This homemade buffalo sauce recipe is easy to make with a few simple ingredients, and beats the flavor of the store-bought bottles. Use for buffalo wings, dips, salads, and more!
Thanks to Buffalo, NY, we have buffalo sauce (hooray)! This buffalo wing sauce recipe is so simple to make at home. I love keeping a batch in the fridge, ready for drizzling over chicken, salads, veggies, rice bowls, and of course, for making my favorite buffalo chicken wings!
Our recipe below makes a medium spicy buffalo sauce, but I’ve included tips for giving it even more of a spicy kick! Let’s make it!
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 Red 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. It’s also why this homemade sauce tastes so much better than store-bought.
- Garlic Powder: For a bit of extra flavor, I love adding garlic powder, which dissolves into the sauce. You can 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 the 3 ingredients above, our friend and chef, Richard, convinced us to try a little honey, and we loved it. If you want to try for yourself, add a slight drizzle of honey to the buffalo sauce. It balances and rounds out the flavor of the sauce nicely.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Buffalo Sauce at Home
Tip 1: Use low heat. The base of this sauce is butter, which we want to melt slowly over low heat so that it stays creamy and emulsified (not that brown butter is bad, it’s delicious, but not what we are looking for with this wing sauce).
Tip 2: Whisk the sauce ingredients off the heat. 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).
Tip 3: Reheat leftover sauce gently. One thing I love about this buffalo sauce recipe is that it keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks! The only thing to consider is that thanks to that butter, it will harden as it chills. So, to use it, scoop out what you need and reheat in a small saucepan or skillet gently over low heat. If it separates on you as you reheat, use a whisk to bring it back together.
My Favorite Ways to Use Buffalo Sauce
The most obvious way to use homemade buffalo wing sauce is for buffalo hot wings, but you can use it in many other ways. I use it when making our buffalo chicken dip and this buffalo chicken pizza (such a great party app). It’s also fantastic for these buffalo cauliflower wings (so good, by the way).
Beyond that, you can drizzle it over scrambled eggs, salads (like this taco salad), and shrimp. It’s also great for these buffalo chicken rice bowls and our fun buffalo chicken stuffed shells! And, since I love the combo, I also love having a batch of homemade blue cheese or ranch dressing nearby for anything buffalo! Happy cooking!
More Homemade Sauces
Easy Homemade Buffalo Sauce
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This homemade buffalo wing 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 ⅓ cup to ½ cup for a milder sauce. I love this sauce for our Buffalo Hot Wings!
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 cup unsalted butter, 8 ounces (226g)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 ⅓ cups hot sauce, like Frank’s or Crystal (315ml)
1 teaspoon honey or more to taste, optional
Cayenne pepper, optional for a spicier sauce
Directions
1Melt the butter: Gently melt the butter in a medium pan over low heat (using low heat takes a little longer, but we want to avoid the butter separating to keep our sauce creamy).
2Finish the sauce: Remove the pan from the heat to prevent the sauce from breaking. Then, whisk in the garlic powder, hot sauce, and honey until a smooth, cohesive sauce forms, about 1 minute. Taste, then if you want the sauce spicier, add a pinch or more of cayenne pepper. Use immediately or store in an airtight container or mason jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Store homemade buffalo sauce in an airtight container 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 buffalo sauce: Substitute the butter with plant-based butter.
- Honey: It balances the heat and rounds the flavor of the sauce nicely. I start with 1 teaspoon and add more as needed based on taste.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We assumed Frank’s red hot sauce.
This was so fast to make and delicious. We used it in white bean buffalo tacos – yum!
I am so sorry I wrote you a bad review. The sauce was actually great what I was complaining about is for a different recipe for oven baked wings. They were way over cooked and burnt, even though I did them in a slower oven for less time again I’m sorry
Hi Bill, No worries! We realized it was a review for a different recipe and held it in moderation. Thank you for following up! All the best! Joanne
Use a hand blender to emulisfy the sauce and it will not separate. It will also keep in the fridge a LOT longer. I’ve mixed up batches that kept in the fridge for months.
Delicious! I was a little short on the hot sauce (and didnt have time to run get more), but the flavor was fantastic and it was SO easy! My only complaint is the sauce was very thin, but that may have been my fault. I’m making it again this week!
Consider bringing the hot sauce to a simmer then add the butter. This will tame the vinegar some
Absolutely delicious wings!!!!
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!
Me an my wife loved it. This sauce is the only way to make a hot wing
That’s wonderful, William. Thanks for coming back!
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!
This is shocking! It’s not to spicy, but tastes great!
Fantastic! I followed this recipe exactly except: Added 1 table spoon of maple syrup, 1 table spoon of honey, and used Crystal hot sauce. All in a cast iron skillet.The wings were already made at Publix- hot & spicy with no breading. Then placed skillet in oven at 350 for 30 minutes. Chunky blue cheese dressing of course. Thank you!
WOW. This sauce is super easy and SO GOOD!! I didn’t know it would be so easy to make… We used Frank’s. We’re putting it on everything from seitan wings to scrambled eggs. Next time I’ll try vegan butter. Thank you from me and my husband!
I used Crystals, and when I tell you that sauce there was crack, I almost overdosed, I made so much of it 😂😂
This came out so good! My husband loved it!
Could I use Tabasco sauce? I am in Brazil and it is the only hot sauce here.
Yes, absolutely!
Had NO idea it was this easy! Ordered from our favorite wing spot but they shorted us on the sauce. Thanks, this is going in our recipe book!
Buffalonian here. Yepp! But if you want genuine Buffalo wing sauce, you can just skip the garlic and mix your preferred ratio of it with melted butter, as Frank’s Red Hot hot sauce already has the garlic in it! For the total Buffalo experience, pair your wings with a vinegar-based bleu cheese!
I made this but I cut the butter in half (1 stick). I used texas Pete hot sauce and 1/8 tsp cayenne it was very good if it was just for me i would have tripled the cayenne but i was sharing with my 13y old son he loved them will make again. Cooked wings in air fryer that’s the way to go thanks for the recipe.
I made chicken wungs. I use half cup franks red hot aauce orginal favorite (2.83 at walmart. I use half cup of texas pete hot sauce.i use stick miss fiber margine. I let margine melt competley. I add the two sauces in one cup measuring cup
I pour in pan. I wisk for couple minutes. It came out declious.