These Vegan Buffalo Hot Wings are fiery, flavour-packed, and easy to make with store-bought or homemade vegan nuggets.
Among all the assorted foods that people say they miss when they’re turning Vegan, hot wings are usually pretty high up the list. These vegan buffalo wings are sure to help out with that, scratching the itch for some meat without actually making a trip to KFC.
Without further ado, let’s talk about our vegan buffalo nuggets!
Jump to:
What Is Buffalo Sauce?
Buffalo sauce, while super popular in the US, is less heard of in other places around the world.
At the heart of it, buffalo sauce is a tangy, rich, and spicy sauce.
Normally, it features a lot of chilies as the primary ingredient to get that heat, as well as tangy ingredients like vinegar and Worcestershire sauce.
When combined, all these distinct sauces and ingredients form a sauce that’s rich, indulgent, and sharp up front, with a heat that will last on your lips and fingertips for longer than you’d expect.
While we’re talking about buffalo sauce - there’s often some confusion about the difference between buffalo sauce and hot sauce. This is understandable - they’re really similar! The difference is that buffalo sauce has butter (or vegan butter in our case) featured as a primary flavor. In turn, the sauce is much richer and more luxurious - less harsh overall.
This less harsh flavor is perfect for using with vegan buffalo hot wings, as it allows the seitan (or whatever meat substitute you’re using) to shine as it carries the amazing sauce effortlessly.
Why You’ll Love This Vegan Buffalo Wings Recipe
- 🌱 100% plant-based and customisable
- 🔥 Spicy and tangy, with an oil-free option
- 🕒 Quick to prepare with store-bought nuggets
- 🍗 Perfect meat-free alternative to classic buffalo wings
- 🌿 Easy homemade hot sauce option included
What Chilies and Hot Sauce Should You Use?
This amazing recipe calls for chilies and hot sauce. These are some classic ingredients for buffalo sauce, so it’s only natural that you might want to get the perfect ones.
Well, you can’t really get better hot sauce than sauce you’ve made in your home. It will always be hotter, sweeter, and sharper than anything you can track down at the store, which is one reason why we love to use it.
However, if you wanted to go for a store-bought sauce, there are plenty to choose from:
- regular
- green
- super hot
- or even chipotle
I would suggest going with the one you like the most.
Having a bottle of hot sauce it in the kitchen is such a handy pantry staple. It’s bright and hot while also being sweet and citrusy.
The chipotle ones have a lovely, smoky taste, ideal for people who adore some spicy barbecue flavours.
There are a crazy number of different types of chilies out there, there’s no secret about that. From really hot chilies like Bird’s Eye from Thailand to more mild and traditional chilies like Jalapenos from Mexico.
For this recipe, I’d recommend using chillies with a medium heat level as the sauce will also be enriched with some cayenne pepper powder for that extra hot kick. Whatever chilies you can get your hands on at the supermarket or you particularly like will be amazing for the cause.
One thing we would suggest avoiding to replicate buffalo sauce as closely as possible is pickled chilies, such as jarred jalapenos. While they would make a delicious sauce, the flavor wouldn’t be as close to buffalo sauce as what you might expect. Therefore, always try to get fresh chilies!
Ingredients
How to Make Vegan Buffalo Hot Wings
Step 1: Prepare the Hot Sauce (if making from scratch)
Remove the tops from the chilli peppers and roughly chop them.
Add them to a saucepan with apple cider vinegar, garlic, and salt.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10–15 minutes.
Allow to cool before blending until smooth. If using a high-speed blender like a Ninja, pulse 4–5 times, blend on low for 15 seconds, and then on high for 3–4 bursts until completely smooth.
Step 2: Make the Buffalo Sauce
In a small saucepan, add the corn starch and slowly whisk in the water until smooth.
Add hot sauce, cayenne pepper, and Worcester sauce.
Heat over medium-high until the sauce begins to bubble and thickens slightly (approx. 1 minute). Careful — hot sauce fumes can be intense!
Step 3: Cook the Vegan Nuggets
- Store-bought nuggets: Cook as per the instructions on the pack. For air fryer use, cook for half the suggested time and flip halfway through.
- Homemade seitan nuggets: Use your favourite recipe or check out this easy seitan guide for a scratch-made option.
Step 4: Toss and Serve
While still hot, toss your cooked nuggets into the buffalo sauce until well coated. Serve immediately with cooling celery sticks and your favourite vegan dips (try vegan ranch or blue cheese for contrast!).
What vegan wings or nuggets to use/make
The beauty of this recipe, that is mainly about the sauce, is that it works magically well with any vegan nuggets or wings you like or have available.
You can use store bought vegan nuggets for a quick & easy fix, or even make your very own from scratch using seitan, tofu, tempeh, pea protein or any other vegetable protein of your choice.
For the basic recipe for vegan nuggets you can follow this recipe.
And if you'd like to attempt making your own vegan wings or seitan nuggets, I've got this Seitan and TVP wings recipe while in this post you will find a detailed guide about making your own seitan and achieving the best texture for your taste buds.
Do you want to try something different?
Give these Cauliflower hot wings a go too!
Serving Suggestions
- Wrap them in flatbread with lettuce and mayo
- Serve over a salad for a spicy protein kick
- Plate with chips and dips for a crowd-pleasing platter
Tips and Variations
- For an oil-free version, skip vegan butter and use water in the sauce
- Add smoked paprika or garlic powder to the sauce for extra depth
- Can be made gluten-free with gluten-free nuggets
Recipe
If you then want to subscribe to the blog by email, just do it by entering your email address below. You will receive an email every time a new recipe is published. No spam! Not my thing!
Leave a Reply