Jamaican Jerk Spiced Chicken Wings

Jamaican jerk chicken wings are a Caribbean-inspired recipe seasoned with a bold, smoky, and savory jerk-style spice blend. They’re great for grilling, game-day spreads, or summer outdoor BBQs when you are craving something other than a standard wing. This recipe uses a dry spice mix and wood smoke to build flavor, with flexible cooking options that still work well on a gas grill or in the oven.

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This recipe for Jamaican jerk-spiced chicken wings is inspired by our first taste of real jerk chicken on a trip to Jamaica to celebrate my parents’ 50th anniversary. We stayed in a villa in St. Ann’s Parish, and on the drive from the Montego Bay airport, our guide insisted on a stop in Ocho Rios for what he called the best jerk chicken on the island. The setting was casual, the service warm, and the chicken was everything you hope jerk chicken will be. Smoky, deeply seasoned, and cooked just right. Even the Red Stripe tasted better there.

After a few rounds of tweaking the spice proportions, we kept coming back to the way the wings were cooked. Using wood, even a mild one like pecan, gave the wings a deeper, more rounded flavor than anything we got without it. If you don’t have a wood-fired setup, these wings still turn out great on a gas grill or even in the oven, but adding smoke when you can does make the flavor that much better.

Key Ingredients and Substitutions

While the spice mix has a long list of ingredients, it comes together quickly, and the rest of the prep is simple.

The complete ingredient list and measurements are listed in the printable recipe below.

• Chicken Wings: We bought whole wings and cut them into drums and flats (check out our guide to separating chicken wings). You can substitute legs, thighs, or leg quarters that have both. We don’t recommend breasts, since the fat helps release the spice blend’s flavor.
• Spices: Yes, this recipe includes 15 spices and herbs. You can adjust the heat by adding more or less cayenne pepper and hot pepper flakes.

How to Make Jamaican Jerk Spiced Chicken Wings

Here are the quick, step-by-step instructions with visuals; you can find the full instructions, including the exact ingredients, in the recipe card below.

Pro-tip: Buy whole wings because you could pay twice as much by weight to buy chicken wings already broken down into drumettes and flats. Check our complete guide on how to cut chicken wings into drums and flats.

1. Create the spice mix: If you have any whole spices, toast them in a dry frying pan until you begin to smell them, and then grind them while they are still warm. Add the remaining spices and whisk until evenly distributed.

2. Prep the chicken wings: Take the chicken out of the package and pat it dry with a paper towel. If you bought whole wings, you can leave them whole or break them down into drums and flats. Bend back the main joint of the wing until you feel it crack, then use the back third of a chef’s knife to cut them apart. Trim off any excess skin or globs of fat and set aside for chicken broth. To create the flat, use your chef’s knife to cut the middle of the second joint to remove the wing tip. Add the little tips to your scraps for broth.

3. Spice the wings: Put about half the wings and a third of the spice mixture in a large bowl, then toss until evenly coated. Place in a zipper-sealed plastic bag, then repeat with the second half of the wings. Add the remaining spice to the bag, seal it tightly, and shake to coat evenly. Place the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours, depending on how intense you want the jerk spice flavor.

4. Prep the grill: Preheat as you usually would if you use a gas grill or oven. The oven should be preheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and the gas grill should be set to medium-high. If you cook the wings over a wood fire (or in an offset smoker, as I used), you’ll want to start it 30-45 minutes before you grill. The wood needs to burn down to mostly charcoal before adding the wings, so you don’t overwhelm the final flavor with too much smokiness, which could turn bitter. If you aren’t seeing any smoke, you can always add a couple of small pieces or some barbecue wood chips to bump up the smoke.

5. Grilling the wings: You can use a wood fire grill, a gas grill, or even an oven to make these wings. The wings are done once they have reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and the skin is crispy and a deep mahogany color.

• For a wood fire, leave a little room around each wing, drumette, or flat to allow the smoke to circulate. Turn them fairly often to ensure the skin doesn’t burn – at least a couple of times for each side, plus rotating them to face the fire. When grilling, rotate each line of wings from front to back so they can rest a little farther from the fire for part of the total time.
• On a gas grill, you can pack them a little more closely together, but make sure you can still easily flip them.
• If you’re using an oven, you may want to rotate the pan once and flip the wings over once. The heat is typically more even in an oven, so you won’t have to manipulate the individual wings as often.

6. Serve: Allow the wings to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving. Jerk chicken is traditionally served with a savory rice dish or grilled plantains, or pair it with our southern-style coleslaw or steakhouse potato salad.

Recipe Tips and Notes

• Dial in your heat. In the spice mix, cayenne provides the heat. In our first pass, we found it a bit too hot and masked the other spices’ flavors, so we reduced the amount in our second batch. Feel free to reduce or add more based on your preference for spicy foods.
• Whole spices versus ground. Use a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle to extract more flavor from black pepper, allspice, cloves, and cumin. Toast them on a dry skillet for a few minutes until you can smell them, then transfer them to your grinder.
• Do you need ALL those spices? If you don’t have one or two spices, you can still make the blend. The same applies if you don’t like the taste of a particular one. We would recommend adding half of the amount rather than removing it from the recipe, as the blend of all those spices gives Jerk its unique flavor.

Frequently Asked Questions