Buffalo Sauce:
Boldly flavored homemade buffalo sauce that is better than anything you can get at the store, is easy to make, and is great as a sauce to coat food with, dip, marinade, and more!
Have you ever wondered how to make homemade buffalo sauce? No need to wonder, this recipe will show you just how easy it is to make. This buffalo sauce recipe is a silky, rich, delicious sauce that is buttery, has a little heat, and the perfect amount of tanginess. Just plain flavorful. The perfect sauce for topping wings, adding to eggs, eating over oven baked steak fries, and more.
Buffalo sauce is my go to sauce when I want to add a punch of flavor or some heat to a recipe. The buttery flavor, the silky texture, and the versatility of buffalo sauce makes it a great condiment to keep on hand.
And homemade buffalo sauce is so much better than anything you can buy, and is so easy to make, why would you not have this on hand at all time?
Ways to Use Homemade Buffalo Sauce:
- Toss with baked chicken wings or air fryer chicken wings for the perfect buffalo wings.
- Drizzle over pizza, on chicken tacos, etc. for added flavor.
- Sauce some meatballs with it for a fun party appetizer.
- Use as a way to add some heat to your Sheet Pan Chicken Nachos.
- Pour over smashed potatoes for a fun side!
- Toss with roasted cauliflower once it is all cooked!
- Mix with ranch or blue cheese dressing to make a fun dip or dressing for wings.
- Add to Instant Pot Mac and Cheese for some heat and flavor, and be sure to top with blue cheese crumbles.
- Toss on your Crispy Chicken Tenders for some spicy, buttery flavor.
How to make Buffalo Sauce:
Now that I have teased you with a bunch of fun ways to use this buffalo sauce recipe, let’s talk about what goes into it.
What is buffalo sauce made out of?
The secret to a good buffalo sauce is the right combination of heat, zest, and buttery goodness.
Buffalo sauce is basically made from 4 things: hot sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, & butter. Then it is given additional depth, dimension and flavor with seasonings.
Hot Sauce
When it comes to your choice of hot sauce, my #1 recommendation is Frank’s RedHot sauce. Not only is it the hot sauce of choice in the original recipe from Anchor Bar in the early 1900’s, but it is also a hot sauce based on cayenne pepper.
Don’t choose something that uses different peppers (like Tabasco sauce) as the strength of the peppers may be different and it will alter the taste. Use Frank’s or a generic version of it, but use a cayenne pepper based bottled hot sauce.
Vinegar
The recipe calls for such a small amount, you might be wondering why even bother? Why add white vinegar? Buffalo sauce is made silky and creamy with butter. And so you will want that little bit of extra acidity the vinegar provides.
Worcestershire Sauce
Hot sauce is delicious, in small quantities, but for something like buffalo wings, where the whole wing is coated in a sauce, it would be unpleasant to eat if there wasn’t something else in the sauce. For this recipe we use a little Worcestershire to add some depth of flavor, some smokiness, and a savory, well balanced addition to the tangy heat of Frank’s.
Butter
The butter is essential to this recipe, as it is what cuts through the heat of the hot sauce, and adds the silky, creamy texture to the buffalo sauce. It adds fat, and flavor, while allowing the spices and hot sauce flavors to really shine.
Seasonings
Brown sugar, cayenne, garlic, onion, and paprika are all added to round out and balance flavors. The additional cayenne adds a little extra heat, so it can be removed if you want a milder buffalo sauce. I love being able to control the heat. So taste and adjust as desired.
The brown sugar does not make it sweet, rather it balances some of the acidity and heat to give you a more mellow flavor. But, feel free to leave out. It will be a bit tangier, but not bad.
Why is it Called Buffalo Sauce?
No buffalo sauce is not made to be eaten over buffalo meat, or use any kind of buffalo in it. Hahaha, it is simple called this because it originated in Buffalo, New York. At least according to the internet at large.
It is said, buffalo wings, coated in a tasty “buffalo sauce” were first served in the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, which was owned by Frank and Teressa Bellissimo.
How is Buffalo Sauce Different From Hot Sauce?
Buffalo wing sauce is different from hot sauce because of one specific ingredient: Butter! It is richer, smoother, and doesn’t carry the same punch of heat.
The butter helps cut through the heat so instead of being used sparingly as a topping or garnish, it can coat anything from Fried Chicken to Chicken Wings. And is great as a garnish for many other things.
What does Buffalo Sauce Taste Like?
Buffalo sauce tastes like a milder, mellower, and more flavorful hot sauce. The base sauce for this recipe is melted butter, hot sauce, Worcestershire and vinegar. So it is a tangy, rich, flavorful sauce with a kick of heat!
I played around with the seasonings to get it to my liking, so feel free to adjust to yours!
Storing Homemade Buffalo Sauce
This recipe makes enough to cover several pounds of chicken wings, or chicken tenders. Which means you probably won’t need or use all of it when cooking.
Luckily it stores well for up to two weeks, and is really easy to use on things like Buffalo Chicken Flatbread or as a dipping sauce for Air Fryer Fried Chicken.
How to Store:
- Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.
- Reheat when ready to serve/use.
Keep in an air tight container in the fridge, and when ready to use, simple reheat. If it gets lumpy or isn’t as silky smooth, that is because the butter fat in it solidified, so you simply need to microwave it to soften it back up and give you that delicious smooth sauce again.
Buffalo Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup Frank's red hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 Tbs unsalted butter
Instructions
- In a small saucepan combine: vinegar, Worcestershire, Frank’s hot sauce, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, brown sugar, paprika and salt, and bring to a low simmer.
- Remove from heat and whisk in 4 Tbs cold butter.
- Let sit 5 minutes. Sauce should thicken up after sitting.
- Use as desired
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.
Notes
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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