Best Buffalo Sauces to Buy, According to Our Taste Tests

The best buffalo sauce is tangy, salty, and a little spicy. Buffalo sauce is a top-tier hot sauce, and it should not be reserved just for wings or tempura cauliflower. In my opinion, the best buffalo wing sauce can be served on anything that typically welcomes regular hot sauce: Pizza, mac and cheese, scrambled eggs, and even avocado toast can all be enhanced with quality buffalo sauce.

When it comes to the best buffalo sauces, I’m looking for zip, light creaminess, and pronounced spice. Any sauce that can replicate the melted butter flavor you find in restaurant sauces gets extra points. We tasted as many buffalo sauce brand options as we could so all you have to decide is whether you want a drum or a flat.

Best for Smoked Wings

Kinder’s buffalo sauce sits somewhere between a buffalo sauce and a BBQ sauce. I almost didn’t include it because I wasn’t sure it was buffalo-y enough, but it tastes so good I had to toss it on the list. Use this sauce for smoked wings. Not fried. Not grilled. Smoked. It would also be delicious in a wrap with a rotisserie chicken. The flame-kissed, smoky, roasty meat would be wonderful with this not so buffalo-y buffalo sauce.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best Splurge

Anything targeted at the paleo community is typically not for me. I’m sorry, but there is nothing “primal” about buffalo sauce. Unfortunately, the Primal Kitchen Buffalo Sauce made with avocado oil made me eat my words. It’s delicious and has a spicy, tangy creaminess that makes me want to dip everything into it. I know this is a “healthy,” luxury brand, but I like it because it ironically reminds me of the buffalo sauce you get at Burger King (which is absolutely wonderful).

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best Budget

If you’re into a buffalo sauce that’s on the thicker side, this Kroger Medium Buffalo Wing Sauce is for you. This would obviously be sensational for clinging to a meaty wing, but I think the best utilization of this sauce would be adding it to a creamy, cheesy buffalo chicken dip. It wouldn’t water down your dip like Frank’s. For a generic store brand, this sauce is super flavorful and has a great spice level. Plus, the taste is loyal to the classic buffalo flavor profile. This sauce is too good to be so cheap.

Credit: Liv Averett / Kroger

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best Mild

Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce is so rich and buttery, but my favorite thing about it is the zing. It is so incredibly tangy. In terms of taste, this is close to a Louisiana-style hot sauce, like Crystal or Louisiana brand. It’s not hot, so I think this is the best mild buffalo sauce for flavor lovers, but heat haters. If you’re looking for the best buffalo sauce for wings—classic buffalo wings—grab a bottle of Frank’s wing sauce (make sure it’s the wing sauce, specifically!). Their slogan is, “I put that sh*t on everything,” and you could, in fact, put this sh*t on everything: Wings, pizza, fried chicken, shrimp cocktail, whatever! It would taste good.

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Best Garlic

While First Street edges it out a little because of the price point, Buffalo Wild Wings Spicy Garlic Sauce is the world’s best buffalo wings sauce in my personal opinion. I will go to BWW just to dip anything and everything on their menu in this sauce. I am elated that they now sell it in a bottle at my grocery store. The garlic flavor is present without being overpowering. It’s not particularly spicy, but it’s mouthwateringly zingy. I have no notes. It’s perfect.

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Overall

This is the largest container of buffalo sauce I’ve ever seen, which is perfect because I love this buffalo sauce! After the taste test, I brought it home to use in my own cooking. It starts with a strong buttery flavor, works its way into vinegary notes in the middle, and then finishes with that signature buffalo-sauce kick. The texture is thick and it has the perfect amount of creaminess. It’s everything you could want from a buffalo sauce (and at an incredible price point), making it the best store bought buffalo sauce.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Other Products We Tried: Frank’s Original, Wing-Time Medium, Wing-Time Super Hot, 365, Great Value, Sweet Baby Ray’s, Nobel Made by The New Primal Kitchen, Good & Gather, Stonewall Kitchen

Get Ready to Dip the Best Frozen Chicken Nuggets

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