Quick Answer
What can I substitute for buffalo sauce?The best buffalo sauce substitute is any cayenne-based hot sauce (Frank's RedHot, Crystal, Tabasco) emulsified with butter — the result IS buffalo sauce. Ratio: 1/2 cup hot sauce + 4 tablespoons cold butter, whisked over low heat. If you have no suitable hot sauce: sriracha + butter (sweeter, thicker) or gochujang + butter (more savory, less tangy) both produce good spicy butter sauces. For a no-cook shortcut: any store-bought hot sauce + melted butter in a bowl works for wing tossing. The further you get from cayenne hot sauce, the more different the result.
The Best Substitute: Make It Yourself
Buffalo sauce is not a complex product — it's hot sauce and butter. If you have any vinegar-based cayenne hot sauce and butter, you can make buffalo sauce from scratch in under 5 minutes. This produces results identical to or better than commercial buffalo sauce.
Standard formula: 1/2 cup Frank's RedHot (or equivalent cayenne hot sauce) + 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter + optional: 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder. Warm hot sauce over low heat, add cold butter in pieces, whisk continuously until emulsified.
If you have Frank's RedHot Original (not buffalo wing sauce specifically), this is your best path. See the complete homemade buffalo sauce guide for the full technique.
Best Commercial Hot Sauce Bases for Buffalo Sauce
Not all hot sauces produce equally good buffalo sauce. These cayenne-based vinegar hot sauces are the best bases:
- Frank's RedHot Original: The gold standard. Every commercial buffalo sauce producer uses it or tries to replicate it. Medium heat, bright, garlicky, perfect acidity for emulsification.
- Crystal Hot Sauce: Slightly thinner and more straightforward than Frank's, with a cleaner cayenne character. Produces excellent buffalo sauce with a slightly more vinegary bite.
- Louisiana Hot Sauce: Mild heat, clean flavor, slightly thinner than Frank's. Good results, slightly lighter character.
- Trappey's Bull Hot Sauce: Very similar to Crystal — good Frank's alternative for buffalo sauce.
- Tabasco Original: Works, but the white wine vinegar base has slightly different character and it's spicier per tablespoon than Frank's. Reduce volume by 25% if substituting 1:1.
Store-Bought Buffalo Sauce Alternatives
When you want to buy something ready-made rather than make it:
- Frank's RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce: The original with butter already in it — the most obvious substitute because it IS buffalo sauce in a bottle.
- Texas Pete Buffalo Wing Sauce: Good commercial option; slightly milder than Frank's Buffalo.
- Primal Kitchen Buffalo Sauce: Made with avocado oil instead of butter — dairy-free and Whole30 compliant, with a different but appealing character.
- Noble Made Buffalo Sauce: Coconut oil-based, dairy-free. Works for most applications.
Sriracha + Butter (Good Alternative When Out of Cayenne Sauce)
Sriracha + butter produces a spicy, sweet, slightly garlic-forward sauce with Thai character. It's not buffalo sauce — sriracha uses jalapeno peppers and has significantly more sweetness and garlic than cayenne hot sauce — but it produces a genuinely delicious wing sauce in its own right.
Ratio: 1/4 cup sriracha + 4 tablespoons butter (sriracha is thicker and more concentrated, so use less volume than you would Frank's). Optionally add 1–2 tablespoons lime juice to add brightness closer to traditional buffalo.
Gochujang + Butter (Best Non-Traditional Alternative)
Gochujang (Korean fermented pepper paste) + butter creates a rich, deeply savory, slightly sweet spicy butter sauce. It's fermented (naturally tangy), made with gochugaru (Korean red pepper), and has a complex character that doesn't resemble buffalo sauce but is excellent.
Ratio: 2 tablespoons gochujang + 4 tablespoons butter + 1 tablespoon rice vinegar. Whisk together over low heat. The rice vinegar adds the brightness that gochujang lacks to approximate buffalo sauce's acid punch.
Buffalo Sauce Substitute Comparison
| Substitute | Buffalo Similarity | Heat Level | Extra Ingredients Needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| ★ Frank's RedHot + butter | Identical | Medium | Butter only |
| Crystal + butter | Very high | Medium | Butter only |
| Frank's Buffalo Wing Sauce | Identical | Medium | Nothing — ready to use |
| Tabasco + butter | High (slightly different) | High — use less | Butter; maybe add garlic |
| Sriracha + butter | Medium | Medium | Lime juice for brightness |
| Gochujang + butter | Low — different style | Medium | Rice vinegar required |
| Spicy ketchup + hot sauce | Low | Mild-medium | Butter, hot sauce |
💡 Emergency Buffalo Sauce from Pantry Staples
If you have absolutely no hot sauce but need buffalo-style flavor: combine 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 1.5 teaspoons cayenne pepper, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 4 tablespoons cold butter. Whisk over low heat. This produces a functional buffalo-style sauce from pure pantry staples. It won't be identical to Frank's-based sauce (hot sauce fermentation adds depth you can't replicate quickly), but it's a serviceable wing sauce in 5 minutes with ingredients most kitchens have.