Comparisons · Two cuts
Chicken drumsticks or Chicken wings
The two small dark pieces, differing in surface-to-mass ratio, which is the fact that governs how they behave over a fire.
What each one is
Chicken drumsticks
Working leg muscle around a single bone. Like the thigh, better past its safety minimum, and unlike the thigh, a cylinder — so it cooks from all sides at once.
Chicken wings
Mostly skin and connective tissue over very little meat, which inverts the usual problem: wings are not about reaching an internal temperature, they are about rendering the skin, and that takes longer.
Where they overlap
- Both are chicken.
- Both are the same food form, so the same safety rules apply to each.
What actually differs
| Aspect | Chicken drumsticks | Chicken wings |
|---|---|---|
| Typical weight | 100–140 g | 55–85 g |
| Typical thickness Thickness governs timing more than weight or cut name does — Weber's own chart roughly triples the time between a one-inch and a two-inch steak. | 35–45 mm | 20–30 mm |
| What BBQHQ's evidence gives for time Windows from the cooking profiles, at the conditions each profile states. They are not comparable to the minute — the profiles differ in cooker and configuration — and are shown to give the scale. | 14–24 minutes | 16–24 minutes |
Can one stand in for the other?
Workable, once you change the cook
You can use one for the other. The cook changes, and the changes are below — do not carry the timing across unaltered.
What has to change
- They are not the same thickness, and thickness moves timing more than weight or cut name does. Expect the window to move substantially, and probe rather than transferring the time.