By August 2021. Memphis summer, 62 years old, and the heat wraps around Orange Mound like a wet blanket that nobody asked for but everybody wears because that is the deal you make when you live in the South. The smoker calls louder in summer — something about the heat amplifying the smoke, the way humidity amplifies everything in Memphis — and I answer, because answering is what pitmasters do.
Marcus and Angela in Whitehaven, building their family, their house full of the sounds I remember from our own early years — a baby's laugh, a spouse's voice, the daily music of people learning to live together. Naomi growing with the speed of childhood, each visit revealing a new word, a new capability, a new expression that catches my breath because it echoes someone I lost.
I made smoked chicken this week — a simple cook that belies its depth. Rubbed with salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika, smoked at 275 over hickory for three hours. The skin was mahogany, the meat juicy, and the first bite carried the kind of flavor that makes you close your eyes, which is the highest compliment food can earn: the involuntary closing of the eyes, the body's admission that what it's tasting is too good to see.
Another week in the book. Another seven days of tending fires — the one in the smoker, the one in the marriage, the one in the family, the one in the church. Each fire needs something different: wood, attention, food, faith. But the tending is the same for all of them: show up, add what's needed, wait patiently, trust the process. Low and slow. Always. Low and slow.
That smoked chicken I described — the mahogany skin, the involuntary eye-close — is the kind of cook that takes an afternoon and a hickory fire. But most weeks, the family wants that same BBQ spirit on a Tuesday night when nobody has three hours to tend a smoker. These (Skinny!) BBQ Baked Chicken Wings are my answer to that: all the saucy, sticky, smoke-kissed flavor I chase on the weekend, built for a weeknight oven and a lighter plate. Same tending principle, different fire — low and slow to cook through, then high and fast to crisp that skin until it snaps.
(Skinny!) BBQ Baked Chicken Wings
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 50 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken wings, split at the joint, tips removed
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or cooking spray
- 3/4 cup your favorite BBQ sauce (reduced-sugar or regular), divided
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack on top. Lightly coat the rack with cooking spray so nothing sticks.
- Dry and season the wings. Pat the chicken wings completely dry with paper towels — this is the key to crispy skin. In a large bowl, toss the wings with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, and cayenne if using. Coat every surface evenly.
- First bake. Arrange wings in a single layer on the prepared rack, making sure they aren’t touching. Bake at 400°F for 35 minutes, flipping once halfway through, until the skin is beginning to crisp and the meat is cooked through.
- Sauce and finish. Brush the wings generously with half the BBQ sauce. Return to the oven and bake an additional 10 minutes. Flip, brush with remaining sauce, and bake 5 more minutes until the sauce is caramelized and sticky and the skin has that deep, lacquered color.
- Rest and serve. Let the wings rest on the rack for 5 minutes before serving — this lets the sauce set and the juices redistribute. Serve with celery sticks, extra BBQ sauce on the side, and whatever cold drink the Memphis summer demands.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 620mg