How to make homemade buffalo wing sauce with only three ingredients. Swap the store-bought bottles for homemade. You can even store for month in the fridge.
Watch the Video
How to Make Buffalo Sauce at Home
It’s no secret that we’re buffalo chicken fans — we’ve added it to pizza, dips, stuffed shells, baked wings and chicken rice bowls. We’ve been making homemade buffalo sauce for ages. It’s simple, tastes amazing and doesn’t have any unnecessary ingredients added.
Recently, we figured out that you can make a big batch of sauce and store it in the fridge for weeks. The sauce thickens in the fridge, but 10 seconds in the microwave and a good stir gets it back into shape.
Thanks to Buffalo, NY, we have buffalo sauce (hooray). There’s lots of play when making it at home, but you’re going to start with two main ingredients — butter and hot sauce. No wonder it tastes so good, right?
Melt butter over low heat — I like low since it keeps the butter creamy and there isn’t any risk of it browning. Not that brown butter is a bad thing, it’s delicious. It simply isn’t what we are looking for in our sauce.
When the butter has melted take the pan off of the heat.
Finally, whisk in hot sauce and garlic powder. Whisk until the sauce is smooth and red. We use Frank’s hot sauce, it’s got everything we’re looking for when a craving for buffalo wing sauce hits. That said, it would be fun to play around with other hot sauces (Crystal is popular and I’ve been wanting to try Cholula for a while, too).
We’ve also kicked around making our own hot sauce, but haven’t gotten there yet. I’ll keep you updated!
Spoon this homemade buffalo sauce over things like our Sweet and Spicy Butternut Squash, Perfectly Soft and Creamy Scrambled Eggs, our Seriously Good Turkey Burger and our Tender and Flavorful Shredded Chicken (so good).
For more from scratch recipes, check out our Fail-Proof Homemade Mayonnaise, Ketchup From Scratch and Homemade Roasted Red Pepper Hummus that has so many reviews we can’t keep up.
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, review it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #inspiredtaste on Instagram. Happy cooking!
Three Ingredient Buffalo Wing Sauce
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
With three ingredients and 10 minutes, this homemade buffalo sauce is simple to make. Check the notes section below for inspiration on adapting and storing it. The recipe below makes a medium-hot sauce. For a spicier version, add some cayenne pepper — start with 1/4 teaspoon, taste and go from there. For a milder version, reduce the hot sauce by 1/3 to 1/2 cup.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
16 tablespoons (1 cup or 8 ounces) unsalted butter
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/3 cups hot sauce, like Frank’s or Crystal
Directions
1Melt butter in a medium pan over medium-low heat until melted. Remove pan from the heat to prevent the sauce from breaking.
2Whisk in the garlic powder and hot sauce until a cohesive sauce forms, about 1 minute.
3Use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 1 month — mason jars are great for this.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Using chilled sauce: Since there is butter in the sauce, it will thicken when refrigerated. To use, give the thickened sauce a good stir then spoon out what you need into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 10 to 15 seconds then stir or whisk until the sauce comes back together.
- Use fresh garlic: Instead of garlic powder, add a few smashed garlic cloves to the butter and cook over medium-low heat until soft. Remove the pan from the heat then add the hot sauce. Blend until smooth.
- Dairy-free / vegan-friendly recipe: Replacing butter with a vegan butter substitute should work. (We have not tried this). We have tried olive oil and did not like the taste. It tasted too much like olive oil and brought out a peppery taste that the butter seemed to soften.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database calculator to calculate approximate values. We assumed Frank’s hot sauce.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
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How do I reheat the chilled sauce on stovetop?
Add to a saucepan and reheat over low heat so that it doesn’t separate.
I have made this sauce a couple times now, it’s so good. The only difference I do, is add a little bit of honey to it.
I was just wondering if I could use salted butter for this recipe? Can’t wait to try it.
Yep, salted butter is fine here.
I entered the ingredients (used unsalted butter) and Franks Hot Sauce, and 2 cups = 32 TBL which came to 124mg Sodium, not 64?
Hi Brian, I just recalculated the nutrition information. They are estimates, but the sodium did increase from 64mg (which was listed on the recipe). I’ve updated the recipe with the most recent calculations and included that I used Frank’s as my hot sauce.
Awesome sauce! Thanks for the simple recipe! I used what Choloula I had left, plus some habanero sauce. It’s bomb!
I don’t have butter. Will margarine ruin the sauce
You should be okay. Just warm the sauce over low heat to prevent any separation.
This sauce is absolutely amazing. I recommend it for great hot wings & a cheaper solution for moms on a budget. My family liked it better than store bought. Thank you 😊
Super yummy!
Thanks so much for the simple and quick recipe. I’m going to try this for lunch today.
This is great and so simple. I made some of this to use in a buffalo chicken dip and it was perfect. I’m going to make more and stash it in the freezer for another dip and wings. Thanks for sharing this nice winner.
I have been making this for several years. I’ve added a little tweak every once in a while, like, a touch of liquid smoke, or lemon juice instead of vinegar (super tangy), a dash of brown gravy mix. I’ve added a little milk before to thicken it and cut the the burn down a notch for sliders on brioche buns.
Country Crock’s plant butter with olive oil works great as a butter substitute!!!
I have plenty of Country Crock and olive oil. I will give thos a try! Thanks!
Omg just made and it’s so freaky good but I used Louisiana hot sauce instead
Thank YOU! that’s the only hot sauce that I have on hand and was hoping it would work. I’ve used Franks but really it’s not my fave. Again, thanks for your comment!
It was so easy to make and delicious, too! I heated butter in a pan to sizzle out the liquid then tossed it into a blender bowl I’d preheated with hot water. Then tossed in minced garlic and Valentinas as there was no Franks. Put it back in the pan on loosest heat for a few minutes. It is gorgeous and perfectly tasty!