A couple of years ago, we took a trip to Boulder, Colorado. We stopped in Denver for lunch at Marco’s Coal Fired Pizza. We had one of the best pizzas that I have ever eaten, but even better were the Limoncello chicken wings! The recipe has been published in many of the local Denver papers and then even have it posted in their restaurant. I snapped a picture of the article and after two years, finally made the recipe.
This picture definitely does not do the wings justice. You have to trust me on this one. You have to actually taste them to understand how amazing they are!
Ingredients (with my twist)
- 3-4 pounds of chicken wings
- Three whole lemons, washed and quartered
- 5-6 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 10-ish sprigs of fresh thyme
- 5 sprigs of fresh oregano
- 1 tablespoon of kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon-isa of red pepper flakes
- ½ cup Limoncello
- 1 ½ cups extra virgin olive oil
Don’t worry too much about the exact measurements for the fresh herbs. Just remove herbs from their stalks and get a nice equal pile of each. The more the merrier! You can’t really add enough fresh herbs to this!
One other thing to note. I did not make my own Limoncello! I bought Guliana’s Limoncello at Standard Market. Not necessarily to support her, but because that was the only brand they had in stock. Keep your Limoncello in the fridge - it is great chilled!
Marinade
This is easy, put everything, except the wings, into the blender and puree! Yes, you are putting the lemons in whole. It seems odd at first, but just do it! The puree will be a little thick, but that is exactly what you want.
Place the wings and marinade into a Ziplock bag (I split the wings into two bags) and marinate overnight.
Cook the Wings
We cooked the wings on the Green Egg (of course), using the plate setter to achieve indirect heat. We put a pizza stone on top of the grate and let the temperature rise to 600 degrees. After the grill and the stone reached temperature, we cooked the wings on the stone. The wings took about 30 minutes to cook and we flipped them every 10 minutes.
If you are doing this in your oven at home, cook these for 20-30 minutes (until charred) at 450 degrees. You can also cook this on your regular grill on indirect heat. I recommend getting your grill as hot as you can to cook these. The high heat really produces a very moist piece of chicken.
Make sure to serve these wings hot. When you take your first bite, the sweetness of the Limoncello and the crispness of the char will really come through. These definitely aren’t your ordinary chicken wings and they are also not your typical lemon chicken. You just have to taste these in order to really appreciate the flavor!
Mangia!
P.S. Marco’s still exists, but under a new name Racca’s Pizzeria. For those interested in learning more about Racca’s: