NEWKS SPICY BUTTERMILK GRILLED WINGS

Recipe submitted by Jeffery Black, @chefoftherosecity on Instagram

The key to making juicy chicken is the prep before you actually start cooking. Soaking the chicken for several hours or even overnight is my favorite way to brine. You start with buttermilk, spices, and even add hot sauce if you like spicy chicken. The recipe below is chicken drumsticks brined in buttermilk and hot sauce. My hot sauce of choice is Newks Hot Sauce out of Portland, Oregon. Their hot sauces are flavor packed, organic and yes even vegan. I don’t normally go vegan but this sauce has definitely changed my mind. Enough chit chat lets get to the recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

Buttermilk grilled Chicken Drumstick with Hot Sauce Brine. The ingredient list for this chicken is super simple and for a quick dinner. Most people have these four ingredients in their pantries and freezer.

The following ingredients should yield 8-10 servings. 

Ingredient	Amount
Chicken Drumsticks or Wings	4 Lbs
Buttermilk	16 Cups
Hot Sauce	2 Bottles (10 oz)
Olive Oil Spray	2 oz.
Cayenne Pepper	1 Tsp
Oregano	2 Tbsp
Thyme	2 Tbsp

DIRECTIONS:

1. Start by dividing your chicken into two separate bowls. This allows you to make both a spicy and mild version of the chicken.
2. Add eight cups of buttermilk to each bowl. This measurement doesn’t have to be exact. I measure it out to make sure there is enough buttermilk for each set of chicken
3. Combine buttermilk, hot sauce, thyme, oregano and cayenne pepper into large mixing bowls. Divide the chicken evenly between the two bowls. Make sure the chicken is entirely covered by the brine. Allow chicken to marinate at least 3 hours and even overnight.
4. After the chicken is done marinating it is time to prepare your grill. I use charcoal as I find the smoke from it really enhances the flavor. If all you have is a gas grill, don’t worry! The chicken will taste just as amazing!
5. Heat the grill to 250 degrees this is just to provide low heat to slowly crisp the skin of the chicken legs. It is important to make sure the grill isn’t to hot or it will burn the chicken.
6. Once the skin is nice and crispy and has some char marks it is time to add more charcoal to the grill. Move the chicken to the cool side of the grill, add charcoal and increase the temperature to 400 degrees. By moving the chicken to the cool side of the grill it will allow the chicken to finish baking while not burning it.
7. Cook chicken at 400 degrees until done. You can use a meat thermometer to check the internal temp of your chicken. I usually wait until the meat starts to pull away from the bone at the bottom of the chicken. If this makes you uncomfortable then use a meat thermometer to make sure the chicken isn’t undercooked.
8. Once the chicken is done remove it from the grill and allow it to rest for 5 minutes. This will allow the chicken time to cool and also allow time for some of the juices to settle back into the meat. Once the chicken is cooled it is time to serve, enjoy and gather around the table!

PREPERATIONS:

I like to serve corn on the cob as the side for this dish. Unfortunately, it was so good that before I could snap any photos of the corn, it was gone! If you are interested in any other recipes such as my corn on the cob rub reach out to me @chefoftherosecity on Instagram or shoot me a email @ chefoftherosecity@gmail.com.