Easy Buffalo Burger Sauce

We’re keeping things simple with this quick to make Homemade Burger Sauce. It uses easy larder ingredients and can be whipped up in under five minutes with no cooking required so you’ve got more time to concentrate on making your delicious burgers.

Even though we are definitely going for an American style sauce, this burger sauce has ingredients that you can easily pick up in any local UK supermarket.

I’ve used inspiration for my favourite Buffalo Sauce for this variation on a classic burger sauce by using Franks Red Hot Sauce to give it that Buffalo feel. We’re not adding in any butter (which is the usual second ingredient of a Buffalo Sauce) but just using the hot sauce with the usual ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard traditional to a burger sauce. It gives it a great flavour profile with a nod to spice whilst still retaining the essence of a familiar creamy tangy burger sauce.

I do use the hot sauce in my older kids’ burgers and they are happy with the spice level but if you want to be safe then you can always omit the Franks – or use less – it won’t affect the final texture. There is still plenty of flavour to be had.

Of course the natural use for this Burger Sauce is in your burgers but I give lots of other ideas for serving just in case you have any leftover.

Ingredients Needed

Tomato ketchup. Not all ketchup is the same. You want to choose one that is well-balanced and not overly vinegary or sweet. Heinz is the ideal choice for our family but if you have a personal preference then do use your favourite.

Mayonnaise. A store-bought supermarket mayonnaise will work just fine for our purposes. However, if you have Homemade Mayonnaise then your sauce really will have tonnes of delicious flavour.

Franks Red Hot Sauce. This is a staple in our kitchen, I make Buffalo Chicken Wings a lot (even though I don’t have even the slightest cultural credentials). So using this hot sauce in my favourite burger sauce is second nature. It’s not as spicy as other hot sauces so is relatively family friendly. Although I would leave it out if I’m serving to young kids. It’s easily omitted if you prefer. If you can’t get hold of Franks Red Hot Sauce you can use an alternative hot sauce (although heat levels will vary) or just omit.

Yellow mustard. We’re talking about American yellow mustard. The kind you get in a squeezy bottle for lovely authentic flavour.

Pickle juice. This is the sweet vinegary juice in a jar of pickles or gherkins. In an ideal world I will have some bread and butter pickles to load up onto my burger so pickle juice will be easily at hand. If not, you can just omit or use a little lemon juice instead for that extra tang.

Seasoning. We could just leave it there but a little smattering of garlic powder, onion powder and salt and pepper gives our sauce a little more depth.

How To Make Easy Burger Sauce

Well, it’s a pretty straightforward one here. We just put everything in a mixing bowl and give a good whisk.

How To Serve Burger Sauce

The most obvious use for burger sauce is in your homemade burgers but let’s not limit ourselves if we don’t need to. Here are other ways you can use your sauce if you love the flavour and need more inspiration:

Prawn Cocktail. The difference between burger sauce and marie rose sauce is really just semantics. They are so similar that I really like this Buffalo inspired sauce smothered over my prawns and served in a cocktail glass with plenty of iceberg lettuce.

Crispy Potato Wedges Dipping Sauce. You can thank my daughter Olive for this idea as she adores this sauce for dipping in her homemade potato wedges.

Chicken Schnitzel. What goes better than buffalo sauce than chicken? Serve your Chicken Schnitzel with this mayonnaise forward buffalo sauce and there’ll be no going back.

Halloumi Burgers. This burger sauce is delightful with a crispy halloumi burger.

And then of course use this sauce with your chips, onion rings, hot dogs, cheese toasties, or a club sandwich.

Recipe Variations

Add diced pickles. In this recipe we are adding a soupcon of pickle juice for flavour. You can go one better and add some diced bread and butter pickles to the sauce for a good chunky bite.

Remove the heat. You don’t need to use the Franks Red Hot sauce if you are serving to kids.

Really spicy. But if you want to add more heat then a ¼- ½ teaspoon of dried chilli flakes would be a great choice.

Smoky Burger Sauce. Swap the garlic powder and onion powder for ½ teaspoon of my Everyday Seasoning which has a little paprika for smoky flavour. And then ½ teaspoon of chipotle in adobo for some really smoky heat.

More Dipping Sauces You’ll Love

This quick and easy BBQ sauce is naturally gluten-free, punchy with flavour and can be used for absolutely anything year round. But it becomes a true hero during BBQ season.

This Tahini Turmeric Sauce recipe is a creamy, vibrant lemon tahini dressing made with turmeric. It’s bright, full of flavour and can be paired with almost anything from roasted veggies, salad, meat to potatoes or rice. It’s a supper saviour.

This Green Tomato Ketchup knocks socks off its red supermarket cousin. It has a full bodied flavour that’s both tangy and sweet with a gentle chilli kick.