Buffalo Chicken Dry Rub?

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jlafrenz

Smoke Blower
Original poster
May 17, 2012
75
11
Missouri
Does anyone have a good recipe for a dry rub that would mimic buffalo wing sauce? I want to try a dry rub during smoking instead of coating the chicken in buffalo sauce for smoking or once it is done.
 
There really is nothing specific off the shelf at grocery stores, that I know of, but you can marinate in Vinegar, Salt and some Garlic, then rub with Cayenne and Butter Buds, butter flavored sprinkle that is sold as a low calorie butter alternative for popcorn and vegetables. It really is pretty good stuff...JJ
 
This one has been floating around on the food blogs for a while with some great reviews and could be adapted for the smoker 

It is not a true dry rub. 

Several different folks claim to have come up with the recipe so I will give credit to the first one I saw 
[h1]K-Jon's Dry Rub Buffalo Wings[/h1]
[h2]Ingredients[/h2]
    • 24 lean chicken wings
    • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
    • 1 tablespoon chili powder
    • 1 tablespoon sweet smoked paprika
    • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
    • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
    • 2 tablespoons garlic powder
    • 1 tablespoon mustard powder
    • 2 tablespoons kosher salt ( or to taste)
    • 1 tablespoon black pepper
    • 1 cup oil

[h2]Directions[/h2]
  1. Thoroughly whisk together the dark brown sugar, chili powder, sweet smoked paprika, ground cumin, hot cayenne pepper, ground garlic powder, ground mustard powder, table salt, and black pepper.
  2. Evenly coat each chicken wing with the pure vegetable oil.
  3. Place them into the bowl with the dry rub mix.
  4. Evenly coat with the seasonings and save remaining seasoning.
  5. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
  6. Cook 30-45 minutes or until desired texture is achieved.
  7. At about the half way baking marker, sprinkle the remaining seasonings over the top of the baking chicken.

Also - here is a link to a premixed Buffalo Rub

http://www.spicebarn.com/buffalo_wing_seasoning.htm
 
Gary that Rub sounds really good but with that amount of Chili Powder and Cumin it will make the wings taste more like Old El Paso Taco's than Buffalo Wings...JJ
 
Last edited:
Williams Sonoma sells a buffalo chicken dry rub. Ingredients include sugar, salt, powdered vinegar, garlic, powdered tobasco. I bought it but have not used yet. It was silly expensive. I also bought, a couple months ago, powdered hot wing sauce. Haven't had much success with using it to rub wings because its very powdery, but maybe it wouldwork cut with salt and sugar and garlic. It is good sprinkled on chips and popcorn though. I'm on a quest for dry rubbed, crispy hot wings, grilled that taste kind like traditional buffalo wings. Narrowing in on it, but not quite there yet.
 
DJROBB!

Ive been looking for the same thing. I want to imitate the dry buffalo rub at Buffalo Wild Wings (It used to be called BW3's) Any luck???

THx!
 
I use Mad Hunky Hot Whang Rub. It's easy to vary the heat by the amount you apply. Or you can step it up and try their Hot Ass Whang Rub. An occasional spritz of vinegar/water will give them a more tangy flavor. My kids love them. We have even used it on other cuts of poultry with success.
 
Marinate the wings in melted butter and white vinegar. Then take them out and coat them with cayenne. That would be your basic buffalo sauce rubbed. But extra seasoning would add depth.
 
Im looking to try to find a good buffalo rub as well. My idea is to also add some powdered ranch to it as well to come up with a buffalo ranch rub for chicken.  Ill probably be experimenting later this week and let you know if I have any luck.
 
Thanks, if you have any success, let me know. Since I posted this question quite awhile ago I have settled on some wings I like so I will share that here. If I want pure dry rubbed wings I follow the Americas Test Kitchen recipe or I simply rub with weber kickin chicken seasoning and let the dry rub sit overnight.

This is my favorite method though:

1. Start with fresh wings, brine them for 30 minutes in a solution of 1 qt water, 4 tbsp kosher salt, 3 tbsp sugar. That's good for 12 wings. Scale as needed. If you repeat the recipe and want them saltier or find them dry you can increase the brine time or add two more tbsp of salt to brine. Careful though, you can end up with salty wings.

2. Remove the wings from the brine. I don't rinse my chicken at any point in this prep keeping with Usda guidelines.

3. Optionally, you can dry rub them here but you need to use a rub that does not include salt (because of the brine) nor sugar (because it burns). This is totally optional, but I've had success with either a basic bbq rub w/o sugar and salt and a basic chili seasoning.

4. Grill the wings direct over medium heat, turning every 3 minutes or so. Do this for a total of 20 to 25 minutes. The brine will keep them moist. You could indirect grill instead, but I think this does a better job rendering the skin. Oil your grates real well before putting the chicken on, and don't force the flip if the skin is stuck.

5. Take a combination of buffalo tobasco and butter OR a commercial bbq wing sauce and baste the wings on the grill. Do it on one side, let it grill for a few minutes, then the other side.

6. At this point, I continue grilling them for about 5 minutes (should be about 25 to 30 minutes total at this point). Baste a bit as needed. That will dry the wings back out some and crisp them up letting the sauce bake in. Be careful not to burn here.

7. I then remove the wings and either serve them as is, or toss with a very small amount of additional wing sauce. I optionally also dust them again at this point if I want more rub flavor. You could even toss them with a small amount of white vinegar before dusting if you want more tang.

These wings end up thoroughly flavored with nice color form the rub and fully flavored skin to nibble on from the basting. They are also mostly dry and crispy if you don't resauce after taking off the grill. Biggest risk is over salting. You definitely can't use a salty bring, and a salty rub and a salty sauce. You also need to be very careful using enhanced wings because they start off salty.

Ok, last note, if you want to smoke these, I follow the same basic procedure, but I smoke them for 90 mins to 2 hours, then transfer them to grill to render the skin, then sauce them, then grill the sauce on.
 
 
This one has been floating around on the food blogs for a while with some great reviews and could be adapted for the smoker 

It is not a true dry rub. 

Several different folks claim to have come up with the recipe so I will give credit to the first one I saw 
[h1]K-Jon's Dry Rub Buffalo Wings[/h1]
[h2]Ingredients[/h2]
    • 24 lean chicken wings
    • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
    • 1 tablespoon chili powder
    • 1 tablespoon sweet smoked paprika
    • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
    • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
    • 2 tablespoons garlic powder
    • 1 tablespoon mustard powder
    • 2 tablespoons kosher salt ( or to taste)
    • 1 tablespoon black pepper
    • 1 cup oil

[h2]Directions[/h2]
  1. Thoroughly whisk together the dark brown sugar, chili powder, sweet smoked paprika, ground cumin, hot cayenne pepper, ground garlic powder, ground mustard powder, table salt, and black pepper.
  2. Evenly coat each chicken wing with the pure vegetable oil.
  3. Place them into the bowl with the dry rub mix.
  4. Evenly coat with the seasonings and save remaining seasoning.
  5. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
  6. Cook 30-45 minutes or until desired texture is achieved.
  7. At about the half way baking marker, sprinkle the remaining seasonings over the top of the baking chicken.

Also - here is a link to a premixed Buffalo Rub

http://www.spicebarn.com/buffalo_wing_seasoning.htm
I tried this as well. It was pretty good!
 
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