Vegan buffalo sauce can be made with 2 basic ingredients - vegan butter and hot sauce. It can be whipped up in about a minute to put over cauliflower wings, vegan chicken, or used as a dip! It really couldn’t be easier to make this spicy hot sauce!
Delicious vegan buffalo sauce
The trick to making the sauce deliciously authentic is using vegan margarine that tastes like butter, not margarine! It simply tastes better with a better-tasting vegan butter. You can use Earth Balance or other vegan margarine, but my homemade vegan butter just tastes more like real butter, so your buffalo sauce will taste more like the real thing too!
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Vegan Butter - use my recipe for the absolute best taste, but if you don't have time to make your own butter, make sure to use a good quality vegan margarine like Miyoko, or Earth Balance (the whipped version also works well). If you use cheap greasy margarine with high water content, your buffalo sauce just won't taste as good.
- Hot Sauce - Most hot sauces are vegan and are just made from cayenne pepper and vinegar. Frank's Red Hot or any equivalent hot sauces work well. Just be sure that you don't get the premixed buffalo sauce, some of the buffalo sauces have dairy, and your sauce will be deluded. (If you like it super spicy, look for the extra hot varieties).
- Garlic Powder - for flavor. (optional)
- Salt - for flavor (optional)
How do I make vegan buffalo sauce?
This sauce couldn't be easier.
- Simply melt vegan butter in the microwave for about 45 seconds or on the stovetop and add hot sauce to it.
- Add a dash of salt and garlic powder and then give it a stir.
- Now it's ready to pour over the cauliflower, vegan chicken, or tofu.
Is hot sauce vegan?
Most hot sauce is vegan containing only cayenne peppers and vinegar. I cannot promise that every brand out there is vegan, but all that I have come across so far is vegan. The hot sauces do vary in spiciness from brand to brand, so you may have to adjust the recipe slightly to account for that and for your desired spice level.
How to use your buffalo sauce
Use this sauce to make vegan buffalo chicken sandwiches, fried buffalo cauliflower wings, or baked cauliflower nuggets.
You can also use it to spice up a meal
Buffalo sauce simply gives these recipes a flavorful punch!
- Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Vegan Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
- Fried Tofu
- Fried Cauliflower
- Vegan Scrambled Eggs
How can I control the spiciness of the buffalo sauce?
- To make the sauce spicier: Add a few more tablespoons of hot sauce to make it hotter. (They also sell extra hot versions of hot sauce too, so using one of these will make your buffalo sauce even spicier).
- To make a more mild sauce: Reduce the hot sauce from 1/3 cup to 1/4 cup and make sure to use the regular hot sauce and not the extra hot.
Tip: To cool off the heat from the buffalo sauce, pair it with vegan ranch dressing for the perfect combo!
Subscribe to my email list to get my free eBook “The Beginner’s Guide to Homemade Vegan Staples” or if you are ready to fully dive into making your own vegan cheese and other vegan staples, check out my cookbooks.
Use this buttery, yet spicy vegan buffalo sauce to make your favorite vegan buffalo dishes like buffalo cauliflower or vegan buffalo chicken.
- 1/3 cup vegan butter or vegan margarine like Earth Balance
- 1/3 cup hot sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
- 1 dash salt (optional)
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Melt the vegan butter in a saucepan or in a microwave.
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Add the hot sauce, garlic powder, and salt.
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Stir with a whisk until hot sauce and butter are completely mixed.
- For a hotter sauce, add 2-3 more tbsp of hot sauce.
- For a milder sauce, add only 1/4 cup of hot sauce.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
*This was originally posted on April 23, 2018. It was updated on January 11, 2021, to include new images and more detailed instructions.
