Like so many recipes originated in restaurants the secret ingredient here is butter- that’s all classic buffalo wing sauce is, Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and melted butter. The premade sauce uses oil and butter flavor. We can do better than that.
I’m not trying to get fancy or buck tradition but served any other way except tossed with deep fried wings all that butter seems excessive. Use this as a dipping sauce for blue cheese macaroni bites and it should be lighter but still dippable- and maybe you can use straight up hot sauce as a dipper but I like to temper it with a bit of fat.
This is enough Buffalo sauce for a hundred macaroni cheese bites- perhaps even then you might have some to spare. So feel free to halve the recipe but it will keep in the fridge for at least a week or two. It’s also really good on scrambled eggs. And I hear it’s good on chicken wings too.
Buffalo Dipping Sauce
Modified from Honey and Birch’s Homemade Buffalo Sauce
Using Frank’s hot sauce would be traditional but you could also use Crystal or Louisiana brand. Tabasco is spicier. The internets say Crystal is hotter than Tabasco but it’s anecdotal not tested, and as Abraham Lincoln says, the internet lies.
Buffalo Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 3 Tablespoons neutral oil like avocado or canola
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic 2 large cloves
- ¾ cup hot sauce- Frank’s would be traditional but you could also use Crystal or Louisiana brand.
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- parsley or chervil for garnish optional
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat melt the butter and oil together with the minced garlic. Cook until the oils are infused with garlic flavor but the garlic has not yet begun to brown (about 3 minutes)
- Strain out the garlic pieces and reserve for the panko crust on the blue cheese macaroni bites
- Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer, whisking to thoroughly combine. Remove from heat and serve warm as a dipping sauce garnish with a bit of parsley or chervil.
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