Grilled Bourbon Maple Wings

A large wooden cutting board with a bunch of grilled bourbon maple chicken wings sitting next to a small bowl of sauce in front of a grey napkin.

Course: BBQ, Entree

Cuisine: American Southern, BBQ

Keyword: Best mushroom Swiss burger recipe, hamburger recipes, grilling recipes, how to make maple bourbon chicken wings

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 30

Chill time: 30

Total Time: 1 15

Servings: people

Calories: 422kcal

Author: Kris Longwell

Grilled Bourbon Maple Wings...Really, what else needs to be said? Be sure to make the Perfect BBQ Rub, it really makes a huge difference in the taste! The rub and sauce can all be made a couple of days in advance. Let the wings marinate for at least 30 minutes, and up to 12 hours, or overnight!

Print Recipe

Equipment

Grill: Gas, charcoal, or electric. Indoor electric grill.

Ingredients

FOR THE WINGS

2 lbs chicken wings whole
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
½ cup BBQ rub

FOR THE SAUCE

2 tbsp unsalted butter
¼ cup onion grated on the medium holes of a box cutter
½ cup bourbon
¾ cup maple syrup pure
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp oregano dried
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper freshly ground

Instructions

DO AHEAD

Make the Perfect BBQ Rub.

MARINATE THE WINGS

Place the wings in a large bowl and add the oil, vinegar, and BBQ rub and toss with large wooden spoons until the wings are completely coated. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, or up to overnight.

MAKE THE BBQ SAUCE

Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Add the grated onions and cook for three minutes.
Add the bourbon, maple syrup, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, salt and pepper, and stir to incorporate.
Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

GRILL THE WINGS!

Fire up your grill to medium-high heat.
Once the grill is ready, add wings to the grill.
Cook on each side until slightly charred, about 5 minutes per side.
Slather on the BBQ sauce, and cook for another 2 minutes each per side.
Remove and serve immediately with remaining BBQ sauce

Video

Notes

We strongly recommend making the BBQ rub for this recipe. It matches perfectly against the sauce.

We love using whole chicken wings for this recipe, but you could certainly go with 'party wings' which only include the drumette and the wingette (but not the flap). If so, you'll need to reduce the grilling time to just 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Be sure to use Pure Maple Syrup, and not imitation pancake syrup. Again, this makes a huge difference.

The alcohol will 99.9% cookout through the simmering and grilling process.

The rub and sauce can be made up to 2 days in advance. We recommend letting the wings marinate for at least 30 minutes, but they're even better after they've chilled for at least a couple hours, or overnight.

We love to serve them with extra sauce, but they're so loaded with flavor, they don't really need it.

Be sure to serve these with lots of napkins!

Nutrition