Homemade Buffalo sauce recipes are all too often more complicated than they need to be. There are only a couple of ingredients needed for a classic wing hot sauce. We love spicy food at our house, so there is always a batch in the fridge.
Why You’ll Love This Homemade Buffalo Sauce
A perfectly spicy sauce that tastes good on anything from wings to sandwiches– what’s not to love!
- Tastes great on anything – Whether using for buffalo chicken wings, mixing with blue cheese dressing for buffalo dip or using in place of traditional hot sauce, this recipe is the best.
- Simple ingredients – You only need four basic ingredients to make this sauce, most of which you might already have on hand.
- Easy to change up – If you like your sauce less spicy, more spicy or even a little sweet, this buffalo sauce is easy to customize.
Ingredients
So now onto the buffalo sauce recipe… hot wing sauce ingredients are typically a base of white vinegar or butter. Generally speaking, the two are on a continuum; the more butter the more mild, the more vinegar, the spicer. Different types of chile powder are used, but generally it is a basic cayenne pepper.
Anchor Bar Buffalo Wing Sauce is only two ingredients: Frank’s Hot Sauce and unsalted butter. The best, and some might say the only, sauce for chicken wings.
But I promise you, when you whip those two ingredients together, magic happens, but when you elevate the spicy pepper and vinegar aspects, it is pure bliss.
- Frank’s Hot Sauce – Sometimes referred to as Frank’s redhot, this original cayenne pepper hot sauce is elevated with just a few simple ingredients.
- Unsalted butter – You can always add more salt later if you need to, but I always prefer to start with unsalted butter.
- Cayenne pepper – Adding just a little extra cayenne pepper to Frank’s Red Hot is a great way to step up the spice.
- Apple cider vinegar – This is my secret ingredient for adding just a little extra tang to this homemade buffalo sauce.
How to Make Homemade Buffalo Sauce
You are going to love how easy it is to make this sauce mixture with a kick!
- Add ingredients to pan. Grab the ingredients and a small saucepan.
- Stir and simmer. Whisk together over medium heat until fully combined.
- Store or use immediately. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you are ready to use.
Hot Wing Sauce Variations
Add a little pizazz to your homemade buffalo sauce recipe using these secret ingredients.
- Garlic Buffalo Sauce- add 1 teaspoon granulated garlic and/or 1 fresh garlic clove while whisking.
- Jalapeno Buffalo Sauce– add 1 minced fresh jalapeno while whisking.
- Super Spicy Buffalo Sauce- add 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper and/or 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne or ground ghost pepper or chili pepper while whisking to up the spice level. You can also add more Frank’s Hot Sauce, changing the ratio.
- BBQ Buffalo– Add 2 tablespoons of your favorite BBQ sauce while whisking. This is my favorite sauce for wings!
- Buffalo Blue or Buffalo Ranch– add 2-3 tablespoons of blue cheese or ranch dressing to the mix. Pr even real blue cheese crumbles.
- Robust- If you want a super heady sauce, try adding a few dabs of Worcestershire sauce to the mix.
- Old Bay– Add 1 teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning seasoning for a taste of Maryland. This is great on top of Maryland Crab Cakes.
- Sweet– Try adding a little bit of honey to this sauce for the perfect sweet and spicy combo.
Recipes that Use Buffalo Sauce
This versatile sauce can be used as a dipping sauce, in recipes and for drizzling.
- Crispy Baked Garlic Buffalo Wings
- Buffalo Chicken Pinwheels
- Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
- Buffalo Chicken Spring Rolls
- Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls
- Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps
And of course consider chicken tenders, shrimp, cauliflower bites, French fries, avocado toast, chicken tacos or anything else that needs a level of heat.
Commonly Asked Questions
Buffalo sauce has hot sauce in it, so kinda yes but kinda no.
You can certainly make a tasty sauce for wings, but neither will make a true buffalo sauce. Both are a cayenne pepper sauce made with hot peppers, but Frank’s Red Hot Sauce is the most traditional. Diamond Crystal can also be used.
You can! The best way is to put it in an airtight plastic bag, releasing as much air as possible. It should be good for up to 6 months. Check out my tips on freezing food HERE.
Yes, in fact many folks do because it is more stable than real butter. Margarine is made with vegetable oil and doesn’t actually need to be refrigerated. You’ll find people use this in place of butter for many sauces, even movie theater popcorn.
More Homemade Sauce Recipes
We like to keep it saucy! Check out even more homemade sauce recipes.
Garlic Sauce for Pizza
Fish Taco Sauce
Best Homemade Cocktail Sauce
Homemade Buffalo Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Frank's Hot Sauce
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the hot sauce and butter over medium heat until fully incorporated.
- Add the cayenne pepper and apple cider vinegar. Remove from the heat, cool and use in any recipe that requires buffalo sauce.
- If you've tried this recipe, make sure to come back, rate it and leave us a comments.
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This is such an easy sauce recipe! Perfect for dipping snacks, while watching games.
I was looking for a buffalo sauce recipe for my air fryer cauliflower! This one is simple and delicious!
Buffalo sauce is really popular in my house but I have never tried making my own! Definitely going to give this a go!
Mmmm this sauce is just perfect! We loved it over cauliflower too!
This dip is perfect for any type of buffalo wing! The perfect seasoning and super easy to make! Will be making more of this in the future!
What a fun story! I also <3 Uncle Jesse … and Buffalo sauce!
LOL. I still can’t beleive I didn’t actually think it was him.
I would dip everything into this. Nothing beats homemade!
buffalo sauce is one of the easiest sauces ever to make. having worked in the restaurant industry I have always been amazed at how much people love this sauce and yet it is so simple with just two ingredients
I am not much for spicy sauces but I HAVE been wanting to red buffalo sauce! I just might try this version!!
This is totally staple in my kitchen! Love buffalo sauce like woah!