How To Make Buffalo Wing Spice (With Recipe)
Everyone loves buffalo wings, right? There are many different ways that you can spice your buffalo wings. You can make them mild or hot; you can use a rub or you can use a sauce — it’s really completely up to you!
Consider restaurants like Buffalo Wild Wings that have a full range of flavors to choose from. When it comes to making your own spice combination, you can really use whatever you like to make it as mild or as hot as you prefer.
Of course, there are recommendations to make your flavor really like a true buffalo wing so you actually feel like you’re having buffalo wings that deserve the name.
How do you make buffalo wing spice? Well, the answer is that it depends. You can almost guarantee that you will have something like paprika or chili powder in the mix, but there are actually several different ways to make spice for your buffalo wings.
We actually have both a spicy recipe and a traditional recipe for making your buffalo wing spice, so you’ll have plenty of options when you’re ready to make your own buffalo wings at home!
Remember, you can always use buffalo sauce (or you can even use rub and sauce together) if you want. Keep reading to learn how to make buffalo wing spice and more!
A Guide To Making Buffalo Wing Spice
We all know that there are many different ways that you can make a spice blend for buffalo wings. Some of those recipes are very similar, some of them might be really spicy, and some might just have a little bit of a kick.
The good news is that you can make them mild or you can make them spicy — it’s really up to you!
We’ve put together two different recipes for you to take a look at — one of them is milder while the other is spicier.
If you ever look at a recipe and think it will be too hot for you, just reduce some of the hotter spices that are used and it should help.
We do want to point out that buffalo wings are meant to be slightly spicy, even in mild renditions, even though you can (and should) customize them to fit your own spice needs.
How To Make Mild Buffalo Wing Spice
If you’re looking for an option for your buffalo wings that is more mild in nature, this particular option might be good for you — we aren’t promising that they won’t still be a bit on the spicy side!
We assume you expect a little bit of kick in your buffalo wings, but we will again point out that you can reduce things like chili powder, cayenne, and paprika to help tone it down if you need to.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp. Kosher salt
- 5 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (or less, for spice control)
Instructions
- Measure out each spice
- Pour it all together in a small mixing bowl
- Stir it up really well to blend the spices together.
- Coat your wings with the spice or create a rub and coat the wings with the rub
- Prepare your wings as normal (we like to bake them)
Notes
- You can see that garlic powder is one of the heaviest ingredients here — this will bring you the bold flavor of buffalo wings with strong garlic, which gives it a more mild flavor.
- You can also add mustard powder if you like, but that’s totally up to you.
- If you decide to use this to make a rub, we recommend adding about 2 tbsp of brown sugar to sweeten it just slightly and pull the rub together.
- You will be able to season quite a bit of meat with this particular recipe but you can always make more or less as needed. The heat will be mild and you can adjust that best by reducing how much cayenne pepper you use.
- We assume you expect a little bit of kick in your buffalo wings, but you can reduce things like chili powder, cayenne, and paprika to help tone down the spice if you need to. You can even use no cayenne pepper if you want something really mild!
Mild Buffalo Wing Spice
If you’re looking for an option for your buffalo wings that is more mild in nature, this particular option might be good for you — we aren't promising that they won’t still be a bit on the spicy side!
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp. Kosher salt
- 5 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (or less, for spice control)
Instructions
- Measure out each spice
- Pour it all together in a small mixing bowl
- Stir it up really well to blend the spices together.
- Coat your wings with the spice or create a rub and coat the wings with the rub
- Prepare your wings as normal (we like to bake them)
Notes
- You can see that garlic powder is one of the heaviest ingredients here — this will bring you the bold flavor of buffalo wings with strong garlic, which gives it a more mild flavor.
- You can also add mustard powder if you like, but that’s totally up to you.
- If you decide to use this to make a rub, we recommend adding about 2 tbsp of brown sugar to sweeten it just slightly and pull the rub together.
- You will be able to season quite a bit of meat with this particular recipe but you can always make more or less as needed. The heat will be mild and you can adjust that best by reducing how much cayenne pepper you use.
- We assume you expect a little bit of kick in your buffalo wings, but you can reduce things like chili powder, cayenne, and paprika to help tone down the spice if you need to. You can even use no cayenne pepper if you want something really mild!
How To Make Spicy Buffalo Wing Spice
If you want to kick it up a notch and get your spice on, we’ve got a treat for you. Some people love a lot of heat and some people just don’t tolerate spicy heat that well — we all have different palettes.
We love a good spicy buffalo wing! It’s also a great way to change it up if you simply just want to be able to do something different here and there.
If you’re hosting a gathering, you can make both mild and spicy wings and let people choose their own!
Ingredients
- 4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp ground black pepper
- 3 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper (adjust to your tastes)
- 1 tsp chili powder
Instructions
- Measure out your spices
- Dump them all together in a small bowl
- Stir them together well to get them mixed
- Taste-test on a veggie or your finger to see if it’s spicy enough
- Spice up your wings, then bake them or prepare them how you like
Notes
- You will notice here that the biggest difference between this particular recipe and the recipe that we used for mild wings is how much of each ingredient you use.
- You still add almost the exact same ingredients to make your spice a little bit spicier. We also want to mention that if this isn’t quite hot enough for you, you can simply add even more cayenne pepper to spice it up.
- Just like the last recipe, you can turn this into a rub if you would like to. Just add a little bit of brown sugar and then apply with your normal rub additive like oil.
Spicy Buffalo Wing Spice
We love a good spicy buffalo wing — if you want to kick it up a notch and get your spice on, we’ve got a treat for you.
Ingredients
- 4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp ground black pepper
- 3 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper (adjust to your tastes)
- 1 tsp chili powder
Instructions
- Measure out your spices
- Dump them all together in a small bowl
- Stir them together well to get them mixed
- Taste-test on a veggie or your finger to see if it’s spicy enough
- Spice up your wings, then bake them or prepare them how you like
Notes
- You will notice here that the biggest difference between this particular recipe and the recipe that we used for mild wings is how much of each ingredient you use.
- You still add almost the exact same ingredients to make your spice a little bit spicier. We also want to mention that if this isn’t quite hot enough for you, you can simply add even more cayenne pepper to spice it up.
- Just like the last recipe, you can turn this into a rub if you would like to. Just add a little bit of brown sugar and then apply with your normal rub additive like oil.
How To Make Spicy Buffalo Wing Sauce
You can also make a spicy buffalo wing sauce if you want something with a more “wet” spice added to it — here is an alternative spicy option for you!
Making a sauce or glaze does require just a little bit of extra effort because you have to heat the glaze for a bit on the stove.
The major difference in this recipe is that you will use your choice of hot sauce rather than using spices to create a spice mix or rub — it’s totally up to you what you would prefer here!
Ingredients
- 1 cup of chicken broth (or water)
- ¾ cup hot sauce (of choice)
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 2 tbsp butter
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Gather your ingredients. Prepare your sauce in a skillet to make it a glaze.
- Add broth, hot sauce, paprika, and butter to a skillet and bring it to a simmer on medium. Add salt and pepper, then stir.
- Once the sauce starts simmering, you can add the chicken to it. Stir to coat the chicken well, then let the sauce simmer on your chicken for about 15 minutes.
- Next, transfer your chicken to a baking sheet and bake at 450°F for about 10 minutes.
Notes
- Just like with the other recipes, you can adjust the amount or type of hot sauce to reduce the heat or the flavor if you need to. It’s totally up to you!
Spicy Buffalo Wing Sauce
You can also make a spicy buffalo wing sauce if you want something with a more “wet” spice added to it. The major difference in this recipe is that you will use your choice of hot sauce rather than using spices to create a spice mix or rub — it’s totally up to you what you would prefer here!
Ingredients
- 1 cup of chicken broth (or water)
- ¾ cup hot sauce (of choice)
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 2 tbsp butter
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Gather your ingredients. Prepare your sauce in a skillet to make it a glaze.
- Add broth, hot sauce, paprika, and butter to a skillet and bring it to a simmer on medium. Add salt and pepper, then stir.
- Once the sauce starts simmering, you can add the chicken to it. Stir to coat the chicken well, then let the sauce simmer on your chicken for about 15 minutes.
- Next, transfer your chicken to a baking sheet and bake at 450°F for about 10 minutes.
Notes
Just like with the other recipes, you can adjust the amount or type of hot sauce to reduce the heat or the flavor if you need to. It’s totally up to you!
Related Questions
We hope that you find this guide to making buffalo wing spice to be a useful resource for making your spice. Remember that the spices are easily customizable to your flavor needs — simply adjust any spice that brings the heat to the party!
Take a look at some of these common questions and answers for some additional information.
What makes the “buffalo” flavor?
The buffalo flavor comes from cayenne pepper mixed with the other ingredients.
Sauces that are called “buffalo sauce” use a combination of cayenne pepper with butter, vinegar, garlic powder, salt, and maybe even Worcestershire sauce to really bring it all together.
Can you make buffalo wings with dry rub?
It’s totally up to you! Buffalo wings can be made with a dry rub, wet sauce, or glaze if you prefer. The sauce or glaze is one of the more common ways to make them because people simply use store-bought buffalo sauce.
However, you can get creative and make your own dry rub and easily change up the flavors.
Is wing sauce the same as buffalo sauce?
The short answer is yes — these sauces all have the same consistent thought behind them.
You can find them labeled with a ton of different names and most of them might even have unique flavors. However, in the end, they are all pretty simple and probably made with almost the exact same ingredients as well.
