Best Wing Sauce: Buffalo, Garlic Parm, Hot, and More

The best wing sauce is flavorful, affordable, and has a great cling factor. Over the course of three taste tests, we gathered some of the most popular wing sauces at the grocery store and tasted them all to find the best Buffalo wing sauce, the best hot wing sauce, the best garlic parmesan wing sauce, and more.

What is wing sauce you might ask? We consider wing sauce to be any sauce that is intended to be slathered on fried (or baked) chicken wings—most of them have “wing sauce” written on the label but we didn’t only taste wing sauces that declared themselves to be wing sauce and only wing sauce. 

Some cost an arm and a leg. Others flew under the flavor radar. A couple couldn’t drum up any excitement at all. The best wing sauces had us flocking to them.

Okay, now that we got that out of our system, let’s talk about what we look for in the best chicken wing sauce. We want sauce that sticks to a wing—it can make a mess of your fingers but it shouldn’t all drip off the skin and pool under the wing. We want vibrant flavor. No matter what type of wing sauce, it should be powerful enough to stand up to fatty chicken skin and juicy meat. And the best wing sauce should keep you coming back for more. Sure, the chicken (or the cauliflower or the chicken substitute) is great, but in reality, wings are really about the sauce. That’s why you end up eating a dozen of the dang things. 

Whether you’re cooking for game day or just putting together your own appetizer sampler for a solo meal, here’s our updated ranking of the best wing sauce to buy.

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Best Garlic Parmesan

Buffalo Wild Wings Garlic Parmesan Wing Sauce

Walmart

Buffalo Wild Wings almost had a clean sweep of this list. They make good wing sauces! And one of the best Buffalo Wild Wings sauce varieties is the garlic parm. It’s super herby and has big chunks of garlic and cheese. It’s buttery in a real-dairy way and doesn’t have an artificial or oily taste. If you love wings with lots of flavor but zero spice, this is the best garlic parmesan wing sauce to buy. —Jordan Myrick

Credit: Merc / Walmart

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best Fruity

Buffalo Wild Wings Mango Habanero Wing Sauce

Walmart

Buffalo Wild Wings Mango Habanero Wing Sauce is intense. If you’re not a fan of flavor, you won’t be a fan of this. Flavor lovers, on the other hand, will love this sweet and spicy sauce. It should actually be described as spicy and sweet because this sauce is hot. The texture is sticky and the flavor is fruity. It’s also super acidic. This sauce is a nice change of pace from other wing sauces and is the best chicken wing sauce for anyone feeling a little adventurous. —Jordan Myrick

Credit: Merc / Walmart

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best Mediterranean Flavor

Kinder’s Fire Roasted Jalapeno Wing Sauce & Dip

Walmart

A lot of spicy wing sauces tap into Asian flavors or Mexican flavors. But this wing sauce from Kinder’s tastes much more Mediterranean. It has a roasted red pepper flavor. It’s tangy and rich and complex and it really tastes homemade. It’s definitely not your everyday wing sauce, but if you’re looking for something a little different—something that would pair really well with charred, grilled meat or alongside a Greek salad—then this is the best hot wing sauce to try. —Justine Sterling

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best Hot Wing Sauce

Melinda’s Creamy Style Ghost Pepper Wing Sauce

Target

If you’re looking for a spicy wing sauce that gives intense heat and flavor, this is the best hot wing sauce out there. Melinda’s Creamy Style Ghost Pepper Wing Sauce is actually spicy! You have to have some serious heat tolerance to handle it. Luckily, I do and I love it. But don’t worry, it’s not just heat. It has a complex flavor with notes of garlic and vinegar. I brought this bottle home and I’ve been putting it on basically everything. —Jordan Myrick

Credit: Merc / Target

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Best Vinegary

Tabasco Buffalo Style Sauce

Walmart

A lot of Buffalo sauces are super duper buttery—but this one (a newer offering from Tabasco) is much lighter and vinegar forward. It’s super tangy and bright and spicy, with just a hint of a buttery richness to let you know that you are eating a Buffalo style sauce. I know we’re talking about the best wing sauce here, but I think this is the best Buffalo wing sauce to use on cauliflower wings or even fried shrimp. —Justine Sterling

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Best Soy

Buffalo Wild Wings Asian Zing Sauce

Target

Buffalo Wild Wings Asian Zing is the best “Asian” sauce we tried. I do, however, have some issues with this name and this category of wing in general. What do they mean by “Asian?!” Asia is absolutely gigantic, and its cuisines, ingredients, and flavors can vary not only from country to country but from region to region, city to city. That’s why I am naming this wing sauce the best chicken wing sauce with a soy sauce base. And as much as I hate the lazy name, I can’t deny that it tastes very, very good. —Jordan Myrick

Credit: Merc / Target

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Best Spicy Buffalo

Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce

Target

Hot sauce enthusiasts were surprised that Frank’s Original RedHot didn’t make its way onto our ranking of the best hot sauces. That’s because the real stars in the Frank’s family are Frank’s Wing Sauces. And Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce is some of the best Buffalo sauce for wings. In fact, in our original ranking, it was our number one pick for the best store bought wing sauce. And though it was unseated, it’s still the best Buffalo wing sauce out there. It’s so rich and buttery, and perfectly spiced. If you’re looking for a classic, spicy Buffalo wing, grab a bottle of Frank’s original Buffalo wing sauce (make sure it’s the wing sauce, specifically!). —Jordan Myrick

Credit: Paula Kunatee / Target

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best of the Best

Frank’s RedHot Wings Mild Wings Sauce

Walmart

We never expected a mild wing sauce to be this incredible, but it is everything we ever wanted in the best wing sauce. It’s so extremely creamy—it’s decadent. But it’s also quite tangy, so you’re getting that balance of acidity and fat in every bite. Plus, even though it’s categorized as mild (one step below Buffalo on the Frank’s scale), it still has some heat. Even heat-seeker Jordan Myrick agreed that this mild Frank’s beat out Frank’s Buffalo wing sauce. Trust us, this is the best chicken wing sauce. —Justine Sterling

Credit: Merc / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Other wing sauces we tried: Kroger Buffalo Mild Wing Sauce, Buffalo Wild Wings Medium Sauce, Buffalo Wild Wings Spicy Garlic, Frank’s Red Hot Wings Sauce Nashville Hot, Kinder’s Wing Sauce & Dip Bourbon Peach BBQ, Frank’s Red Hots Wings Buffalo, TGI Fridays Buffalo Wing Sauce, Wing-Time Mild Buffalo Wing Sauce, G Hughes Sugar Free Mango Habanero Wing Sauce, Great Value Asian Style Sweet Chili Wing Sauce, Great Value Parmesan Garlic Wing Sauce, Great Value Medium Wing Sauce, Melinda’s Wing Sauce & Condiment Spicy Garlic Parmesan, Sweet Baby Ray’s Chicken Sauce, Sweet Baby Ray’s Garlic Parmesan, Kroger Parmesan Garlic Wing Sauce, Bone Suckin’ Sauce Garlic & Honey Wing Sauce, Private Selection Thai Inspired Sweet & Savory Chile Wing Sauce, Kroger Honey Teriyaki, Kroger Spicy Parmesan Garlic, Sweet Baby Ray’s Buffalo Wing Sauce