This recipe, inspired by Sri Lankan cuisine, combines the flavors of lemongrass, cilantro, garlic, and turmeric to make for a fragrant spice paste that is an awesome combination on smoked/grilled chicken wings.
Simply pulse all the ingredients together in the food processor and then let the chicken wings marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Reserve a bit of the marinade for an extra flavor kick at the end right before serving. I made these on my Green Mountain Grill Pellet Smoker which adds a ton of smokey flavor with minimal fuss, for the ultimate combo of aromatic ingredients paired with smoke from the grill. These chicken wings were OUT OF THIS WORLD!
Lemongrass, Cilantro & Garlic Grilled Chicken Wings
Ingredients
- 1–2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 stalks lemongrass OR 3 tbsp lemon or lime zest (remove the outer layers of the lemongrass and chop up before putting into the food processor)
- 1 cup cilantro sprigs
- 8 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/2 tbsp turmeric
- 1/2 tbsp sea salt
- 1/2 tbsp pepper (or to taste)
- 10–12 chicken wings- approximately 1.5 pounds (if making two pounds go ahead and double ingredients for marinade)
Instructions
The making of the spice paste!
Combine olive oil, lemongrass/or zest, cilantro, garlic, turmeric, sea salt and pepper in the food processor and pulse until uniformly mixed- you are looking to make a seasoning “paste”. Next, reserve about 2 tbsp of the marinade to drizzle before serving. Marinate the chicken wings for 30 minutes before putting on the grill.
Prepare your grill for medium direct heat at 350 degrees. I used my Green Mountain Grill Pellet Smoker and set it for 375 degrees with the smoker holes wide open. Grill your wings, turning halfway during the process, for approximately 15-18 minutes OR until the internal temperature has reached 170 degrees with an internal read thermometer.
The Chicken wings on the Green Mountain Grill.
The Chicken wings on the Green Mountain Grill.
Once you’ve reached 170 degrees (I recommend using an internal read thermometer such as the thermapen to check internal temp), pull the wings off and drizzle with the remaining marinade. Prepare for out of this world flavor combination! Enjoy!
Notes
This recipe was developed in partnership with Green Mountain Grills. I only work with companies I use and recommend! You can read a full review of the Green Mountain Grill Pellet Smoker here.
Check out these other delicious recipes!
Robyn,
Made these chicken wings today and they were absolutely delicious. Used lime zest instead of lemongrass, as it was not available and loved the rich lime flavor. Just learning to grill (from your class) so went easy on myself and used the Weber gas grill. Heat stayed at 400 so I just watched the chicken often. Still only took 18 minutes to cook to perfection. Great marinade!
So happy you had success with this recipe Pat! This is one of my favorite chicken wing recipes- such great flavor! I’ll be making a video for this recipe soon, stay tuned!!
Love lemongrass and cilantro! And doesn’t everyone love wings!!!
my favorite flavor combo too!