smoker going for 2 hours, it’s going to be loaded! The leftover turkey wings are excellent for a whole host of purposes. We wrap them individually then stash them in a freezer bag.

I reheat them wrapped in foil in the air fryer or oven to have as a main dish or hearty snack sometimes. There are other ways to use leftover smoked turkey wings that make them worth making extra for, though. I pull the meat from them to use on salads or in the ultimate turkey salad.

Or do my favourite thing! Plunk a whole smoked turkey wing or two in a pot of dried beans , soup, or Beans and Greens to lend the whole thing a little smoky savoury quality. When the beans and or greens are done simmering, pull the meat from the bones and stir it back in. It’s sublime!

While you’ve got your smoker smokin’, consider adding our habit forming Smoked Bologna recipe or a Smoked Whole Chicken to it! Or maybe it’s time for you to make your own Homemade Canadian Bacon {Smoker Optional} or Homemade Maple Bourbon Jalapeno Bacon!