Fancier Buffalo Wings
Make Buffalo sauce more delicious than ever with olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. These Fancier Buffalo wings are sure to please.
If you love chicken wings, you’re going to love this Buffalo wing recipe with a great homemade Buffalo sauce. What makes it special? We’re not using butter like in standard recipes, we’re adding olive oil, lemon, and garlic to the hot sauce instead. You’ve got to try it!
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Making Buffalo Sauce Without Butter
When we tackled the difference between hot sauce and wing sauce, we also told you how to make your own wing sauce at home. When we were taste-testing the wing sauce we thought about switching it up a bit to make it more interesting. We came up with a few different ideas that we tried. This was our favorite for a new homemade Buffalo sauce recipe.
You go in with the usual hot sauce and minced garlic. Then instead of Buffalo sauce’s standard melted butter, you use a combination of olive oil and lemon juice. Shazzam! Flavor sensation! The sauce tastes like Buffalo sauce but just a bit different. More refined. It’s seriously good.
Have extra wing sauce? Store it in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Cooking The Chicken Wings
You’ll want to start with par-cooked wings. You can read more about that in this crispy wing recipe, but basically you’ll want to cook them at a low temperature (I suggest 250°F) for about 30 minutes to start to render the fat.
Then, heat the oven to 425°F. Put a rack on a large cookie sheet. Arrange par-cooked wings on the rack in a single layer (if you only just par-cooked them, they’ll already be on the rack. Leave them there). Bake them until very brown and crispy, 40-50 minutes.
Once they are done, you can toss them in the fancy Buffalo sauce you just made. Use tongs, they are hot!
Don’t Forget Dipping Sauce!
For a dip, we chopped up some fresh basil and added it to homemade ranch dressing. You can use store-bought ranch dressing, or mix together 1 cup of sour cream with 1 tablespoon of store-bought ranch seasoning powder, or use a few seasonings from your pantry to make your own ranch seasoning to stir into the sour cream.
Oh, and one little tip before I go. After you’ve tossed the wings in sauce and transferred them to a plate, dip into the remaining sauce with a spoon and get some of that minced garlic. Dot it over the wings so that you get as much garlic on there as possible. You just have to, right?
More Chicken Wing Recipes
Check out the other great chicken wing options below.
Podcast Episode: Making Buffalo Wing 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.
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Fancier Buffalo Wings Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 25 wings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Jazz up your wing sauce with olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice. It’s like Buffalo sauce made fancy.
Ingredients
- 25 par-cooked wings (learn how to par-cook them here)
- 1/4 cup hot sauce
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Put a rack on a large cookie sheet. Arrange par-cooked wings on the rack in a single layer (if you only just par-cooked them, they’ll already be on the rack. Leave them there). Bake them until very brown and crispy, 40-50 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in large bowl, combine hot sauce, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic.
- When wings are done, add them to the bowl of sauce and use tongs to toss them. Use tongs to transfer wings to a plate.
- Dot wings with any garlic remaining in the fancy Buffalo sauce and serve with a Ranch dipping sauce.
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 January 2024.
I started with Kurtz hot wing sauce from Save aIot. It was in the fridge . Then added butter not oil, minced garlic yes and lemon juice just squeezed. The product was a little loose so I squeezed some tomato paste in, to make it thicker. GREAT.
We followed your Baked wings recipe to the letter, using baking powder. Really good way to make wings (I actually tried drumsticks, that were in the freezer). With a temp probe set for 160F, I knew they were Done.
Thank you
A Fritomann review,
You’re welcome, Fritomann! Thanks for sharing your version with us.
I’m using this buffalo sauce for cauliflower. I infuse my sauce with roasted garlic, and it’s fantastic! I’m using Tabasco sauce instead of Frank’s Red Hot because Tabasco has less sodium. Tabasco, however, is a lot spicier. Would it help if I cut back on the heat by adding honey? I was also wondering if there was a way I can slightly thicken the sauce, as it is a little thin. Please let me know your thoughts.
Adam, You can try adding some honey or sugar, or even just increase the amount of butter or oil. As to thickening the sauce, you can use a cornstarch slurry. Mix together 1 teaspoon cornstarch with 2 teaspoons of water until smooth. Add it to 1 cup of your sauce. Heat in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until it reaches a simmer. If you want it thicker than that, you can do another slurry, but I think that will be enough.
Best wings ever!!!! My husband loved them and couldn’t stop eating them. He said they were the BEST wings he ever had. That was high praise because he’s very picky! My daughter loved them too 😋 I’ve made them several times now for super bowl and parties. Always a big hit. Thank you for this awesome recipe.
Thank you, Ann! I’m so happy they’ve been enjoyed so much.
Absolutely love the way the chicken turned out- crispy! I was never good with a fryer or cooking chicken but now this recipe is my “fail proof go to.” Haven’t tried the sauce yet but great job! I’ve used this recipe over a dozen times! Thank you
Mrs. Peterson, I’m so happy that you like them. Thanks for letting us know!!