Grilled BBQ Blackberry Chicken Wings

This post is sponsored by bubly™ sparkling water. The opinions and text are all mine.

Blackberry chicken wings are grilled and basted in an easy homemade BBQ sauce made with fresh blackberries. They’re delicious paired with blackberry bubly™ sparkling water.

It’s that time of year when I start adapting my usual dinner recipes to be made on the grill. I mean, who’d rather stand at the stovetop when you could be hanging around a warm and sunny backyard?

One caveat to that is the heat. Describing it as unpleasant at times can be putting it mildly, especially down here in the southeastern U.S.

What helps, (and helps big time) is sipping on something nice and cold while I grill, and my pick is bubly™ sparkling water. This crisp and SUPER refreshing sparkling water features natural fruit flavors for delicious taste that just brings the fun to everyday life. And we could all use some more of that, right?

What’s to love about bubly™ sparkling water

I consider myself a sparkling water connoisseur and I am alllll about bubly™ sparkling water. Each flavor I’ve tried (and I’ve tried many) has a perfectly bold fruit flavor that really shines through. There’s no mistaking which flavor you’ve chosen when you start taking sips.

With no calories and no sweeteners, you’re set to be all smiles with bubly™ sparkling water. 🙂 Its effervescence is a treat in the warm weather and the whole family will love the variety of fruit flavors. It’s truly hard to pick a favorite.

I find it in the sparkling water aisle at my local Publix (where shopping really is a pleasure) but I also love how convenient it is to buy for grocery pickup or delivery with Instacart. Just sign in to your Instacart account to order bubly™ sparkling water from Publix!

Recipe pairing

I thought it would be fun to keep the theme going and pair blackberry bubly™ sparkling water with a main dish recipe that included blackberries, too. Fresh seasonal fruit like blackberries brings natural sweetness to homemade BBQ sauce, as well as that vibrant purple-y/pink-y color!

We’re a big chicken wing household and have our go-to means of preparation both in the oven and the air fryer. When the weather heats up, though, we love to throw wings on the grill. Specifically, these BBQ blackberry chicken wings. It’s not the quickest grilling recipe out there, but it results in reliably juicy meat, perfect char marks, and near-caramelized BBQ sauce. And that’s hard to beat.

Recipe instructions

The first step is to prepare the blackberry BBQ sauce. The good news is that this can be done up to a few days in advance and kept refrigerated until ready to use.

Cook onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil, then add ketchup, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and ground cayenne. Give everything a big stir, then add the fresh blackberries.

Bring everything to a boil and then let simmer for about twenty minutes, until the berries are beginning to burst. At this point, blend with an immersion blender (or carefully transfer to a regular blender) until smooth. Let it sit for a few minutes to cool off some, then pour through a fine mesh sieve to strain out the blackberry seeds.

And there you go! The sauce will thicken up as it cools.

Now it’s time to grill. Season chicken wings with salt and pepper, then add them close together on the grill (heated to around 375°Fahrenheit) over indirect heat. Let them cook for around 35-40 minutes, flipping them a few times as they cook.

I strongly recommend cracking open a few blackberry bubly™ sparkling waters to help this process along.

After that time period, set the wings over direct heat and baste the top side with blackberry BBQ sauce. Let them cook for a few minutes, then flip and baste the other side. The wings are cooked once the interior of the thickest piece of meat reaches 165°F.

This BBQ sauce recipe yields plenty, so you can separate out enough to serve with in addition to reserving a sufficient amount for the basting. It has a strong tang paired with fruity sweetness when served as-is, but the flavors mellow out as they cook on the wings.

Be sure to sign in to your Instacart account to order bubly™ sparkling water from Publix!

Recipe notes

• Before cooking, I recommend reserving about half of the sauce for serving, using the other half for basting. This recipe makes a fair amount.

Grilled BBQ Blackberry Chicken Wings

Blackberry chicken wings are grilled and basted in an easy homemade BBQ sauce made with fresh blackberries. 

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 46 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 46 minutes

Servings: 8

Calories: 493kcal

Author: Alyssa

Ingredients

BBQ Sauce:

• ▢ 1 tbsp olive oil
• ▢ 6 tbsp diced onion amount from half of a small onion
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• ▢ 2/3 cup ketchup
• ▢ 1/4 cup maple syrup
• ▢ 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (less if you want a little less tang)
• ▢ 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• ▢ 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• ▢ 1/4 tsp kosher salt or to taste
• ▢ 1/8 tsp ground black pepper or to taste
• ▢ 1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper or to taste
• ▢ 12 oz fresh blackberries (roughly 2 1/2 - 2 3/4 cups)

Wings:

• ▢ 4 - 4.5 lb chicken wings cut into sections, discard the tips
• ▢ Kosher salt
• ▢ Ground black pepper

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Instructions

BBQ sauce:

• Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan set over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook for 7-8 minutes, then add garlic. Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients, up to the blackberries, and stir. Then add the blackberries. Let the mixture come to a boil (raising the heat if necessary) then lower heat to allow everything to simmer for 20 minutes.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat and blend until smooth with an immersion blender. You can also do this step by transferring the mixture to a standard blender, though be careful because it's hot. Leave sufficient room in the blender so it does not overflow.
• Let blended BBQ sauce sit for a few minutes to cool off a bit, then pour mixture through a fine mesh sieve to strain out the blackberry seeds. Press the BBQ sauce into the sieve to help it pass through. Refrigerate sauce until ready to use.

Grilled BBQ blackberry chicken wings:

• If chicken wings are not cut into sections already, cut each whole wing through the main joint to separate out the drumette and wingette. Remove the tip (attached to the wingette) and discard.
• Heat the grill to 375°F. Using long tongs, place the wing sections onto the grill close together over indirect heat. Cook for 35-40 minutes, using tongs to turn the sections over a few times throughout the cook time.
• Reserve about half of the blackberry BBQ sauce to keep for serving, then add the remainder to a basting bottle or bowl. Transfer the wings to direct heat and baste the top halves with the BBQ sauce. Let cook for 2-3 minutes, then flip each wing and baste the other half. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
• Chicken is fully cooked when the center of the thickest part of the meat reaches 165°F. Serve with the reserved BBQ sauce.

Notes

Flavor: The fresh blackberry flavor is on the subtler side to bring sweetness as this sauce leans big time into savory tang. If you'd like it to be even fruitier, you can replace a few tablespoons of the maple syrup with seedless blackberry preserves or add additional fresh berries.

Spice: As written, the quantity of cayenne pepper doesn’t add too much spice. Increase the amount used to fit your tastes.

Yield: The BBQ sauce recipe yields about 20-21 ounces in total.

Nutrition

Calories: 493kcal

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Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.

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