15 Store-Bought Wing Sauces, Ranked

Of all the sauces out there — from general condiments like ketchup to barbecue sauces — we think that wing sauce doesn't get the praise it deserves. The reality is that it can be hard to pinpoint exactly what a wing sauce is; for many, barbecue sauce is a wing sauce, but for others, a wing sauce has to have that distinct Buffalo flavor profile. Ultimately, a good wing sauce really can come in any flavor, but it must pair well with chicken. And, ideally, it has a certain stickiness or butteriness to it that helps it cling to every last crevice of a chicken wing, be it a bone-in or boneless one.

It's hard to beat a homemade wing sauce, but it'd also be silly to ignore the impressive variety of wing sauces you can buy right in the condiment aisle of a grocery store. I've put 15 store-bought wing sauces to the test, ranking them to determine which ones are truly worthy of saucing up your chicken wings. When ranking these sauces, I sampled them with air-fried boneless chicken bites and paid particular attention to how tasty the flavor of the sauce was, how well it coated the chicken that I paired it with, and how well it balanced tangy, spicy, salty, vinegary, or sweet flavor profiles.

Upon opening the jar of Hooters medium wing sauce, I was a bit perplexed by the texture of it. It was exceptionally thick, almost looking like ghee or room-temperature butter, more so than a sauce. But, hey, some of the greatest wing sauces out there have a distinctly buttery flavor profile, so I went into this sauce with an open mind.

Unfortunately, the flavor of the sauce was just as perplexing as the texture. It was super creamy and very buttery, but in the worst way possible, to the point where I found it difficult to handle more than a couple of bites. There was something so incredibly rich about this sauce that it was like eating straight solidified butter as opposed to a cohesive sauce. Also, with a sauce that's supposed to be medium, I expected some sort of heat, but this sauce was just rich followed up with even more richness — a combination that made this one an obvious choice for last place. 

I'm a bit weary of anything ghost pepper related, as in my experience, that means spicy, spicy, spicy. For what it's worth, I'm a big fan of spicy things — I've even done a Cholula hot sauce ranking and a Tabasco hot sauce ranking — so I certainly don't fear a little (or even a lot) of spice in my food. But there is a fine line between spicy and too spicy, and I fear that Melinda's ghost pepper wing sauce veers a little too far into that scary "too spicy" territory.

I do have to acknowledge that this wasn't a bad sauce, but the spice was so overwhelming that you really couldn't taste any other flavor notes besides, well, spice. That's the biggest issue I have with any sauce that's too spicy — it lacks balance and makes for an eating experience that's spent more so holding back tears than it is enjoying the food. Trying to finish even one boneless chicken wing with Melinda's ghost pepper sauce proved to be a feat that I couldn't overcome, nor was it one that I particularly enjoyed. 

In a list that contains so many Buffalo sauces, a Buffalo-style sauce really needs to stick out to make it high up in the ranks. Unfortunately for this Best Chef Buffalo-style wing sauce, there just weren't enough redeeming qualities to make it stand out — or to make me consider ranking it any higher.

Let me at least start with the positives of this wing sauce. I do think that it had a nice, distinct Buffalo flavor, albeit one that was just too vinegary. I get that any Buffalo sauce is going to be pretty vinegar-forward since a key ingredient is hot sauce, but this Best Chef sauce was really vinegary without having that distinct butteriness to back it up. Interestingly, despite being so vinegar-forward, I still found this sauce to be lacking on the spice level. I think had there been a little more spice then I might have considered this one a little more. But, of all the Buffalo sauces on this list — and compared to most of the sauces in general — Best Chef is the weakest link.

As a steadfast lover of sweet and savory, sweet and spicy, and sweet and salty flavor combinations, I had very high hopes for Kinder's bourbon peach BBQ wing sauce. I'm also someone who typically prefers barbecue sauce over Buffalo sauce, so before tasting anything, this one definitely stuck out to me. Alas, this sauce was a bit disappointing in the flavor department. Hence, it gets a relatively low spot in the ranking.

The biggest issue with this sauce was that it was far too one-note in flavor, with that one note being sweetness. Of course, I expected sweetness, but I also anticipated a little smokiness from the bourbon and maybe even a kick of spice. But there was virtually no smoky flavor, and this one wasn't spicy at all. Also, there weren't any notes of peach, but rather just a general, cloying sweetness that felt incredibly one-dimensional. I did enjoy the texture of this sauce, but texture alone can only get it so far with such a disappointing flavor.

After sampling Hooters' medium wing sauce, I was more than hesitant to try the hot version. Luckily, this sauce was undeniably better than the medium version, with a texture that much more closely resembled classic wing sauce. The sauce was still a bit on the thick side overall, with a distinct creaminess to it, just like the medium one. However, this sauce was not nearly as oddly rich as the medium one, therefore offering a slightly more enjoyable experience overall. Plus, the sauce coated a piece of chicken quite nicely, as any wing sauce should.

Unfortunately, I still wasn't blown away by this sauce. The biggest issue lay in the flavor, or lack thereof. When I put a hot wing sauce on a chicken wing, I certainly expect there to be a reasonable kick of heat. That kick of heat never came, so the sauce just tasted vaguely like Buffalo sauce and not much else. I didn't absolutely hate the flavor or texture of this one, but I was expecting way more spice from a hot wing sauce.

Frank's RedHot is a reliable sauce brand, not just in the wing sauce arena but in terms of hot sauce in general. As such, I expected the three Frank's RedHots that I sampled for this list to impress me, and to be fair, none of them left me super disappointed. There did have to be a weakest link, however, and to my surprise, it was the hot Buffalo flavor.

The biggest issue here is that, controversial as it may be, I don't think that hot Buffalo sauces really need to be a thing. Buffalo sauce, by nature, is spicy thanks to the main ingredient being hot sauce. So why play with fire and try to crank up the heat? The result of cranking up the heat, at least in this sauce's case, is that the sauce became a bit too vinegary. I didn't hate the flavor of this sauce, and aside from the vinegar-forward flavor and heat that was perhaps a bit too much, it was pretty true to Buffalo sauce. But, like I said, there had to be a weakest link in the Frank's RedHot wing sauce world.

Compared to Melinda's ghost pepper wing sauce, this habanero wing sauce was like a walk in the park. Okay, it was still pretty spicy, as most Melinda's sauces tend to be, but I appreciated that this one was far more palatable than its ultra-spicy sibling. It still wasn't my favorite, though it does mark a distinct point in this list where we're veering away from sauces I didn't particularly like and into those that I liked — but they just couldn't compete with the top-tier ones.

Back to this habanero wing sauce specifically, the biggest issue is that nothing about it felt like a wing sauce. Having enjoyed various Melinda's hot sauces before, this really just tasted like a habanero hot sauce more than anything else. Great for those who like habanero-based hot sauces and want to douse their wings in it, but not so great for those who are looking for a little something more. I think a touch of sweetness would have gone a long way in making this one stand out just a bit more.

Perhaps the biggest outlier on this list, Buffalo Wild Wings' Parmesan garlic wing sauce holds its own as a completely non-spicy sauce. I get that this lack of spice can be pretty controversial, but I had to give representation to those who want chicken wings but don't want Buffalo flavor per se. BWW's Parmesan garlic sauce is a good alternative, offering creamy, cheesy, garlicky flavors that surprisingly hold up really well, even in bottled, store-bought form.

I can't deny that I love a good Parmesan garlic chicken wing, though I've only ever had a homemade version of the sauce, or one from a restaurant. So, I wasn't sure about the bottled version. But like I said, it holds up well and delivers an undeniably creamy and savory flavor profile. Is it as good as homemade Parm-garlic sauce? Of course not, but it is ultimately a tasty option for those who want to enjoy wings without the spice.

A true middle-ground option, Frank's RedHot Buffalo wing sauce is about as classic as store-bought Buffalo sauces get. When I think of Buffalo sauce, the flavor of this sauce comes to mind. Obviously, this is a great thing for those who want a no-frills, straightforward wing sauce. But for those who perhaps want just a single frill, this sauce sort of pales in comparison to others.

I really don't have any complaints about this sauce, other than it is perhaps a bit too vinegary, but that comes down to personal preference. Ultimately, this sauce coated my chicken bite nicely, it packed a nice spicy kick, and it didn't have any strange aftertaste or anything like that. It really is a good baseline for super simple store-bought wing sauces, but ultimately, there were certain brands and flavors that I simply enjoyed more or that I thought brought more complexity to the table.

Remember how I said that a touch of sweetness could benefit Melinda's habanero wing sauce? Well, Buffalo Wild Wings' mango habanero wing sauce ran with that notion, delivering a sauce that I found to be rather tasty. Mango habanero is a classic flavor combo. It's often found in hot sauces, but it works just as well in wing sauces. Of course, the caveat there is that you have to want your chicken wings to taste sweet and fruity, but these are flavor additions that I personally welcome to wings.

The only reason I'm not ranking this sauce even higher is because I do think it leans a bit too heavily into the mango than it does the habanero. Any good sauce is about balance of flavor, and this one is a little skewed, tasty as it may be. If it were just a touch less sweet and a touch more spicy, it'd be an absolute winner — but as-is, it's just pretty good. Not amazing.

There's something about the texture of Sweet Baby Ray's mild Buffalo sauce that I found positively alluring. Unlike so many other store-bought Buffalo sauces that are very vinegary and thin, this one managed to capture a certain creamy essence that felt very true to homemade, buttery Buffalo sauce. And, once my chicken wing was aptly doused in the sauce, I knew I'd found a real winner in Sweet Baby Ray's. 

My only issue with this sauce is that I found the mild aspect to be a bit lackluster. In the same way that I found hot Buffalo sauce to be unnecessary, a mild version really just isn't necessary, either. But I can acknowledge that this is only because I really want there to be just the right kick of spice in my Buffalo sauce, not too much and not too little. I did enjoy this sauce overall, but a handful were slightly better.

When you've heard of anything Nashville hot, you've likely heard it in the context of Nashville hot chicken, though the term more generally refers to the sauce at play more than anything else. And, yes, there is a difference between Buffalo chicken and Nashville hot chicken, though they are very similar in offering a hot sauce-based flavor profile. The latter, however, relies more heavily on spices and seasonings to keep things interesting.

In the case of Frank's RedHot Nashville hot wing sauce, I could really taste the spice influence, making for a downright tasty take on wing sauce. This sauce was very black pepper forward, which isn't typically a flavor profile that I necessarily love, but this peppery nature really worked when contrasted with the hot sauce base. This stuff was ultimately very similar to classic Buffalo sauce, but it offered a little more peppery complexity, something that worked quite well to its advantage.

I've often found that sauces that boast a garlic-forward flavor don't always deliver on the garlic. An exception to this rule is Buffalo Wild Wings' spicy garlic wing sauce, which was about as garlicky as garlicky can get — and yes, that is a very good thing.

When I say that the garlic flavor in this sauce absolutely coats your palate and smacks you in the face, I'm not joking around. This stuff is garlicky, with just the right amount of spice to remind you that you are, indeed, enjoying a wing sauce and not just garlic. If you don't like garlic, you won't like this sauce, plain and simple. But for those of us who don't just like garlic but love garlic, this sauce is the perfect match. Spicy and garlicky, I appreciate that this BWW sauce delivered on exactly what the bottle promised, and tasted super delicious while doing so.

Everything that I loved about Sweet Baby Ray's mild Buffalo sauce — the texture, the subtle creaminess, and the classic Buffalo flavor — is just as apparent in the brand's classic Buffalo wing sauce, but even better. Unlike the mild sauce, which I did think was a bit lacking due to its mild nature, this Buffalo sauce has everything you could want in a wing sauce. 

If you're a devout Buffalo lover and don't have any desire to veer from that flavor profile, this is the sauce for you. This tastes like classic Buffalo sauce through and through, with the perfect spice level and even better texture. If there's one brand on this list that gets closest to the texture and consistency of a homemade Buffalo sauce, it's Sweet Baby Ray's. I did ultimately like one sauce just a little bit more, but this is a sauce I would absolutely repurchase and enjoy again in the future.

Did you know that Cholula had a wing sauce in its lineup? I certainly didn't, and I am quite familiar with the brand's hot sauces. As a fan of Cholula's hot sauces, I was definitely curious to see how it would translate to the world of wing sauces, and much to my enjoyment, this caliente sauce was an absolute winner. 

At first, this sauce just tasted like a really solid, high-quality Buffalo sauce. But once the flavor notes started to settle in, that classic Cholula hot sauce flavor became more and more apparent. Any Buffalo sauce is going to have hot sauce in the ingredients, but I can't typically pinpoint exactly what hot sauce is at play. There's no denying the Cholula hot sauce influence in this caliente wing sauce, and it's absolutely delicious, adding a delightful layer of complexity to classic Buffalo sauce without veering too far from the tried-and-true formula. I also found the spice level to be absolutely perfect in this sauce, making for a pretty clear-cut choice for the top spot.

Since most of us don't eat wing sauce on its own, I opted to sample each sauce with air-fried chicken bites, a la boneless chicken wings. I found that this means of sampling gave me a clear impression of both how the sauce tasted and how good it tasted with chicken, which is no doubt how most people go about enjoying wing sauce.

As for what I looked for in successful sauces, many of them really came down to balance. I appreciated those that had just the right balance of spiciness and whatever other flavor might be at play, like garlic or fruit. I also found that texture was a big deciding factor; I really did not enjoy the thick, too-creamy texture of Hooters' medium sauce, whereas I really appreciated the balanced, nuanced, subtly creamy texture of Sweet Baby Ray's Buffalo sauces.