The Worst Bottled Buffalo Sauce Is Made By A Popular Grocery Chain

Whether you're making Buffalo wings at home or watching celebs chow down on TV, deep-fried chicken wings have been a cultural and culinary phenomenon since the 1960s. And when it comes to Buffalo wings, opinions run hot: Is it blue cheese dressing or bust? Should carrots join in on the side with celery? How much can the recipe deviate before it's not really a Buffalo wing? Even the history of the world-famous Buffalo wing is up for debate.

Americans are at least in agreement that fried chicken wings should indeed be topped with Buffalo sauce, and then consumed rapidly amongst friends — ideally in front of a stakes-heavy sporting event. But when you're ready to dish up a fresh batch, how do you know which Buffalo wing sauce to choose and, more importantly, which to absolutely avoid? Do you go for the flashiest label or disregard aesthetics entirely? Do you opt for the brand you know best or a wild card? Or do you try every single option available to you at your local grocery store?

Luckily, Chowhound's Lauren Bair already did. She taste-tested and ranked 12 store-bought Buffalo wing sauces to give us our answer on game day and Kroger Buffalo Wing Sauce gasped into last place. Mild, mellow, and muted, the Kroger brand couldn't deliver when it came to creating a flavorful, lightly spiced Buffalo wing sauce. Despite cayenne chiles featuring prominently on the sauce's ingredient list, the peppers' punchiness was sorely lacking.

To keep her ranking fair, Lauren Bair opted for medium heat whenever possible and was perfectly poised to identify a bland brand when she found one. It's not all bad for Kroger's Buffalo sauce, though. Bair notes that the condiment has a luscious, thick consistency when poured from the bottle. The color, however, was a major red flag for her, and sure enough, she found that Kroger Buffalo Wing Sauce's curious pale orange hue was matched by a flavor lacking any bite or oomph.

While the gold standard medium wing sauce, Wing-Time Medium Buffalo Wing Sauce, featured layered, nuanced flavor with a noted kick, Bair found that Kroger's version tasted distinctly one note. In the arena of tangy vinegar, subtle peppery spice, and notable heat, the more muted version couldn't handle the matchup. With so many options to choose from, Kroger accidentally makes the case that more iconic products or those with flashier labels may be worth their price tags — at least when it comes to Buffalo wing sauce.