Buffalo Chick’n hot sauce typically involves adding butter to the sauce to give it that iconic taste, so figuring out a classic recipe for this delicious sauce after going oil-free — without using a vegan butter, the staple ingredient – has been a challenge. Eventually… desperate to make a vegan buffalo chick’n sandwich… I tried simply making a creamy version of a hot sauce. Guess what! I found it to be somewhat reminiscent of buffalo sauce – possibly because of the texture and additional fat content.
Even though we’re adding some fat, a typical amount that you would (well… most likely) eat is still firmly in the low fat range. And boy does this add something fantastic to a vegan chickk’n burger or salad. It turns it into a buffalo chickk’n burger or buffalo chickk’n salad… an all time favorite on this end.
So try this out, and see what you think! Nope, it isn’t exactly a buffalo hot sauce but it gets things pretty darn close without adding vegan butter (oil). That said: Always check your hot sauce for oil or animal products! Franks Red Hot and many others are compliant with this way of eating, but other varieties can include oil, butter, and more.
Vegan Creamy Buffalo Chik'n Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup cashews See notes.
- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds See notes.
- 2/3 cup plant-based milk (cashew milk, almond milk, etc). Unsweetened.
- 1/3 cup hot sauce To taste. Such as Franks Red Hot Sauce. See notes!
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder Or fresh cloves.
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup Optional.
- 2 Tbsp granulated onion See substitutes.
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp yellow mustard powder
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a high-powered blender (see notes if you're using a low powered blender or food processor). Blend it until creamy, and add additional hot sauce to taste.
Notes
Substitutes and changes and notes
The main substitutes and changes are:
Thinning it down: Use this as a dressing or a dip! The recipe above usually comes out more as a dip or spread, but I’ll just add a bit of plant-based milk to thin it down into more of a salad dressing. It goes amazing on salads, over rice, over beans and more… so simply whisk some in and you’re good to go.
Plant based milk: Go with unsweetened and the more “bland” the better, such as cashew or almond. You can also substitute water.
Nuts and seeds: You can use all cashews or all sunflower seeds and this recipe will work. Because of measuring and the difference between the nut and seed, the resulting texture, flavour and thickness of the sauce will differ. You will want to add a bit more plant-based milk if you are using sunflower seeds to thin out the sauce (more densely packed).
You could also – in theory at the time of writing – omit nuts and seeds entirely (or partially) and use some white beans. I haven’t tried this yet, though, so your mileage may vary and I hope you’ll let us know how this goes if you try it!
Hot sauce: You can certainly substitute Franks Red Hot Sauce for your own homemade sauce, or a different hot sauce of your choice. We are using this hot sauce because it is quite commonly and classically used for buffalo hot sauce, and easy for many readers to find. No matter what you use, always start with a little and add and adjust to taste. Always check the ingredients. Regular Franks Red Hot sauce is vegan and does not contain oil, but other varieties may not. Always check!
Soaking seeds: If you are using a food processor or lower-power blender you will definitely want to soak the seeds and/or nuts first. Even if you are using a high-power blender you may want to soak them anyway for health reasons.
SOS Free: Use a sodium-free hot sauce, and omit the maple syrup. Works perfectly fine, but will taste a bit less like a classic buffalo hot sauce.
Buffalo spice mix: If you want to speed up making this recipe, you can omit all spices from this recipe and simply use the following: Nuts/seeds, Franks Red Hot Sauce, plant-based milk and add about 2-3 Tbsp of a Buffalo spice mix blend. Then adjust to taste (this will greatly depend on the blend you’re using as they’re all different). I have found this spice blend at many supermarkets.
Share this recipe!
I’ve made this sauce about 4 times in the past week… not for this site, but just because I’ve been digging it so much. So try it out, and share if it works for you! It seems to go with so much – amazing on its own with a salad,
Note: This post is NOT sponsored nor has any affiliation with any company.
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