Oh my goodness me. I don’t know why I waited so long to make this Hooters Daytona Beach Style wings using the Vortex copycat recipe. They were absolutely amazing. Vortex wings are already great to begin with. That great charcoal smoke flavor. Crispy skin. Super-juicy and tender meat. Just great stuff. These wings, boy, are they ever even more amazing. An even crunchier coating. And the sauce? Slightly sweet, slightly hot and very delicious. These are fantastic wings. This will be making my normal wing rotation for sure.
If you have a charcoal grill, such as a Weber kettle, you need a Vortex. It’s great for more than wings, but if you buy it just to make amazing wings, it’s money well spent! Heck, I love wings this way so much that I have an 18″ Weber charcoal grill dedicated almost full-time to just cooking wings!
Sauce ‘Em Heavy. Sauce ‘Em Light.
After tasting the sauce for these copycat Hooters Daytona Beach Style wings using the Vortex copycat recipe I knew I was going to end up putting more sauce on the wings than I usually do. I don’t like to drown my wings in sauce. I like to taste the wings, too. But boy, this stuff was so tasty that I couldn’t help myself. It was crazy finger-licking good.
Extra Sauce Because It’s Extra Good
Make extra sauce and put it on hamburgers, hot dogs, smoked pulled pork, and oh yeah, ribs! And of course, it’s great for dipping chicken nuggets. No, they’re not boneless wings. If I have a pet peeve it’s calling chicken nuggets ‘boneless wings’! What the heck? Ok, I’ll stop now before I get myself worked up!
Rotating The Lid
Depending on the size of your charcoal grill, you may want to rotate the lid 90 degrees every 15 minutes during cooking. I’ve found that this makes no difference on my 18-inch grill. And almost no difference (if any, really) on my 22-inch grill. If I don’t have the grill completely filled with wings around the Vortex I make sure the vent is above the wings to draw the heat and smoke over them. No rotating required.
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Also try my chili crisp wings using the Vortex!
Copycat Hooters Daytona Beach Style Wings using the Vortex
Ingredients
For the wings
- 2-3 pounds chicken wings flats and drumettes separated, tips saved to make stock
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
For the sauce
- ¾ cup your favorite BBQ sauce just good ole BBQ sauce, nothing spicy or flavored
- ¼ cup Frank's RedHot sauce
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ¼ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
Instructions
For the wings
- Place wings into a large bowl or resealable container.
- Combine flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Sprinkle over the wings and toss to coat.
- Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes while you get the grill going.
- Place the Vortex into the center of your grill and add in the charcoal. Open the bottom vents on your grill by 1/3.
- Light a charcoal chimney full of charcoal. Alternatively you can fill your Vortex with charcoal and light them inside the unit.
- Let the charcoal get fully ashed over then add to the Vortex.
- If you want extra smoke flavor, place a small wood chunk or two over the center of the Vortex and let it ignite and smoke.
- Add the chicken to the grill, in a circle around the Vortex.
- Close the grill and cook for 30 minutes. If you are using a large charcoal grill (22" or bigger) you might want to rotate the lid 90 degrees every 15 minutes. I haven't found this to be necessary on smaller (18" and 14") grills.
- Brush the wings with the sauce. Turn them over and sauce the other side.
- Grill another 15 minutes.
- Flip the wings again. Sauce some more. If desired, place the wings directly over the Vortex on the grate for a few minutes to char them up a bit.
- Remove and serve.
For the sauce
- Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to a simmer.
- Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Keep warm until ready to use.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate and will not include any store-bought wing sauce or seasoning nutritional values.
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