Homemade Buffalo Sauce
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My homemade buffalo sauce has the perfect balance of lip smacking, go back for more flavor. Make this recipe for a spicy chicken wing sauce!
I don’t care if it’s a game day tailgate, the 4th of July, or New Year’s Eve, buffalo chicken is the perfect party food. There’s something about messy finger foods that draws in a crowd.
Homemade buffalo sauce
A simple sauce like this adds so much flavor, and it couldn’t be any easier to make. Melt some butter, whisk in 4 pantry staples and you’re good to go.
Don’t limit its use to just chicken, though. Use it to add a kick of spicy heat to smoked meatloaf, pasta, or even turkey burgers.
Ingredient notes and substitutions
For the perfect, smooth consistency, this homemade condiment starts with melted butter that gets seasoned to perfection.
- melted butter– salted butter is my preference, but unsalted works, too. Using butter in buffalo sauce adds a creaminess that you can’t get from hot sauce alone. It’s the combination of the spicy hot sauce AND the fat in the butter that makes the sauce thick enough to cover the food, too.
- hot sauce of choice – Cholula, Frank’s, or whatever strikes your fancy.
- Worcestershire sauce– If you don’t have any on hand, soy sauce is a good substitute for Worcestershire.
- honey– The majority of buffalo wing sauce recipes I’ve seen call for vinegar. I use honey for a nice sweetness to balance the acidity of the hot sauce.
- cayenne powder– Use as much or as little of this as you’d like. For kickin’ homemade buffalo sauce, you can use a full teaspoon, but watch your taste buds!
Buffalo wing sauce recipe notes
- To use the sauce, place your fried or baked chicken wings in a bowl. Pour the sauce over them, then use tongs or gently shake the bowl to coat the chicken.
- Refrigerate the buffalo sauce in a glass jar or other covered container, and use it up within a few weeks. I’d like to say it will keep for months, but it’s never around that long when I make it.
NOTE: Hot sauce can stain clothing and plastic containers. So, if you don’t have a glass jar, it’s best to store the wing sauce in a container that you don’t mind turning a little orange in color.
- Feel free to double or triple the recipe. – The recipe as written below yields just over a cup of sauce. That should be plenty to coat a batch of wings for 8 people, but I like to make extra so people can use it as a dipping sauce.
By the way, another great way to prepare chicken wings for a crowd is on a smoker. Everyone loves these honey garlic smoked chicken wings. Oh, and have you ever tried them with a pickle brine? Dill pickle chicken wings are SO good!
Serving Suggestions
Honestly, it may be fantastic on chicken wings, but buffalo sauce is great on much more than just wings! Try it drizzled over chicken tacos, and grilled pork chops too.
Oh, and I also incorporate the chicken wing sauce into my recipes for buffalo chicken mac and cheese and crunchy buffalo chicken meatballs – the meatballs are fantastic New Year’s Eve appetizers!
Serve the buffalo sauce over your chicken wings with sides of Blue Cheese Dip, sliced celery and carrot sticks . Now you have yourself the perfect food for any celebration or game day tailgating party.
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This post, originally published on Kevin is Cooking March 6, 2020, was last updated with new content Dec 4, 2021.
Homemade Buffalo Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 2/3 cup hot sauce
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp cayenne powder (See Note 1)
Instructions
- Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When butter has melted, whisk in the remaining ingredients, then allow sauce to simmer for a minute.
Notes
- Use more or less cayenne for the spicy heat you prefer.
- This recipe yields just over 1 cup wing sauce. Nutrition shown is for 2 tbsp.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Tasted Great! The only thing I added was a tsp garlic powder. Thanks for the recipe!
Awesome sauce, thanks Michelle!
Well, you’re the first person I’ve contacted just to say congrats.
Why: after reading 10 other recipes for Buffalo wing sauce, yours was the first one that was not exactly the same recipe… in fact… it had logic and sense in it. Then after a brief look on your website, I feel I have found an excellent source for the future.
Who am I? One of the best cooks that doesn’t currently, or past’ly, work in any form of restaurants, and HIGHLY particular of food.
It is a pleasure to meet you. Keep giving excellent guidance to people (because most internet cooks just copy/paste recipes from other sources)
Thanks Cody, much appreciated.
Love the spicy sweet combo!!!
Thank you so much!
So glad to make this sauce at home now! Looks easy!
Thank you! You are going to love it!
Perfect flavor, just the right amount of heat!
Thank you so much! I enjoy the amount of heat too!
This sounds so perfect for wing night! I also love that I can crank up the heat if we want!
You have to give it a try! You will enjoy it!
We will be having wings very soon! I can’t wait to try this!
I could eat wings all week long!
Love buffalo sauce! Looking forward to baking some buffalo cauliflower bites; this looks delicious!
Thank you! It is my go to!
So simple and so good, this is some awesome buffalo wing sauce!
Thank you! I love a good wing sauce too!
I made this and it is so good! It goes great on your wings! Will be making again soon!
I am so glad you enjoyed them Kelsey!