This easy homemade buffalo wing sauce has a few simple ingredients and tastes better than the store-bought bottles. Plus, it can be stored in the fridge for weeks.
Thanks to Buffalo, NY, we have buffalo sauce (hooray). This buffalo wing sauce is so simple to make at home. I love keeping a batch in the fridge, ready to toss with chicken wings, drizzling onto rice bowls, and over salads.
Our recipe below makes a medium buffalo sauce, but I’ve included tips for making it spicier!
Key Ingredients
- Hot sauce: For this recipe, use your favorite cayenne pepper hot sauce (one with a short list of natural ingredients like cayenne pepper, vinegar, and salt). I love Crystal Hot Sauce, but we have also used Frank’s Hot Sauce (not the wing sauce) and Tabasco. We are also working on a homemade hot sauce recipe to make this sauce 100% from scratch (stay tuned).
- Butter: Makes this homemade sauce so creamy and silky.
- Garlic powder: Adds more flavor to our sauce. You can also use fresh grated garlic if you prefer. I recommend 3 to 5 small garlic cloves, but finely mince or grate them.
- Honey (optional): After years of making this sauce with 3 ingredients, Chef Richard convinced us to try a little honey and we loved it. If you want to try for yourself, add a small drizzle of honey to the sauce. It balances and rounds out the flavor of the sauce nicely.
How to Make Buffalo Sauce
Are you ready to see how easy it is to make buffalo wing sauce at home? You’ll melt butter over low heat. We want to gently melt the butter to stay creamy (not that brown butter is bad, it’s delicious, but not what we are looking for with this wing sauce).
When the butter melts, remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the hot sauce and garlic powder. Whisk until the sauce is smooth, blended, and red. I’m showing Frank’s hot sauce in the photo, but remember, you can use your favorite hot sauce (like a locally made hot sauce, Crystal, or homemade).
Ways to Use Buffalo Sauce
The most popular use for this buffalo sauce is with chicken hot wings, but it can be used in many other ways. You can turn it into buffalo chicken dip and make buffalo chicken pizza, and I love swapping the chicken wings for cauliflower to make these vegetarian cauliflower wings.
It’s also delicious to drizzle over scrambled eggs, added to salads and rice bowls, with pasta, or tossed with roasted shrimp.
When using this sauce, I also love having a batch of homemade blue cheese or ranch dressing nearby.
Easy Homemade Buffalo Sauce
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This homemade buffalo sauce recipe is easy! Use your favorite hot sauce (not bottled wing sauce) for this recipe. Our recipe makes a medium-hot sauce. Add cayenne pepper (a pinch or more) for a spicier sauce. Reduce the hot sauce by 1/3 to 1/2 cup for a milder sauce.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 ⅓ cups hot sauce, like Frank’s or Crystal
1 to 3 teaspoons honey, optional, see tips
Cayenne pepper, optional to make more spicy
Directions
1Gently melt the butter in a medium pan over low heat until melted (using low heat takes a little longer, but we want to keep it creamy).
2Remove the pan from the heat to prevent the sauce from breaking. Then, whisk in the garlic powder and hot sauce until a cohesive sauce forms, about 1 minute. Taste, then if you want the sauce more spicy, add a pinch or more cayenne pepper.
3Use immediately or store in an airtight container or jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. It will harden, so reheat gently over low heat and whisk or shake if separated.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Store homemade buffalo sauce in an airtight jar in the fridge for 2 weeks. The sauce will harden in the refrigerator (because of the butter), but you can remove what you need from the jar with a spoon and then gently reheat the sauce over low heat before using it. If, as you reheat, the sauce separates, whisk or shake it back together. I do not recommend freezing this sauce.
- Fresh garlic: Instead of garlic powder, add 1 to 3 finely grated or minced garlic cloves to the butter and cook over low heat for 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat then add the hot sauce. For the smoothest sauce, blend until smooth.
- Vegan-friendly: Substitute the butter with plant-based butter.
- Honey: Chef Richard convinced us to try a little honey in our Buffalo sauce and we’ve fallen in love. Try it for yourself, you’ll find that it balances the heat and rounds the flavor nicely.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We assumed Frank’s hot sauce.
Joanne,
I looked at many Buffalo Wings Sauces, but I kept coming back to yours. I didn’t have enough Frank’s Hot Sauce, however, I did have another of my favorite hot sauces, Texas Pete. It goes extremely well with your recipe. I want everyone to know how easy this recipe is to make. My daughter told me that this recipe is a keeper so it will go into my book.where I have recipes that we want to keep. I want to thank you so much for this recipe and I intend to share with friends and family. Thank you again.
how long do i leave the wings in oven before i put the rest of sauce on them
Hi Delores, Take a look at our baked hot wings recipe (it uses this sauce and has all the tips you need for baking wings in the oven).
Do you pour this Hot Sause recipe directly over chicken wings or do you mix it with a bottle of BBQ sauce?
I only use this sauce with the wings.
Why do you say that this is homemade? The main ingredient is a store bought sauce!
Hi Luca, If you have a homemade hot sauce you love, you can use it. I’d love to share a homemade hot sauce recipe one day soon!