Dr. Pepper Chicken Wings
Smoky, Crispy, and delicious. These chicken wings are brined in Cherry Dr. Pepper and then tossed in a blueberry bbq sauce.
Servings 4 pounds of Wings
Ingredients
Chicken Wing Brine
- liter of Cherry Dr. Pepper
- cup of kosher salt
Wings and Seasoning
- 4 pounds chicken wings partitioned and tips discarded
- 1 tbsp bbq rub per pound of wings
- 1 tbsp brown sugar per pound of wings
- 1 tbsp corn starch per pound of wings
Blueberry Barbecue Sauce
- 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
- ⅜ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ tablespoon molasses
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
- About 18 hours before you cook the wings put them in a 2.5-gallon zip lock bag with a liter of Cherry Dr. Pepper and 2 tbsp of kosher salt.
- Take the chicken wings out of the brine, pat them dry with paper towels.
- Put the wings in a bowl that is large enough for you to toss them with the seasonings.
- For each pound of wings add one tablespoon of bbq rub, one tablespoon of brown sugar, and a tablespoon of cornstarch. Toss your wings in the seasonings until they are all covered, and then throw the wings on your smoker.
- Put the wings on your smoker for about two hours at 150 degrees.
Blueberry Sauce
- In a medium saucepan combine the blueberry barbecue sauce ingredients
- Stir all of the ingredients together over high heat. Once the sauce has started to boil reduce the heat and simmer for about ten minutes, occasionally stirring to prevent burning. The sauce will thicken up considerably. Pour the sauce into a mason jar and set aside.
- After the wings have smoked for two hours at 150 degrees, they're really close to being done.
- Adjust the temperature of your smoker up to 450 plus degrees.
- Place the wings in a bowl, and toss with the blueberry bbq sauce combined with a half stick of melted butter.
- Return the wings to your smoker and let them cook on the smoker for an additional 10-15 minutes. Check the temperature of the thickest part of a few wings with your Thermapen, and if you're over 165 degrees, you're good to go! Remove the wings, and enjoy!
Notes
The key to smoked chicken wings is to make sure the skin on the wings is dry after removing from the Dr Pepper marinade. Use a paper towel to soak as much of the excess up as you can.
If you have time, spread the wings out on a cookie sheet and place in your refrigerator for another hour or two. This will help dry them out, and the skin will turn out much better.