What Really Makes Buffalo Wild Wings' Chicken So Delicious?

For many people, paradise is simple: it's a place where you're surrounded by friends, cold beverages, and there's a game on. Add a massive basket of chicken wings — preferably from Buffalo Wild Wings — and well, that's a perfect night. Chicken wings are a ubiquitous menu item at bars and restaurants now, but that wasn't always the case. Buffalo Wild Wings might not have invented the chicken wing, but since the chain started in the 1980s, and has been steadily expanding to hundreds of locations across the United States, it's a lot easier than it used to be to get your hands on a plate of wings. Thank goodness, because Buffalo Wild Wings makes some of the best wings around.

A good chicken wing requires three things: a juicy and meaty interior, a crispy and crunchy exterior, and a tasty sauce or dry rub. Buffalo Wild Wings nails all three. For the record, the sauce or dry rub doesn't necessarily have to be spicy, but it does need to be tasty. Oh, and if it's not too much trouble — ranch and bleu cheese, both? That's right, the restaurant has those dipping sauces (and more). 

To help you understand how exactly Buffalo Wild Wings makes its food so good, we took a closer look at the chain and its famous wings. What secrets might the chain's kitchens hold? 

The simplest answer to the wings' excellence might be that they are fried not just in oil, but in beef shortening.You might remember beef shortening (or beef tallow, the terms are interchangeable) as "what they used to fry McDonald's fries in." The extra flavoring provided by the beef shortening is subtle — obviously, a bite of wings won't hearken back to cheeseburger memories — but it definitely kicks the flavor up a notch. 

Also, beef shortening has a high smoke point, meaning those wings fry at the exact right temperature for a crispy, crunchy exterior, and a buttery soft interior. This contrast is key for Buffalo Wild Wings' signature taste. The crispy skin has to stand up to both the sauce on the outside and the juice from the chicken on the inside. Once you bite into the wing, the chicken has to taste good on its own, without being overpowered by the sauce. 

An important note: the chain fries much of its menu in beef shortening, so give your vegetarian and vegan friends a heads up before they order fries. 

A major reason Buffalo Wild Wings tastes so good is that the chain deep-fries all of its wings (instead of baking them). The beef shortening provides flavor and the hot oil gets the texture where you want it. Granted, baked chicken wings are more than merely a healthy substitute for deep-frying — with the right technique, baked chicken wings can be delicious. But a sports bar is not a place for the overly health-conscious, it is a place for beef-aided frying methods. Besides, humans crave crispy food! Science says so. More specifically, John S. Allen, a research scientist at the University of Southern California, told NPR that the sound of crunch lights up more areas of the brain than silent food does. 

Not to mention, Buffalo Wild Wings' frying comes with its own technique. According to a 2023 Reddit post by one of the chain's cooks, the chain stopped offering extra crispy wings because customers would complain they were too dry or too soggy (with sauce added). That's why we advise trusting the process and enjoying the deep-fried wings at Buffalo Wild Wings.

What sets Buffalo Wild Wings apart from other chains is the wide variety within the chain's sauce department. It's not just "buffalo" and "hotter buffalo" sauces here. There are sweet sauces, savory sauces, and sauces hot enough to make cartoon steam come out of your ears. In fact, Buffalo Wild Wings' sauces are almost a culinary world tour.

Skip down South with a plate of Nashville Hot, Golden Fire, or Cajun sauce. That's a nostalgic journey, like going to Grandma's house. Take a trip to Asia with Thai Curry, Orange Chicken, or Asian Zing. These sauces range from sweet to umami to spicy, or a combination of all three. Live out your island fantasies with the sweet and spicy Caribbean Jerk, imagine yourself under the Tuscan sun with savory Parmesan Garlic, or picture a vacation in Mexico, getting your taste buds tickled by the spicy Jammin' Jalapeño. If you spend a few minutes on the Buffalo Wild Wings subreddit, you'll notice that no sauce emerges as a clear-cut fan favorite. 

Sauce is great, but maybe it's not for every night. Sometimes, you want to keep your fingers clean. Sometimes, you just crave that special salty crunch of a dry rub. And let us not forget takeout and delivery orders — that chicken's going to keep its crisp skin for the duration of a long car ride a lot better if it's not doused in sauce. Luckily, Buffalo Wild Wings is well-versed in the art of the dry rub, with so many varieties that you might mistake the restaurant chain for a chip brand.

Just like with the sauce options, there's something for everyone here, too: Desert Heat, Chipotle BBQ, and Buffalo dry rub bring spice — ranging from mildly smoky to unbearably spicy to the party. Lemon Pepper and Salt & Vinegar rubs also serve up a unique tang, with just the right balance of acid and heat. Whatever your appetite, it's impossible to go wrong with one of Buffalo Wild Wings' dry rubs.

With as many flavor options as Buffalo Wild Wings has, there's something to keep everyone happy. The mere mention of buffalo wings, though, makes people think of tongue-searing, nose-running spice. Everyone has different spice tolerance, and having a higher or lower spice tolerance does not make you a better or worse wing-eater.

That said: the Spicy Garlic is such a special combination of heat and savory. The Hot takes buffalo sauce to spicier heights, and its cousin, Nashville Hot, takes you to a whole new level of spice possibility. The Asian Zing, already mouth-watering thanks to the chilis, gets an extra boost from ginger. The spicy wings at this chain are more than worth the leaky sinuses.

Go ahead and chomp down on that chicken in that spicy, pepper-stuffed Blazin' sauce, it proves you're human. If you want to try to be superhuman, you can attempt Buffalo Wild Wings' Blazin' Challenge. In this test of heat endurance, participants must eat 10 Blazin' Knockout wings in five minutes or less. No drinks, no dipping sauces, no bathroom breaks. Your reward is 1000 Blazin' Rewards points, and your name on select Buffalo Wild Wings' Wall of Fame screens, which appear on television screens inside its restaurants.

One of the great pleasures of eating wings is tearing meat from bone with your teeth. Close your eyes while you do it, and you can almost envision you and your wing-chomping companions sitting around a fire in a cave some centuries ago. Primal and fun as that may be, there are plenty of occasions when you might want to keep your hands clean while eating wings. Too much heat in a sauce or dry rub can hide in your fingernails, or maybe you simply don't feel like doing the work of gnawing around a bone. We've all been there. Thankfully, Buffalo Wild Wings has a delicious solution: boneless wings. 

Don't worry, the boneless wings come with all of the same sauce, dry rub, and dip options as the bone-in. And don't take our word for it that they're good. Over on Reddit, you'll find some customers saying they have no preference between the two, and even cooks who claim to prefer the boneless wings. 

A lot of people confuse boneless wings with chicken nuggets. Boneless wings are not chicken nuggets. The difference between the two is subtle but important. Chicken nuggets are made with ground chicken, whereas boneless wings are made with a cut of chicken breast. That whole-muscle, all-white meat cut is a little less processed than ground meat, and a good choice for people watching their cholesterol (as the breast contains less cholesterol than other parts of the chicken, according to Medical News Today).

There are certain things in life that are just more fun when you're with good friends. Watching sports, drinking beer, and eating wings are three of these things, and that's what makes Buffalo Wild Wings so great. Whatever game is happening, whatever season it is, there are going to be sports on Buffalo Wild Wings' televisions. You might as well call up some friends and park yourselves at a table under one of those TVs. You're definitely going to want a few baskets of wings. 

All those sauce and dry rub varieties? Well, having more people at your table means you can order more wings, and therefore try more flavors — if you and your friends are willing to share, of course. Then again, a sports bar is supposed to be communal and fun. Everyone's just trying to have a good time eating and watching the game. Ordering wings means you don't have to take your eyes off the screen to deal with pesky utensils, too. You know what? What time is the game on tonight? Let's split a plate of Lemon Pepper, Original Hot, and Honey BBQ.