Find out the difference between hot sauce and wing sauce AND get our delectable recipe for Buffalo Wing Sauce.
This is important. Soooooo important. Really, I can’t overstate this. Wing sauce and hot sauce are not, I repeat, NOT, the same thing. You cannot use them interchangeably in recipes. It could be a disaster.
So what are these sauces, how are they different, and how can mixing them up cause disasters? No worries. It’s easy to remember once you know.
Are Hot Sauce And Wing Sauce The Same?
Hot sauce, like the stuff on the right in that picture (also Tabasco-type sauces) is made mainly of hot peppers and vinegar. There’s usually some salt and maybe some other seasonings in there, but that’s about it. It’s hot stuff. You don’t use much of it in most recipes. Just a bit is all you need. Add a dribble, taste, and then add more if needed.
Now what about wing sauce? It’s the stuff you toss wings with right after cooking them. You can buy wing sauce or make your own. The most typical one is Buffalo sauce. It’s essentially a combination of hot sauce (the stuff we already talked about) mixed with melted butter or butter flavorings. It’s therefore a toned down version of hot sauce. It’s still spicy, but not as intense.
You can already guess the disaster of mixing these things up. If you use wing sauce when hot sauce is called for, it probably won’t be a big problem. Just not as spicy as the recipe creator intended. You can probably go ahead and add more wing sauce though. That’ll work in most cases.
The real problem is if you use hot sauce when wing sauce or Buffalo sauce is called for. Imagine tossing wings in straight-up hot sauce. Yikes! Talk about burning your mouth off!
Now that you know the difference between these sauces, I doubt you’ll make that mistake.
How To Make Homemade Buffalo Sauce
Do you have one final burning question? I bet you do. Is it “Can I make my own Buffalo sauce?” The answer is “Yes!” And it’s super easy.
Just take hot sauce, mix it with butter, and heat it up ’til melted and bubbling. The ratio of hot sauce to butter is up to you really. Some people like to have more butter than hot sauce and some like less.
Start with more hot sauce than butter (3/4 cup hot sauce to 1/2 cup butter). Then add more butter if it’s too spicy. Note that usually a bit of salt and some garlic goes in there too. There’s a basic recipe for you below.
Also, we have a seriously delicious, fancier version of Buffalo sauce for you over here. So good. And you can use either Buffalo sauce on these easy Air Fryer Buffalo Wings.
Podcast Episode About Making Buffalo Sauce
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this recipe, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
PrintHomemade Buffalo Sauce Recipe
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 7 minutes
- Yield: 1 and 1/4 cup 1x
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup hot sauce
- 1/2 cup butter (plus more if needed)
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp. salt
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring occasionally, over medium high until bubbling. Remove from heat.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
This post originally appeared in January 2016 and was revised and republished in November 2022.
5 stars for the simplicity of the recipe instructions, and, yes they were crispy and delicious after a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Yummu!
This was clearly written by someone who cannot handle spicy food
Great article Christine. I for one really appreciated your effort and clarifying the differences and how to make wing sauce from the hot sauce. I live in South Africa and I can only find Franks’ Red Hot sauce where I live. My recipe called for Frank’s Wing Sauce.
You’re welcome, Kevin! Glad we could get you the information you needed.
Maybe “Wishbone” refers to ranch dressing which is great with buffalo chicken
Perhaps. We never heard back the answer on that, PK!
Franks Red Hot hot sauce tastes good, but hot? Far from it, it’s actually not very hot and tossing wings in it would not be a mouth burning disaster at all.
Wishbone what? Thanks.
Barbara, I don’t know what this is either!
So, i guess my question is….is the Frank’s wing sauce meant to replace the regular frank’s red hot mixed with butter in a recipe? (When the recipe calls for Frank’s red hot mixed with butter Can one use the wing sauce instead)
Jeni, Yes, I believe that is correct. However, I think it probably tasted better if you use the red hot and actual butter since the wing sauce uses butter flavoring instead.
In the days when Frank and Theresa’s Anchor Bar was actually tended by its namesake the menu actually boasted the wing sauce recipe:
Equal parts of marjorine, Frank’s hot sauce, and Wishbone. Saw it with my own eyes, still make it that way.
So I don’t like hot wings so would Frank’s wing sauce be right for me?
I’d consider going with a BBQ sauce or teriyaki sauce.
I think that if people read the complete article they would have noticed she said the wing sauce would probably be okay but not as hot as intended or vice versa! Some like it hotter than others, some don’t. It’s all on what your taste buds would perfer!!
Yea, Franks wing sauce sucks…Franks makes the original hot and xtra hot…..I mix the 2 because xtra hot is too hot for me…i/2 cup unsalted butter and 3/4 cup Franks works best….Add 3 cloves of chopped garlic and its killer…..
I agree with what most of the others say here, Wing sauce is crap, and you can absolutely use hot sauce any where. I use Franks original as a base for my sauces, Because, yes, it is way too mild. I add a bunch of other stuff to it to make it actually hot. But love Franks none the less.
Thanks
sorry. but your original hot sauce is NOT hot. it’s mild.
The stuff I put on my wings has scotch bonnet peppers in it.
Now don’t get me wrong: I use your original in a lot of recipes. but I like HOT. You seem to declare that “this is hot and that is not and you can only use this here etc etc… ” No, you don’t control the world. stop acting like you do.
Let me clarify. What we’re talking about is really how to follow a recipe and know what ingredient is called for. If a recipe calls for hot sauce and you use wing sauce instead, it will probably be fine. If a recipe calls for wing sauce (or buffalo sauce) and you use hot sauce, the result will be hotter than the recipe creator intended. If you like things really hot, by all means, go for it. The idea though was to caution people who are unsure of the difference between these sauces and help them to choose the one that was intended by the recipe creator.
Wow, Christine, your composure is incredible. If I were responding to someone as ridiculous as the dude above, I wouldn’t have been so kind. Sounds like someone needs a nap – or some clarification regarding the difference between recipe suggestions and world domination.
Thanks for the article. Very helpful.
hi i would like to know what hot sauce you use Tom please because my family and I love really spicy stuff
Never, ever use Frank’s Wing Sauce…Gross! Frank’s Red Hot all by its lonesome is perfect for wings…unless you are a true lightweight!
Butter!
What is this lady talking about? The wing sauce sucks! Original Frank’s on wings is the only way to go. What exactly does it ruin? I put that stuff on everything.
Jason, we agree kind of. We don’t like the wing sauce at all. We tried it once & it ruined our wings. We do however like to add a little butter to regular ole Franks & that tastes yum.
I have used Franks for years.Tried the wing sauce NOPE we didn’t like it.Will continue to uae Franks and add my own butter😉
Sorry but just using the regular hot sauce is fine in just about every occasion, even straight on your wings. I literally add it to everything, and it’s fine because Frank’s is delicious. Their wing sauce however doesn’t taste that great. Their butter “flavoring” is kind of gross compared to just mixing butter with regular Frank’s.