To me, this buffalo sauce recipe is the MVP when it comes to jazzing up a chicken dish, baked or fried. This fermented sauce is beyond easy and only takes a few minutes to put together. Then all you need to do is let it sit for a week. After that, just blend everything, strain it, and you’ll have a wonderful homemade hot sauce. Let’s enjoy this flavorful mashup and get ready to feel the heat!
Where Does Buffalo Sauce Come From?
The good news is neither the origin of the name nor the ingredients have anything to do with an actual buffalo. The sauce was named after a small restaurant in Buffalo, New York, where chicken wings were first served with this infamous hot sauce. Until then, chicken wings were regarded as waste and used to make soup.
The original sauce is ridiculously simple to make; you only need five essential ingredients: chili, butter, vinegar, water, and salt. You can make your own version of buffalo sauce by adding other ingredients that enhance its flavors, such as onion, garlic, or fresh herbs.
Is Buffalo Sauce Healthy?
Buffalo sauce is a fermented food. This means it is full of healthy bacteria, grown during the fermentation process, which help with digestion and strengthen your gut microbiome.
The chili peppers used contain a large number of fundamental minerals, antioxidants, and vitamins (especially vitamin C). Vitamin C can also prevent colds and might even help lower the risk of heart disease and cancer.
Spicy peppers don’t agree with everyone; they can increase acidity and lead to inflammation of the stomach. A recent study found that adults over 55 who consistently consumed more than 50 grams of chili per day had an increased risk of memory decline. So how much buffalo sauce can we use daily? No more than 3 tablespoons.
How Long Will This Sauce Keep?
The shelf life of fermented foods requires low temperatures and high-quality packaging. Without any preservatives, the homemade version has a significantly shorter shelf life than the commercial sauce.
This homemade buffalo sauce can easily be kept around six months in a cool, dark location (like a low cupboard) or in the refrigerator for even longer. It’s all about the acidity. Technically shelf-stable food has a pH level below 4.6 pH. If you’re concerned, adding more vinegar can lower the pH and thus the sauce might be shelf-stable for up to a year.
From my experience, as long as the vinegar in it doesn’t smell bad and there are no signs of mold, you can use it.
Buffalo Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 oz bird’s eye chili
- 3 oz jalapeno chili
- 1/2 cup white rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp unsalted butter
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
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Instructions
- Remove the ends of the chili peppers and chop finely. I suggest using rubber gloves for this step since your skin might get burned or irritated cutting them barehanded.
- Transfer chili peppers into a food processor, add water, rice vinegar, and salt. Process for about 3 minutes.
- Put the mixture into a jar, and store it in a dark place at room temperature.
- After 5-7 days, it should be a cloudy mixture, with small bubbles floating on the surface. Transfer the chilis from the jar into a high-speed blender for 1 minute to get more liquid out of them.
- Strain the blended mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to create a smooth sauce. Add paprika and melted butter to the sauce and transfer to a clean jar.
- Store the sauce in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Notes
Having the right proportion of salt (2 percent over the weight of chilies) to water is essential. Unhealthy bacteria can grow in a lower-salt environment, however, these bacteria might be killed when there is too much salt.
You can add a few sweet peppers, like bell peppers, to the jar to temper the spiciness of your sauce.
Nutrition
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