Easy Homemade Buffalo Sauce
- PREP 5min
- COOK 5min
- TOTAL 10min
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.
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.