Julie Clark
Updated:
Homemade Buffalo Sauce Recipe (No Greasy Sauce, Ever)
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This homemade buffalo sauce comes together in about 10 minutes using Frank’s RedHot, real butter, and a handful of pantry spices. The result is smooth, rich, and just spicy enough, nothing like the thin, vinegary sauce from a bottle.
Creamy, Smooth Buffalo Sauce
The secret is one simple technique: add the butter after you take the pan off the heat. It melts in smoothly and creates a creamy, emulsified sauce without any greasiness.
Use homemade buffalo sauce on classic buffalo wings, toss it with buffalo chicken dip, drizzle it over smashed potatoes, or swirl it into buffalo chicken pasta. This hot sauce goes on appetizer recipes and dinner recipes. Once you make it homemade, store-bought doesn’t cut it.
What goes into homemade buffalo sauce?
Classic buffalo sauce has five components: a cayenne-based hot sauce (Frank’s RedHot is the standard), real butter, white vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and spices like garlic powder, cayenne, and paprika.
The butter is what separates homemade from store-bought. It adds richness and rounds out the heat so the sauce coats food instead of running off it.
A note on Frank’s: it has a specific tang-to-heat ratio that most other hot sauces don’t replicate exactly. You can substitute another cayenne-based sauce, but the flavor will shift. See the FAQ below if you want a version without Frank’s.
How to Make Buffalo Sauce (The Right Way)
The steps are simple, but the order matters.
Step 1: Take the butter out of the refrigerator and cut it into tablespoon-sized pieces. Room-temperature butter melts faster and more evenly.
Step 2: In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the Frank’s, vinegar, Worcestershire, cayenne, garlic powder, and paprika. Warm until the mixture steams and just barely begins to simmer. Do not boil.
Step 3: Remove the pan from heat. Immediately add the butter pieces and whisk vigorously until fully melted and smooth. The residual heat does the work so you don’t need the burner on.
Step 4: Taste the buffalo sauce, add salt if needed, and serve warm.
If the sauce looks greasy or oily, the hot sauce mixture was too hot when the butter went in. It still tastes good, but next time pull the pan off the heat a few seconds earlier.
Storage
This homemade wing sauce recipe makes enough to cover 5 pounds of wings with several layers of sauce and then still have dipping sauce leftover. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
If the buffalo sauce separates and becomes “chunky”, it’s just from the butter hardening. All it takes is a few seconds in the microwave to soften that butter and make a smooth sauce again.
You may also love our blueberry bbq chicken wings!
What to use buffalo sauce on.
- Chicken Fingers (this is a gluten free recipe and is great for paleo diets!)
- Buffalo Chicken Pinwheels
- Or drizzle on grilled chicken, pulled pork, backyard burgers, pan fried chicken tenders and even in sauce like on our firecracker shrimp.
- Also try it on Pulled pork, Wings in the crockpot and Chicken burgers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What two ingredients make buffalo sauce?
At its most basic, buffalo sauce is hot sauce and butter. Frank’s RedHot plus melted unsalted butter gives you a classic buffalo sauce. The additional spices in this recipe build more depth, but the two-ingredient version is completely legit for a quick fix.
What was the original buffalo sauce made of?
The original buffalo wing sauce, credited to Teressa Bellissimo at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, was made from Frank’s RedHot sauce and butter. The spice variations and add-ins came later as the recipe spread.
Can I make buffalo sauce without butter?
Yes. Substitute melted coconut oil or a vegan butter for a dairy-free version. The texture will be slightly different, but it still coats well and tastes great. Avoid olive oil since it has too strong a flavor and doesn’t emulsify the same way.
Why does my buffalo sauce turn out greasy?
Greasy sauce means the butter broke. Which means the fat separated instead of emulsifying. This happens when the hot sauce is too hot when the butter goes in. Always remove the pan from heat first, then add butter and whisk immediately.
Can I make buffalo sauce thicker?
To thicken buffalo sauce, add a small amount of cornstarch slurry (1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon cold water) before heating. Some recipes use honey, which adds sweetness and body. Try stirring in 1 to 2 tablespoons if the heat level is too sharp.
Can I make buffalo sauce without Frank’s RedHot?
Yes, but use another cayenne-based hot sauce like Cholula, Crystal, or Louisiana Hot Sauce. Avoid Tabasco as the primary sauce because it’s thinner and more vinegary. Sriracha works in a pinch but adds garlic sweetness that changes the flavor profile. Whatever you use, stick to a cayenne base and you’ll get close to the classic result.
Homemade Buffalo Sauce Recipe
The best homemade buffalo sauce recipe. Made just as you like it with the right amount of spice. Perfect for buffalo wings, pulled pork, burgers and chicken fingers.
Servings 16 servings
Prep Time 3 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 8 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup Frank's RedHot sauce
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) room temperature
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Take the butter out of the fridge, unwrap and cut it into tablespoon pieces. Set aside. 1 cup unsalted butter
- In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the hot sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. Allow the mixture to warm through and allow it to start to steam, but don't let it boil. Stir it often. 1 ⅓ cup Frank's RedHot sauce, 3 tablespoons white vinegar, ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon paprika
- Once the sauce heats and starts to steam, and barely start to simmer, remove the pan from the heat. Add the butter to the hot sauce and mix quickly with a whisk to stir while the butter melts.
- The sauce will cool slightly as the butter melts, but it should be warm enough to completely melt the pieces of butter. Add a dash or two of salt if you'd like, to taste. salt to taste
- Serve the warm sauce over wings, on pulled pork or as a dipping sauce.
Video
Notes
The key technique: Always add butter off the heat. If the butter goes in while the pan is still on a hot burner, it breaks and turns greasy. Pull the pan first, then whisk.
Yield: About 3 cups which is enough to coat 5 pounds of wings with extra for dipping.
Storage: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. The butter will firm up in the fridge; reheat in 15-second microwave increments and whisk before using.
Too spicy? Stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of honey to balance the heat without losing the buffalo flavor.
Dairy-free: Replace butter with an equal amount of vegan butter or refined coconut oil.
The calories shown are based on the recipe serving 16, with 1 serving being 1/16 of the sauce. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. The information in the nutrition box are calculated through a program and there is room for error. If you need an accurate count, I recommend running the ingredients through your favorite nutrition calculator.**
Nutrition
Calories: 104kcal | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 532mg | Potassium: 32mg | Vitamin A: 415IU | Vitamin C: 14.9mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.1mg
thank you for saving me this recipe is easy too make and it was great for my school assessment
My son is a bonafide buffalo sauce addict. Oddly we have never made it at home until now. I found your recipe and the instructions for adding the butter in the specific way worked perfectly. He is in buffalosauceheaven! Question: Has anyone ever tried freezing some? We went ahead and tried a few portions in muffin cups (the same way I freeze green chile that he puts on everything). We figured it was an experiment.
I love Buffalo Sauce and have made so many different recipes. This is by far the best I’ve made. I followed the recipe to a TEE, I almost always make small changes but this one is perfect as is.
This sauce is easy to make and using your technique of warming the hot sauce, then removing it from heat before adding butter is genius! Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
why use unsalted butter, then add salt? Why not use salted butter and not add extra salt?
I just made this sauce and it turned out perfect. I ran out of white vinegar, so used 1 tbsp red wine vinegar to top it up. Used the sauce on buffalo chicken wraps, and everyone at the table raved over the sauce!
This sauce was AMAZING! That was per a buffalo winger, I fed this to. They said it was the best wings they had ever eaten and asked for them again. I do think the sauce is better refrigerated a few days after making, then reheated and used. It gives the sauce time for all those wonderful flavors to work together and become one. I used it directly after making and reheated. My opinion is only important to me; see what you think.
Not a fan. It never thickened. It would separate as soon as I stopped stirring. Did not work as a dipping sauce at all. Tastes like hot sauce and butter mixed together, no real flavor.
I’ve always found recipies that use a (bought?) sauce to make another sauce frustrating. While there is nothing wrong with it, it would be nice (for a change) for a recipe to make a sauce, be that. Now I need to go make a cayenne pepper sauce.
This was absolutely wonderful! I’ve never made buffalo sauce before (nor have I ever bought any), and I’m so glad this was the recipe I tried. Perfect! Any ideas on how long it will keep in the fridge?
Have used Franks Hot Sauce before and its too spicy for our family – is there any way to calm the heat a little but still get the wonderful taste.
This sauce is AMAZING! I steam my wings for 10 minutes to get some of the fat off, then put them on a rack in the fridge until they are DRY. I toss them with baking powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper then bake at 450 for about 50 minutes. They’re so crispy and with this sauce they are perfect!
Made this today for lunch… absolutely the BEST buffalo wing sauce I’ve ever had… did not have paprika so used smoked paprika… cut the recipe in 1/4 so we have enough for 2 people for a couple of weeks… Thanks for this FABULOUS wing sauce recipe!!!!
I made this sauce. The spices are PERFECT. I used it for Buffalo Cauliflower that was dynamite tasting. I’ve done it twice now. Second go round I used half butter and half coconut oil…the coconut oil gave me a healthier kick but more importantly made the sauce stick way better. Might try ghee and coconut next time.
Thanks for that!
This sauce is AMAZE BALLS!!!! Question? U list the nutritional facts but not a serving size??
Delicious!! I followed the recipe exactly, except that I used Louisiana Hot Sauce. This is a keeper!! Thank you so much!!