Jamaican Jerked Grilled Chicken Wings

Jerked Grilled Chicken Wings - Jamaican Jerk Marinade

Wings are the classic grilled appetizer. The usual flavor combination applied to wings is some sort of buttery hot sauce and a salad dressing to dunk the wings in. Nothing wrong with that! However, if you want to take your experience to a new level and do something different, give these wings a try. The rich spicy heat from the habanero peppers along side of the unique Jamaican jerk flavors of allspice, green onions, cinnamon, thyme, and nutmeg really make these wings stand out. The nice thing about this recipe is that you can do most of the work the day before by placing your chicken in the marinade overnight and grilling them the next day.

To make the marinade, begin by roughly chopping 4 green onions, leaving behind the green tips and the white root. Cut each habanero pepper in half and remove the seeds and stem. If you don't want to burn the mouths of your guests I strongly suggest getting most of the seeds and white inner membrane out of the habanero peppers. Add the chopped scallions and habanero peppers into a food processor (or blender) with all of the other marinade ingredients and pulse until smooth. Pour this mixture over the chicken wings and mix well. Let marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

The next day prepare the grill for medium or medium high heat. If your heat is moderate enough, the wings can be grilled over direct heat for about 20-30 minutes, turning each wing half way through. If you have a higher heat or you simply want to reduce the chances of burning everything, grill the wings almost to completion with indirect heat (away from the flame) for the first 20 min and then grill the wings over direct heat until they are done. When I came up with recipe I was searching YouTube for authentic Jamaican cooking ideas and I saw that most use a smoke wood during the cook. To make this a bit more authentic toss a small chunk of wood on top of the charcoal the minute the wings go on the grill.

To make the cool green onion dipping sauce chop 2-3 T of the remaining green onions, excluding the green tips and the white root. In a small bowl add the mayonnaise and sour cream, a dash of salt and pepper and mix well. Mix in the green onions and place a little extra on top. This sauce works well with these wings because it really cools your mouth off. Depending on how hot you make the marinade this sauce can come in handy.

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Jamaican Jerked Grilled Chicken Wings

An easy Jamaican jerked grilled chicken wing recipe with spicy habanero peppers.

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• • 1 bunch Scallions green onions; at least 7-8 onions in the bunch
• • 1 small Sweet onion
• • 4 Habanero Peppers
• • ¼ cup Orange Juice
• • 5 Cloves Garlic
• • 2 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• • 2 T Soy Sauce
• • 1 T Fresh Thyme Leaves removed from stem
• • 1 T Brown Sugar
• • 2 T Red Wine Vinegar
• • ½ tsp Cinnamon
• • ¾ tsp Ground nutmeg
• • 2 tsp All Spice
• • 2 tsp Black Pepper
• • 1 T Salt
• • ½ cup Mayonnaise
• • ½ cup Sour Cream

Instructions

• Remove the stem and seeds from the habanero peppers.
• Roughly chop 4 scallions (leaving behind the white ends) and the onion so they fit into a food processor.
• Add all marinade ingredients (NOT the sour cream or mayo) to the food processor or blender and pulse until smooth.
• Pour marinade over 3-4 pounds of chicken wings, cover and refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours. Overnight is ideal.
• Dice leftover scallions and add ½ cup of diced scallions to ½ cup Mayo and ½ cup Sour cream. Mix well and garnish with extra scallions. This is the creamy dipping sauce.
• Prepare grill for medium high heat and grill wings using an additional small chunk of smoke wood.