The Buffalo wing was created in Buffalo, New York, at the world-famous Anchor Bar. The year was 1964, and according to legend, co-owner Teressa Bellissimo created the tangy, spicy, crispy appetizer when her son and some of his friends came in and asked for a snack. She deep-fried chicken wings, tossed them in hot sauce, and set the plate in front of the hungry group. We don’t know if this is the truth or an origin myth, but what we do know is we can’t get enough of the saucy dish. While our approach to wings is: the hotter the better, we also like to dip them in a cooling, creamy sauce. The two most popular are ranch and blue cheese dressing.
You might be surprised to hear that the battle between dipping wings in ranch or blue cheese riles people up (especially those folks living in Western New York). That’s why today we’ve decided to finally put this feud to rest and decide which one of these dressings is the only one you should use to dunk your chicken wings.
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Well, after much debate, it’s been decided that ranch is the superior sauce. It’s simply tastier, more approachable, more versatile, and available anywhere you’d eat Buffalo wings. We pledge allegiance to the ranch and won’t let those Western New Yorkers run us out of town. Don’t agree? Tell us why we’re wrong in the comments!
Overall Winner: Ranch
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Blue Cheese Versus Ranch
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Ingredients
Ranch is a tangy salad dressing or sauce made from buttermilk, mayonnaise, and various herbs and seasonings. Its zest comes from parsley, dill, and chives. Blue cheese dressing is similar but has the added benefits of random chunks of blue cheese. It also has a load of vinegar, onion powder, and garlic powder.
Winner: Ranch
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Flavor
These two sauces taste fairly similar. The only discernible difference is the added tang of the cheese in the blue cheese dressing.
Winner: Tie
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Cooling Properties
Since both are dairy based, they both beat the heat really well. The only dispute would be whether the addition of chunks of blue cheese is helpful in staving off heat or a hindrance.
Winner: Ranch
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Food Pairing
If you’re going to dip wings in either of these sauces, you’re probably also going to dip pizza, garlic bread, Hot Pockets, and anything else that requires a good saucing. Blue cheese, while obviously amazing, doesn’t mix with everything.
Winner: Ranch
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Fandom
The denizens of Buffalo will run you out of town if you use ranch though, so blue cheese is our winner here.
Winner: Blue Cheese
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The Intangibles
We’ve explained that the main difference between the two dressings is one has delightful, amazing chunks of blue cheese, a sweet, rich blue cheese flavor, and the other doesn’t. We honestly don’t care if you don’t like blue cheese on its own. Blue cheese dressing is amazing.
Winner: Blue Cheese
