Traeger Gameday Crispy Chicken Wings

In partnership with Safeway

Get ready for a touchdown of flavor with these Gameday Crispy Chicken Wings hot off the Traeger! They’re a pass to the end zone for your taste buds! Whether you’re cheering for your team or just craving some delicious bites, this recipe for gameday chicken wings has you covered.

THE BIG GAME IS COMING UP

Calling all Traeger enthusiasts who have a big game party in your future (hint hint)! Now is the time to figure out your gameday menu, invite your friends and plan ahead for a big spread of tasty food to go with what’s bound to be a fun game. At our house, our guests are going to love diving into a gameday classic – Crispy Chicken Wings!

Living here in Colorado, where the grilling spirit never fades, I took on the challenge to create the ultimate gameday spread right in my backyard, no matter the weather. With the help of my local Safeway grocery store, I was able to pick up all the ingredients I needed by stopping into my local store. Thanks to the Safeway for U deals, coupons and promotions, I had a good idea of what I wanted to get and was able to pick up the whole spread– wings to veggies to chips and dips in a quick and efficient manner.

SAFEWAY FOR THE ONE-STOP SOLUTION

Knowing that the big game day is one of the top takeout/carryout days of the year, I wanted to get ahead of the game and put together a takeout-worthy snack spread for our friends and family here at home. Nothing could get in the way of deliciousness or efficiency, and it was made even easier by the simplicity of shopping in my local Safeway store.

We usually opt to use our FreshPass membership when we shop for groceries, making it super easy to keep our house fed and provisioned with two little kids underfoot. Taking advantage of the free unlimited delivery on orders over $30 (which happens a lot!) means that we don’t have to stuff the kids in winter coats and take them out in the car for a grocery trip. Instead, the groceries are selected by us in the app, shopped by a personal shopper in-store and hand delivered with care to our doorstep. Using the Safeway Deals and Delivery app, it just takes a few clicks and suddenly groceries at at your home. 

With DriveUp and Go, we’re also able to get groceries in a flash by pulling up in front of the store and letting them know we’re outside by clicking on the app. Both of these features from Safeway make our life so easy and cooking at home super simple.

BUT… for the big game we wanted to hand-select some of our ingredients and check out the big variety of meats and poultry available in the meat department. When cooking up something like wings, I like to see the options I have and pick the package I precisely want to use. So at the end of a date night, we stopped into our neighborhood Safeway store and grabbed our gameday groceries. For over-tired parents of twins, that date night extension was a bonus!

SO MANY OPTIONS TO ROUND OUT THE SPREAD

While the main focus of our cook was these epic crispy chicken wings, I’d be remiss in not talking about all the super-easy and super-delicious additional items we picked up for our big game party. It’s available year-round, but there is no time like early February to hit up Safeway for their incredible store-made dips.

DIP DELIGHT

We are obsessed with their hatch green chile queso— which is in the Cut Fresh Daily department. Alongside the queso, the store’s house-made hatch green chile guacamole is out of this world. In fact, we usually have to get a second tub because our little guy is known to eat through a whole container of guacamole on his own.

We also love the store-made tortilla chips, which are always on display and easy to grab in the front of the store. They’re the perfect vessel for shoveling guac and queso as the game gets dicey.

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VEGGIES MADE EASY

Any good wing spread for the big game is best accented with some veggies. Rather than buy all the things we’d need to put together our own veggie tray, we grabbed a Signature Farms Veggie Tray with Ranch Dip in the produce department and were on our way. Filled with carrots, celery, broccoli, snap peas, and peppers, it comes with a cup of ranch for dipping and is so easy to put out– just pull the cover back and let people dig in!

DON’T WING IT ON THE BIG DAY

Chicken wings are one of my favorite foods, and over the years as we’ve learned to cook everything on the Traeger grill, we’ve figured out how to make wings almost as good as the professionals do. This big spread of crispy gameday chicken wings was no exception– moist and flavorful meat with a great exterior crisp that allowed a good bite and perfect pull from the bone. And don’t worry– by finishing these wings in the air fryer for about 5 minutes, we ended up with AMAZING crispy skin too.

START WITH WHOLE WINGS

I always prefer to use whole chicken wings when making crispy gameday wings for family and friends. You end up with more meat overall, and the satisfaction that you broke the big wings down into drums and flats can make you extra proud of the delicious result.

Some people may find that breaking down chicken wings is intimidating or too much work, but in all honesty I broke down this tray of chicken in about 10 minutes and only needed a few items to make it easy.

Start with a sturdy cutting board. I always put a piece of damp paper towel under my cutting boards to ensure that they don’t slip while I’m working. I’m here to cut the chicken, not my fingers! I also like to wear gloves when doing this, as I feel like you end up with better grip on the chicken as you go. But that’s your choice.

The only other thing you need for perfect results is a sharp kitchen knife or cleaver. I love this one from Messermeister, which is super sharp and strong without weighing a ton.

HOW TO BREAK DOWN A CHICKEN WING

Step 1: prep your space.

Step 2: unwrap the wings and put them on your cutting board.

Step 3: using gloved hands, pick up each wing and bend them backwards at the joints to loosen.

Step 4: using your sharp cleaver or kitchen knife, cut between the joints to separate the pieces.

Step 5: if you are having difficulty, put some power in the knife and cut the bone. But you shouldn’t need to.

I like to separate the drums from the flats and toss out the wing tips. If you are the type that likes bone broth, throw the wing tips in a freezer bag for the next batch of soup or stock you make.

WINGS TWO WAYS

We never like to get wings that are just one flavor– it’s nice to break up the monotony with different flavor combinations and we do the same for our gameday spreads.

With these wings, I divided them in two. The first half was dry brined in Safeway’s O Organics Chicken Grilling Seasoning. Dry brining adds incredible flavor while redistributing the moisture that is in the chicken in all the right places. Additionally, the salt on the exterior helps to dry out the skin, resulting in that perfect crisp bite. I covered these wings generously with seasoning and popped them in the fridge for 24 hours.

The second batch was marinated and came out equally delicious and different. The Signature Select Island Teriyaki marinade available at my local Safeway store caught my eye. I love a soy-sauce heavy flavor and the combination of flavors in this marinade sounded perfect. I simply dumped the entire bottle on these wings, turned to coat and threw them in the fridge for 24 hours too.

SMOKED TO PERFECTION

As the game is starting up, I like to start the grills and begin preparing food. This ensures that it’s most flavorful and fresh right when folks are getting hungry, but also makes it possible to not miss the entire game.

These crispy gameday chicken wings cook up in about an hour and are perfect for the game. Preheat your Traeger grill to 225*. Once the grill is hot, place the wings on the grill grates and close the lid.

Allow the wings to smoke for about 40 minutes, then check the internal temperature. You are aiming for 145*. Once the wings hit 145*, pull them from the smoker. I like to keep the different flavors separate still, because the dry-brined wings will be sauced later on.

AIR FRY FOR PERFECT CRISP

Pull out your air fryer (you know you have one) and set it to 400*. Place the wings in the air fryer basket in an even layer and cook for 5-6 minutes until crispy on the outside and internal temperature reads 180*. The carry-over cook will take the chicken to 185*.

Repeat with the remaining wings. Arrange the teriyaki wings on a platter (no need to sauce again) and toss the dry brined wings in a bowl with warmed Signature Select Hot Buffalo Wing sauce, warmed up and combined with 2 tbsp of melted butter.

SERVE HOT WITH OTHER GAMEDAY FAVORITES

The great thing about making crispy gameday chicken wings like this is that you can ensure they’re hot and delicious throughout the game. By finishing the cook in the air fryer, you are bound to have crisp, hot and delicious wings in just a matter of minutes.

We served up this duo of wings with Safeway Select Blue Cheese Dressing & Dip and the aforementioned veggies, chips and dips.

PRIMARY INGREDIENTS

• Signature Farms Chicken Wings Value Pack (3.5 pounds)
• O Organics Chicken Grilling Seasoning
• Signature Select Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce
• Signature Select Island Teriyaki Marinade
• Signature Select Blue Cheese Dressing & Dip
• Signature Farms Veggie Tray with Ranch Dip
• Store-made fresh cut guacamole
• Store-made green Chile queso
• Fresh-made tortilla chips
• Lucerne Butter

Why Cooking Crispy Chicken Wings on the Traeger Works

Traeger grills are the MVPs for infusing that smoky essence into every dish. These wings? No exception. The Traeger brought out the best in the fresh chicken’s flavor, adding a touch of smoky goodness that permeates every bite. By providing two flavors of wings on our game day display, we had both spicy and savory for folks to pick from– making every party attendee happy!

Step-by-Step

• Break down chicken wings into drums and flats. Discard the wing tips.
• In two containers, season the wings.
• Season half with the O Organics Chicken Grilling Seasoning.
• Marinade half in the Island Teriyaki marinade.
• Refrigerate the wings for 24 hours.
• Preheat your Traeger grill to 225*.
• Arrange the wings on the grill and close the lid.
• Allow to cook for about 40 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 145*.
• Remove the wings from the grill and place half in the air fryer basket.
• Cook the wings for 5-7 minutes in the air fryer at 400* until crispy and an internal temperature of 180* is reached.
• Combine 1 cup of buffalo sauce with 2 tbsp of butter, then microwave until hot.
• Toss the dry brined wings in buffalo sauce and butter mixture.
• Arrange the crispy gameday chicken wings on a platter and serve with blue cheese dressing for dipping.

Alternate Recipes/Product Links

Here are some other recipes for chicken wings, to add to your gameday inspiration:

• Smoked-fried chicken wings
• Grilled chicken wings
• Smoked truffalo chicken bites
• And there are some great wing and gameday recipes in my cookbook, which you can pick up here!

Products used in this cook:

• Safeway for U
• Safeway Deals & Delivery App
• Safeway DriveUp & Go
• Traeger Ironwood XL

There you have it, Traeger enthusiasts!
Elevate your gameday with these Crispy Chicken Wings – a slam dunk in flavor and simplicity.
Head over to Safeway to grab the essentials and score big with your backyard cooking game. And tag me @ThisJewCanQue so I can see what you cook!