After months of seeing this new method for chicken wings doing the rounds on social media, I decided it was high time I tried it.

While I was a little skeptical of this approach, after trying it, I’m glad I did. The wings came out beautifully tender with a nice hint of smoke and crispy skin.

My recipe uses an easy Asian-style glaze for sticky, sweet wings. Once you’ve tried the 0-400 method, I’m sure you’ll want to keep experimenting with different rub and sauce combinations.

What are 0 to 400 wings?

Place wings on a cold pellet grill, set the grill to 400°F, and smoke for about an hour. You’ve made yourself a batch of 0-400 wings. You probably want to rotate the wings at least once around the 30-40-minute mark. Otherwise, that’s all there is to it.

The 0-400 method is supposed to have a few benefits:

• Allows the fat in the wing to heat up slowly, resulting in a more tender wing than when cooked hot and direct.
• The wings can absorb more smoke during the initial stage of the cook.
• It’s easy and convenient. Just like with 3-2-1 ribs, people love having a simple formula to remember.

Can you achieve a similar result by smoking at 225°F and then finishing at 400°F? Almost certainly, yes. If you’re skeptical, I recommend giving the method at least one try.

Crispy 0 to 400 Smoked Wings With Sticky Asian Glaze

You can use your favorite store-bought rub to make these 0-400 wings or take any of the rubs or sauces from our variety of wing recipes.

The sticky Asian wing glaze I used has so much flavor that you don’t need any rub besides a bit of cornstarch to help the skin dry out.

What you need for 0 to 400 wings

• Pellet Grill – I used my Traeger Pro but any pellet grill will work. I would stick to a pellet grill as you don’t want that early dirty smoke hitting your food on a charcoal or wood smoker.
• Wings – You can use just flats or drumettes, but I like to use the whole wing
• Cornstarch – One of the best ways to guarantee nice crispy skin when smoking wings
• Dark & Light Soy – I like to use a combination as dark soy is thicker and sweeter and helps make the glaze stick to the wings
• Fresh Garlic & Ginger – You could use powdered if that’s all you have, but fresh grated adds a wonderful fragrance and depth of flavor to the wings
• Honey – Any runny honey will work, or even brown sugar if you don’t have any
• Rice wine vinegar – Could also replace with apple cider
• Scallions & Sesame Seeds – Optional garnish

How to make 0 to 400 Wings Step-By-Step Instructions

1. Dry the wings

One of the most important steps for crispy smoked wings is starting with wings that are nice and dry.

If you plan ahead, you can dry brine the wings overnight or for a few hours by sprinkling with Kosher salt and leaving on a tray uncovered in the refrigerator.

Wings are usually a spur-of-the-moment thing for me, though, so I remove them from their packaging and pat them dry with paper towels.

2. Coat wings in cornstarch

This is one of those tricks that, once you try, you can never go back. The cornstarch helps absorb any moisture left on the chicken and is essential for extra crispy wings.

Some recipes suggest using baking powder, but I’ve found that cornstarch works best.

At this point, you could add a BBQ or poultry rub to the cornstarch. Since I’m using my sticky Asian-style wing glaze, which has plenty of flavor, I went with just the plain cornstarch.

3. Get the wings on the smoker

Place the wings on the cold smoker, with plenty of space around each wing to allow for even cooking.

Pro Tip: Make sure you have a layer of foil over your heat deflector tray as some of the glaze will run down and start burning on the heat deflector. It’s much easier to dispose of foil than scrape that off!

Once you’ve got all the wings on, it’s time to fire up your pellet grill. Set the temperature to (you guessed it!) 400°F.

I recommend setting a timer for 30 minutes. At that point, you’ll want to flip and rotate any wings that are cooking faster.

4. Make the wing glaze

If you’re following my recipe, you’ll want to prep your wing glaze at this point. If you’re using a store-bought sauce or glaze, then you can take it easy.

The glaze is super simple to make. Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and give it a good mix.

I recommend using a microplane to grate the fresh ginger and garlic. It almost creates a paste, so you don’t end up with little chunks that will burn when you glaze the wings over the hot grill.

Once everything is nicely mixed you can set the glaze aside until the wings are almost ready.

5. Rotate the wings

I recommend turning and rotating the wings after they’ve been on for 30 minutes. By this point, your grill should have been at 400°F for a while, and the wings will be starting to go a little bit crispy.

On my Traeger Pro, I find food sitting around the edges always cooks faster, so I like to rotate at least once.

Let them cook for another 20 minutes at which point they should have an internal temperature above 165°F and be ready to glaze.

6. Glaze the wings

Give your glaze a final stir to ensure everything is mixed, and use a basting brush to apply a nice coating to each of the wings.

Try to reserve about half the glaze for the other side.

If you don’t have a basting brush, you could quickly remove the wings, place them in a large mixing bowl, pour the glaze over the top, and then give them a good toss before returning to the smoker.

I like to save a dish, so I glaze the wings while still on the smoker.

Some of the glaze will run off and start smoking on the hot deflector plate, but enough should stick to the wings to give it a nice coating.

Shut the lid and let the glaze set for around five minutes before flipping the wings and applying the rest of the glaze.

Cook for a few more minutes, and then place directly on your serving dish.

How to serve

You can serve these straight off the smoker as is, but I like to sprinkle with sesame seeds and thinly sliced scallions.

I recommend resting them for at least five minutes before tearing in, to avoid explosively hot chicken juice.

Smoked 0 to 400 Chicken Wings Recipe

Follow our steps for 0 to 400 wings, and you’ll end up with the perfect wing with crispy skin that’s super juicy on the inside.

Use our easy Asian-style wing glaze for perfect sticky, sweet, and salty wings, or experiment with different rubs and sauces.

If you enjoyed these wings don’t forget to leave us a 5 star rating, and drop any questions you might have in the comments below.

Print

Traeger 0 to 400 Chicken Wings

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Author Joe Clements

Ingredients

• 3 lb wings whole party wings
• 3 tbsp cornstarch

For the Asian Wing Glaze

• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 cloves garlic grated/minced
• 1½ tsp fresh ginger about 1" grated/minced

Instructions

• Pat wings dry with paper towels and then sprinkle all over with cornstarch.
• Place wings on a cold pellet grill with plenty of space around each wing.
• Fire up the pellet grill to 400°F
• Combine wing glaze ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
• After 30 minutes, flip and rotate the wings to ensure they cook evenly and cook for another 20 minutes.
• Once the wings have been smoking for around 50 minutes, brush half of the glaze on the wings and smoke for another 5 minutes before flipping and brushing the rest of the glaze on. Smoke for a final 5 minutes and then remove.
• Garnish with sesame seeds and fresh sliced scallions and enjoy.