- I tried five brands of Buffalo sauce that can commonly be found in grocery stores.
- The brands I tried include Sweet Baby Ray’s, Archie Moore’s, Frank’s RedHot, Texas Pete, and Buffalo Wild Wings.
- I was expecting all of the brands to taste similar but was surprised by how sweet the Archie Moore’s sauce was.
- In my opinion, Buffalo Wild Wings’ mild sauce was the best, as it offered the most pleasing combination of sweet and spicy flavors with a lasting taste.
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Chicken wings are a staple of any Super Bowl celebration.
Whether you’re cheering on your team from home or from the stadium, odds are you’ll be munching on some chicken wings at some point during the game.
In fact, according to the National Chicken Council’s annual Wing report, Americans will likely eat more than 1.4 billion chicken wings during the Super Bowl 2020.
With all of that in mind, I decided to try five brands of Buffalo sauce to prepare for my own football festivities.
I’m not an experienced wing eater, so I was going into the taste test with limited expectations. I figured the sauces would likely taste similar, as most of my experiences blur together.
I chose Sweet Baby Ray’s, Archie Moore’s, Frank’s RedHot, Texas Pete, and Buffalo Wild Wings as my brands.
Although Buffalo Wild Wings has its origins in the restaurant, its sauces are available for purchase in grocery stores and on Amazon, so I thought it was fair to include.
I grabbed some chicken wings from a restaurant nearby for my test.
I made sure to get plain wings so that the flavor didn't interfere with the taste of each sauce.
I also tried a chicken wing before it was dipped in anything to get a sense of what the base flavor was like.
I poured all of the sauces on a plate so that I could compare them visually before chowing down.
All of the sauces looked similar when I poured them on a plate, though some were thicker than others.
Archie Moore's and Buffalo Wild Wings were the thickest, while Frank's was particularly thin. I anticipated the thicker sauces to have the strongest taste.
Together, they looked like a monochromatic paint palette.
First, I tried Sweet Baby Ray's buffalo wing sauce.
I found the sauce with ease in the grocery store, and the brand's variety of flavors made it seem promising.
I was also pleased with its orange color, as it looked familiar in hue to wings I'd eaten before.
I was immediately hit with a combination of sweet and spicy flavors when I bit into the chicken wing covered in Sweet Baby Ray's sauce.
The mix of sweet and spicy was delicious, but the flavor was a bit too subtle upon the first bite. I had to really drench the chicken wing in sauce to get the taste.
Sweet Baby Ray's did have a kick to it though, which I enjoyed.
Score: 4/5
Next up was Archie Moore's, which I found intimidating because of its bright color.
This sauce had the brightest color of the five, which I didn't think was a great sign.
The orange looked a bit like liquid Cheetos.
The color and the thick consistency of the sauce was not appealing to me.
The color probably wouldn't be so bright if you tossed the wings in the sauce instead of dipping them, but it was still really orange.
The color made me less interested in eating it.
In my experience, the taste of Archie Moore's also left a lot to be desired.
The sauce was too sweet for me and I thought that it lacked spice. Plus, the small kick it did have didn't last, leaving an unpleasant sugary taste.
It might be better in a less concentrated bite, but I wasn't a huge fan.
Score: 1/5
I moved on to Frank's RedHot, which I was excited to try because I'd heard rave reviews.
My experienced wing-eating friends told me they used Frank's as their go-to Buffalo sauce, so I was pumped to give it a try.
The bottle was familiar, as I'd seen it at many family gatherings throughout my life.
Frank's RedHot was the spiciest of the bunch, with an acidic flavor that I loved.
I didn't have to coat my wings in too much of the sauce to get the taste I was hoping for, demonstrating how strong the flavor was.
The spice it offered was almost vinegary, and I enjoyed the refreshing zest.
It tasted just how I expect a Buffalo wing to taste, and I knew people would enjoy the sauce if I served it at a party.
Score: 4/5
The fourth brand on my list was Texas Pete, which is more known for its hot sauce.
Growing up in the South, I'd seen Texas Pete hot sauce at restaurants hundreds of times, but I'd never seen its wing variety.
I had confidence in the brand and was prepared to enjoy its taste.
I was surprised by how tangy the Texas Pete sauce was.
The sauce had an almost citrus-like taste upon the first bite, and it was thinner than some of the other brands. I had to dip it twice to really get the flavor, which was disappointing.
I loved the kick of flavor that the Texas Pete sauce offered, but it was a bit too tangy for my liking.
Score: 3/5
The last sauce I tried was the mild flavor from Buffalo Wild Wings.
You can find Buffalo Wild Wings' sauce in grocery stores and online.
I happened to be near a Buffalo Wild Wings location when I shopped for my sauces, so I decided to pop into the restaurant and grab a side order of its mild sauce instead of investing in a bottle.
I regretted that decision after I got a taste of the sauce.
The Buffalo Wild Wings sauce wasn't too sweet, and it was potent.
I only had to dip my wing in a small bit of sauce to get the flavor.
The word that came to mind as I ate the Buffalo Wild Wings sauce was reliable. I knew I could serve wings tossed in the sauce at a party and please all of my guests.
Score: 5/5
After tasting all of the options, I decided I'd happily serve most of the sauces at my Super Bowl party.
The only sauce I wouldn't buy again is Archie Moore's because, in my opinion, the sweet flavor just isn't a good fit for wings.
The rest of the sauces, however, would all be crowd pleasers.
But the sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings was the clear winner, and I'd recommend buying it if you can.
The chain is renowned for a reason, and comparing its sauce to those of other brands just proved why it's beloved.
Besides, if you can get the taste of a professional wing at home, why wouldn't you?
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