12 Store-Bought Buffalo Sauces, Ranked Worst To Best

Let's be frank: There is no wrong time to enjoy some Buffalo wings. But with the 2025 Super Bowl coming up on February 9, we figured it was time we checked in on the best Buffalo wing-style sauces you can buy from a grocery store. Considering that about ¾ of Americans say that the food at a Super Bowl party is more important than the game itself (and three out of five people choose which party they'll attend based on what food will be served), finding the best sauce to toss your wings in — whether bone-in or boneless — is about as important of a decision you could make on gameday. And while there's any number of sauces you can opt for — including garlic Parmesan, spicy cumin, lemon pepper, jalapeño honey, or even General Tso's and beyond — it's hard to beat the classic Buffalo.

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We scoured a handful of stores near us and came home with a dozen bottled sauces and two dozen wings to test them on. The top factor in the ranking is flavor, but I also considered texture/consistency, spice level, ingredients, and, to a much lesser degree, price and availability. To really let the sauces shine, I did not season the wings or bread them in any way; I wanted to make sure each sauce was on equal footing without interference from any other factors. Below is the definitive list of the best store-bought Buffalo sauces, ranked worst to best.

12. Dougie's premium Buffalo wings sauce

This sauce comes in last on a bit of a technicality. That being said, it really isn't a Buffalo sauce. As its full name — Dougie's Bar-B-Que & Grill — might suggest, this is more of a barbecue sauce than a proper wing sauce. I had some concerns from the get-go due to its color (a much darker red, almost brown color) and apparent consistency, both of which reminded me more of a barbecue sauce than a Buffalo sauce. But the label read "premium Buffalo wings sauce," so I gave it a shot.

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All in all, it's not a bad sauce; I'll definitely use it when I want barbecue wings (or a myriad of other barbecue-style meals), but it just doesn't cut it as a Buffalo sauce. Even considering the barbecue nature of the restaurant/maker, it doesn't even give the vibe of a spicy barbecue or a blend of barbecue and Buffalo sauces. Sweetness is the dominant flavor profile (which shouldn't come as too much of a surprise given that corn syrup is the first ingredient), which is followed by a bit of smokiness. For those reasons, I couldn't in good conscience rate this any higher than number 12 on the list.

11. Hot Ones original

Consider me disappointed. Hot Ones' "classic hot sauce" was a bit of a letdown. It's important to note upfront that while the label doesn't proclaim this sauce to be a Buffalo wing-style sauce, the show's premise revolves around tasting progressively hotter and hotter sauces on Buffalo wings. The logo even includes a chicken breathing fire! In other words, this should go well on wings.

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What I found out, however, is that this sauce just falls a bit flat. The bottle says the heat level is a two out of 10, and I'd say that's pretty accurate. But I found that the subtle but natural sweetness from the peppers in the recipe was almost the dominant flavor. It's okay, and perhaps I'll use it in some other application that is more appropriate for a traditional hot sauce (perhaps with some eggs), but it certainly doesn't make the cut as a worthwhile Buffalo wing sauce. The only reason it gets a pass over Dougie's is that it's at least a little hot, and that's more in line with what you'd expect from a Buffalo sauce. But it's a thin line that separates the two at the bottom.

10. Mikee Buffalo style wing sauce

Prior to this experiment, I had never even heard of Mikee before, but I was excited to give it a shot. One thing I really liked was the heat level, which I found to be slightly higher than most of the sauces on this list that I tried. That said, it seemed a strange blend of Buffalo sauce and sriracha. And don't hear what I'm not saying: I love sriracha. I have it on hand almost all the time and it's a go-to hot sauce for me. Simply, I wouldn't put that on wings. The Mikee Buffalo style wing sauce isn't bad, and I would probably grab the bottle in a pinch, but due to its thicker, and not-quite-chunky (but also definitely not smooth consistency), it just doesn't check the box as a Buffalo wing sauce.

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Looking at the ingredient list, there's nothing too strange (it has cayenne, garlic powder, "mixed onion," salt), but there's something that gives this sauce a bit of a unique flavor that I can't quite identify. The issue is that this aftertaste of sorts really isn't very pleasurable. That said, it's very clearly a step in the right direction toward finding the best Buffalo sauce, bringing it to number 10 on the list.

9. 365 by Whole Foods Market organic hot honey wing sauce

In this endeavor, I set out to taste-test as many classic Buffalo-style wing sauces as I could. If given the chance, I always went with the medium heat option (over mild or hot) and did not buy any flavored sauces — with a couple of exceptions. Whole Foods supposedly sells a classic organic Buffalo wing sauce, but it wasn't available at the store near me or any others within the delivery range. Instead, I opted instead for its hot honey-flavored sauce.

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If you really like hot honey, you might like this. That said, I also enjoy hot honey and found that this doesn't quite get it done when coating Buffalo wings. To me, it simply tasted like hot honey thinned out, so it was more applicable as a sauce. Perhaps that's the point, but beyond that, it didn't have those typical Buffalo sauce flavor components. One thing I did like, however, was the consistency. It was smooth and slightly thick, so it coated the wings well. The issue: Given how much of a letdown this was, I'm not sure I would try the organic Buffalo wing sauce should I ever see it in the store, knowing there are some great sauces to come, and I already know I will like them.

8. Texas Pete Buffalo wing sauce

From here on, every sauce ticks the box of what I want from a classic Buffalo wing-style sauce: They have the right flavor profile, an acceptable consistency and texture, and a decent heat level. Texas Pete — which, admittedly, has been a brand I've gone to in the past when making wings — has a fine flavor and a heat level I would describe as no higher than a five out of 10 (which isn't inconsistent with most on this list). That said, nothing in the flavor profile really stood out. When looking at the ingredient list, the top ingredient (not too surprisingly) is Texas Pete hot sauce, which is then toned down with some water, "natural butter type flavor," and salt. It only listed "peppers" as one of the ingredients in the Texas Pete hot sauce recipe, so I'm not even sure which type of peppers are used.

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While the flavor doesn't stand out, I could get behind it in a pinch. But the real downfall was the consistency: It's very thin, so it did not coat the wings very well. All in all, it's not a sauce I would buy first next time I'm shopping.

7. Sweet Baby Ray's Buffalo wing sauce

I thought (hoped) I would rank this higher. To start, I'm a big fan of Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauces. Like sriracha, one flavor or another is almost always in my fridge, so I had high expectations for its Buffalo Wing-flavored wing sauce. On the taste test, though, I found it just a bit lacking. It has a fine flavor that's a little spicy and a little sweet, but it didn't provide any "punch." I did really like the consistency, however: It was very smooth and just a bit thick, so it coated the wings very well. It also has that classic, deep orange color I expect from Buffalo wings. So, while it certainly looked the part, the taste test didn't back that up.

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That said, if you run out to the store and you can't find any of the sauces in the top six rankings (however unlikely), Sweet Baby Ray's would get the job done. In short, it's good, not great.

6. Noble Made zero sugar medium Buffalo sauce

Like the two sauces ranked just lower than this, the Noble Made zero sugar medium Buffalo sauce checks the boxes that make for a good Buffalo wing-style sauce. It has a classic cayenne-forward flavor profile, and I found it to be slightly spicier than most sauces on this list (although I would still only rank it about a six out of 10 on my internal scale). Both of those were pluses for me, as are the texture and consistency — both are what I am looking for in a wing sauce.

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The issue, however, is that while I thought the sauce was tasty in quantities, I found small doses to be lacking a bit of flavor. Sure, you could always solve this with some more sauce, but there's only so much sauce you can add to a wing before it becomes even more of a nuisance to eat than it already is. This sauce also receives some "bonus points" for being sugar-free and using extra virgin olive oil. Perhaps due to that, I didn't get much of the subtle sweetness I picked up in some other sauces.

5. Chef Hak's plant-based organic Buffalo sauce

Chef Hak's plant-based organic Buffalo sauce was the first I tried in this experiment, and it set a pretty high bar. Despite the very buzzword-heavy name, the ingredient list was no shorter than any other sauce on this list, comprising much of the typical additions (water, distilled vinegar, salt, cayenne, garlic, and onion). But it did also include extra virgin olive oil and a red jalapeño puree that resulted in a really potent flavor profile, sticking out among the dozen I sampled. Despite the inclusion of multiple types of pepper, red jalapeño can provide more sweetness than green jalapeño since it's had more time to ripen. However, in this instance, it works. It's on the milder side of the sauces I tasted (and I typically like sauces to be spicy), so to rank this mild of a sauce so high should say something.

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The one issue I had was the same with Texas Pete: It was just too thin, and it didn't coat the wings that well. As evident when you purchase the bottle, the ingredients will separate so you need to give it a good shake before using. So, for that reason, I couldn't place it any higher than number five, despite the positives.

4. Steve's and Ed's garlic Buffalo wing sauce

And here we find the second (and final) flavored Buffalo wing sauce. While I tried my best to purchase and test only classic Buffalo-style wing sauces, I could not find that option for Steve's and Ed's, so its garlic Buffalo wing sauce was the best I could do. And, unlike Dougie's at number 12, this sauce looked the part. So, I gave it a shot.

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Overall, I found this to be a pretty solid wing sauce. If you've had Frank's (and if you've come this far, I'm sure you have) and like it, then you will almost certainly like this sauce, too. I found it to have a very similar flavor profile to Frank's, with just a bit of extra garlicky punch. My one qualm, however, is I wanted more garlic. If you're going to call this a garlic Buffalo wing sauce, give me some garlic. Don't get me wrong, the garlic is there, but it's not as much of a focal point as I expected. In fact, garlic is the third-to-last ingredient, and garlic oil is last (of 10 ingredients).

I'll definitely be using this one again, and if you're looking to change up your wing sauces, Steve's and Ed's will certainly make do. There are just a few I found to be even better.

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3. Primal Kitchen original Buffalo sauce

This sauce comes in an unassuming 8.5-ounce bottle that features an image of an avocado (since it's made with avocado oil) that's larger and more central than a red jalapeño, giving it the appearance of a salad dressing and definitely not a wing sauce. Hear me out: Ignore the bottle. Buy the sauce.

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If no dairy or xanthan gum or being fully vegan is a major "pro" for you, this might be the perfect sauce. But even if those aren't factors for you (like they were not for me), this is still a really solid wing sauce. In fact, it was the first of the bunch I used a second time when making more wings after the initial taste test. It's not very spicy, perhaps in that five to six out of 10 range, but it had a well-rounded flavor profile that was spicy first and had just a hint of sweetness. I also thought the texture and consistency were exactly what I wanted in a wing sauce. The only "con" for this sauce is that it comes in the smallest bottle of the bunch (outside of Hot Ones' original hot sauce).

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2. Frank's Red Hot wing sauce

Frank's is about as synonymous with Buffalo wing sauce as any other brand, and it lives up to the hype. I've long been a fan of Frank's, and even after tasting 12 sauces (many of which I have not had before), it's still hard to beat. If I'm being honest, I was hoping to find a handful of "dark horses" to supplant Frank's as my go-to, and in the end, I could only rank one sauce better.

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Frank's has a classic wing sauce flavor profile, made with distilled vinegar, aged cayenne peppers, salt, and garlic powder, and the consistency is thin enough to easily coat your wings and thick enough to stick nicely to each one. Sometimes, the classics are classics for a reason, and there's no reason to change things up. That said, if you want at least an equally good sauce that you might not have had before, look no further than number one on this list.

1. Cholula wing sauce

Like Frank's, sriracha, and Sweet Baby Ray's, the circular wooden top that marks a Cholula bottle is always within sight in my kitchen. Surprisingly, however, I've never tried its wing sauce. Listed as "caliente" and made with three types of peppers (cayenne, árbol, and piquín) as well as a myriad of other spices, including garlic powder, this sauce clearly stood out above the rest.

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It's not overly spicy, but it has a really great flavor that's dominated by a well-rounded level of spice and a hint of sweetness on the back end. The color, consistency, and texture all fit the bill, as well. There's really not much else that needs to be said. This is a great, classic Buffalo wing-style sauce. Any time I am at the store and looking to buy a wing sauce, if I see Cholula, it will be the one I grab. I'm already thinking of what meal I can make next so that I can use this sauce. I've already done plenty of bone-in wings, so I'm thinking maybe some boneless wings.

Methodology

I used only sauces I found in my local grocery store; none were purchased online. Also, in order to let the sauces truly shine, I prepared the wings as minimally as possible. In this case, that included baking two dozen wings (12 drumsticks and 12 flats) and coating one of each in each of the 12 sauces. While I would typically add some seasoning and baking soda (especially when baking, in order to help them get super crispy), I left these completely unseasoned, unbreaded, and un-baking powdered.

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I considered a myriad of factors, but the rankings were primarily driven by flavor (and, specifically, how well each sauce fits the expectation of a classic Buffalo wing sauce), the level of spice, and how well the sauce coated the wings (a mixture of texture and consistency). Going forward, I will definitely treat the wings with more care, perhaps going so far as to brine them, when using the sauces I most liked on this list. I may even tinker with some sauces by adding extra spices; you can never go wrong with more garlic (I'm looking at you, Steve's and Ed's). But any ideas of such were not weighed when ranking the sauces.

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