Food Network Star-winner Eddie Jackson knows how to gear up for a big football game whether he’s on the field or off. He played in the NFL for four seasons (he’s a former Patriots cornerback), and now he owns a food truck, so he has plenty of experience cooking in parking lots. His tailgate go-to: chicken wings made with rum, soy sauce and one of his favorite ingredients, habanero chile peppers.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 5 hr |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Inactive: | 4 hr |
| Cook: | 45 min |
| Yield: | 4 to 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup dark rum
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 5 large cloves garlic, minced
- 3 scallions, finely chopped, plus more for topping
- 1 to 2 habanero chile peppers, seeded and minced
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 12 jumbo chicken wings, split at the joints, tips removed
Instructions
- Make the marinade: Combine the rum, lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, scallions, habaneros, ginger, allspice, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl.
- Place the wings in a resealable plastic bag and add the marinade. Press the air out of the bag and seal tightly, then turn the bag over to completely coat the wings. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, turning the bag once or twice.
- Drain the wings, reserving the marinade. Bring the marinade to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until reduced by about half, about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare a charcoal grill by placing coals on half of the grill. Light the charcoal and wait for the embers to become white. (Add your favorite wood or wood chips at this point.) Replace the grate and put the wings on the cooler side of the grill.
- Cover with the lid and cook until the juices run clear, 30 to 45 minutes.
- Remove the wings from the grill and toss with the reduced marinade. Place the wings on the grill over direct heat and cook, turning frequently, until the sauce has caramelized, 3 to 4 minutes. Top with chopped scallions and serve with lime wedges.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 209 |
| Total Fat | 7 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Carbohydrates | 12 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 8 g |
| Protein | 10 g |
| Cholesterol | 56 mg |
| Sodium | 487 mg |
Reviews
Nice and spicy
USE GLOVES TO CUT YOUR HABANERO!!!!! My finger tips have been burning for hours after cutting without gloves, I don’t have a review for the actual recipe yet seeing as Im only at the marinating stage but learn from my mistake!
Surprised there aren’t more recent reviews. Fixed almost exactly as written. Used 1 habanero and the heat was just right for me. I did add olive oil to the marinade as most marinades have some type of oil in them. I smoked the wings at 180 on my Traeger for 1 hour then turned the temp up to 375. While the grill was coming up to temp I turned them after 10 minutes. 10 minutes later they temped out at 175. Took them off to rest while my gas grill heated up. Dunked them in the reduced marinade per Eddie and seared about 2 minutes per side to get a little char on the skin. OUTSTANDING!! Next time I’ll cut the allspice to 1 tsp and the ginger to 1 Tbl GRATED on a microplane. Marinated for 10 hours so if you marinate shorter the ingredients might be just right. My first thought was this recipe should be renamed to Jamaican spicy rum wings.
Yum!!! Used coconut sugar and 1 enormous habenero- -would go a little smaller on habenero next time!
We loved these! Followed recipe exactly as written. Said 1 to 2 habanero, I used 1, maybe I’ll try 2 next time.
These were to die for! I made them exact to the recipe and the only thing I will change is to use 3 habaneros because we love heat. So good!
These were great! Simple to throw together, and great flavor, although we substituted jalapeno for the habanero, since my husband can’t take the heat (I guess that’s why he stays out of the kitchen–lol). He is definitely a big fan though, and they made it to his “you can make these again” list!
Congratulations, Eddie. Looking forward to seeing a lot more of you!