Buffalo Wild Wings is definitely the best chain in all of America to get a beer, eat wings, and watch sports. There are 16 sauces and five dry rubs, so if you’ve ever looked at the menu and felt overwhelmed with options, I’ve got you covered. My BFF has worked there for three years and brought me all of the spicy, garlicky, and tangy toppings so I can find the best Buffalo Wild Wings sauces.
Not only does my friend have a lot of insider knowledge on what kind of people eat what kind of sauces (which is the type of information you never knew you wanted to know), she also brought me naked boneless wings, and some fries to try the sauces on. My friend really is the best.
I had my sauces, a notebook for taking notes, and a beer by the pool — I was so pumped to taste all of these sauces. I tried them in order of spice level, just like they’re listed on the menu. Here are all of Buffalo Wild Wings Sauces, ranked from ehhh to I could eat a lot more.
21. Teriyaki
Spice level: 0
This one tasted pretty much like straight up soy sauce and was probably the only one I straight up didn’t like. I hear that the people who order this sauce are normally young boys. Next!
20. Buffalo Dry Rub
Spice level: 1
This seasoning reminded me more of Cheetos dust than buffalo flavoring. With all of the great buffalo sauce options, I just can’t get behind having Cheeto-like wings.
19. Medium
Spice level: 1
The medium buffalo sauce fell a little short for me. It’s not as creamy as the mild sauce, and the increase of the spiciness was underwhelming. I’d recommend another sauce around this level of heat for more flavor. That being said, I think this would be a good stepping stone for people who want to prime their palette for more heat.
18. Mild
Spice level: 1
I was pleasantly surprised by this sauce. I generally prefer things to be spicier, but this was creamy, a little bit spicy, and overall had a great buffalo-y flavor. This is a pretty solid choice for kids, who order this one the most, or someone who’s just not that into heat.
17. Bourbon Honey Mustard
Spice level: 0.5
While I’d prefer to have this on my fries rather than my chicken, this sauce really packed a punch. It was tangy, sweet, and had just the slightest hint of spice.
16. Honey BBQ
Spice level: 1
This one reminded me of a classic Texas BBQ sauce. It was smokey, a little spicy, and the honey added a subtle sweetness that wasn’t overpowering like it is in Sweet BBQ. Overall, it’s a well-balanced flavor. The people who order this one most are teenagers, according to my friend.
15. Chipotle BBQ Dry Rub
Spice level: 1
This seasoning was extremely powdery. It was smokey from the chipotle, had a little kick, and the BBQ rounded it all out. The flavor is pretty good — it would have ranked higher on the list if the texture was better.
14. Caribbean Jerk
Spice level: 1
TBH, I’ve never had anything that could be considered authentic jerk chicken, so I don’t have something to compare this sauce to. There was a tiny bit of heat and a lot of spices, jerk spices I presume, which reminded me a bit of Christmas trees (to me, anyways). It was sticky, flavorful, and very distinct.
13. Lemon Pepper Dry Rub
Spice level: 0
This seasoning is good — it’s extremely tart and bright from the citrus, and the black pepper gives it a nice kick. This one is also great on fries.
12. Thai Curry
Spice level: 2
I’m a huge fan of curries, Thai food, and especially Thai curries, so I thought this creamy, spiced sauce was pretty good. The flavor was there, but in my opinion, it’s a little heavy handed with the spices. It was salty and so thick that it was almost chunky. However, this was the first sauce I finished completely, so I have to give it some credit for that.
11. Parmesan garlic
Spice level: 0
This one was really yummy. All I can really say about it is it’s extremely parmesan-y and extremely garlicky. As their creamiest sauce, it would be great to order alongside some of the spicier wings to calm your burning taste buds.
10. Asian Zing
Spice level: 1
This sauce is sticky, which is probably my favorite texture for my wings. The flavors of soy, ginger, and chile are prominent, but the sauce is also sweet. The zing really comes through in the aftertaste.
9. Salt and Vinegar Dry Rub
Spice level: 0
This one is similar to the lemon pepper seasoning, but it’s way better. It’s probably, no joke, the best salt and vinegar mixture I’ve ever had. The rub melts in your mouth. Seriously, order some for your fries also and thank me later.
8. Wild
Spice level: 3
This is their hottest buffalo sauce, and second hottest sauce. The heat is there, which I totally enjoy, but I felt that the heat overpowered the flavor. I honestly didn’t even know this was a buffalo sauce until I saw it on their website. That being said, if you’re after some intense heat, this might be the last sauce you can eat without suffering.
7. Desert Heat Dry Rub
Spice level: 2
If you’re tempted to try a dry rub, get this one. The flavor is bold, spicy, unique, and slightly reminiscent of Chipotle BBQ, however, the texture is much better.
6. Spicy Garlic
Spice level: 1
This is basically garlicky buffalo sauce. The buffalo doesn’t over power the garlic, and the two flavors blend really well together, making this one of the best Buffalo Wild Wings sauces. I recommend this sauce for anyone who’s wanting to mix the traditional buffalo sauce up.
5. Hot
Spice level: 2
This sauce is probably the king of buffalo sauces; it has everything you could ever want in one. The buffalo flavor is impeccable and there’s a real kick at the end, but the spice doesn’t overwhelm the flavor.
4. Blazin’
Spice level: 4
I wasn’t expecting this taste test to turn into some sort of turn up the heat challenge, but as the spice levels were rising, that was exactly what was happening. My mouth was burning pretty badly. The Blazin’ sauce looked almost radioactive in the sun — I dipped some chicken in, and immediately upon taking a bite, my mouth was in actual pain. It went past the spicy feeling and actually really stung. My eyes watered, and I started to pour sweat. I couldn’t believe my reaction. I’d tried their Blazin’ sauce before, but they have recently reformulated it to include ghost pepper. Despite the slow build up of heat, BWW’s hottest sauce still packed an extreme punch. I have to commend them for it. This was extremely hot, but still had incredible and distinct flavor separate from the heat, and that’s pretty hard to do. I immediately reached for water, garlic parmesan, but nothing would stop the burning, until…
3. Sweet BBQ
Spice level: 0
I ate some of this sauce next, and it instantly started to cool down my mouth. This was originally going to be closer to the bottom of my list, but in that moment, the sweet BBQ sauce was the most amazing thing I had ever tasted in my life. The sweetness was perfect and the tang of the BBQ had never been so satisfying. If you want the same experience I had, order half of Buffalo’s hottest sauce, and half of their mildest.
2. Hot BBQ
Spice level: 2
This sauce is by far the best barbecue flavor, it’s smokey and rich with no touch of sweetness, just how this Texas gal likes it. The heat makes it exciting and really complements the barbecue flavor, while never overpowering it.
1. Mango Habanero
Spice level: 3
The flavor of this sauce is definitely the best out of all the really hot ones. The sweetness of the mango cuts through the very strong heat of the habanero pepper. It’s also thick, sticky, and messy — my favorite way to eat wings.
Now that you have a guide on the best Buffalo Wild Wings sauces, go down to BWW and try the sauces for yourself. After having all the sauces in my fridge for a week, I realized that they are good on literally everything. Luckily, Buffalo sells their sauces in bottles at their stores, so if you don’t have a BFF who works there, you can still stock up on their sauce.