Buffalo chicken wings: how much it costs to make, per portion
Roughly eight 2-joint chicken wings (400 g raw), fried or roasted, tossed in Frank's RedHot buffalo sauce with butter and served with celery sticks. Costed from JJ Foodservice wholesale prices dated 9 October 2026. Celery is from our 7 September price.
The menu price is the one ChefSums uses for this dish on its sample takeaway menu, a realistic UK menu price. The lowest price is the one that just reaches 68% GP, the UK food GP benchmark (UKHospitality × Christie & Co, 2022: 65.9–69% food GP across every segment). It covers the ingredients at a normal margin, not staff, rent or energy, and most cafés, pubs and takeaways charge more for simple dishes. Check what places near you charge. GP is worked out on the ex-VAT price.
Open in ChefSums — edit, cost, scale →
Ingredients and cost, 10 portions
| Ingredient | Pack price | Pack size | Used | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken wings, 2-joint, raw frozen | £25.49 | 10000 g | 4000 g | £10.20 |
| Frank's RedHot Buffalo wing sauce | £23.49 | 3780 ml | 400 ml | £2.49 |
| Unsalted butter | £30.49 | 5000 g | 100 g | £0.61 |
| Plain flour | £12.49 | 16000 g | 100 g | £0.08 |
| Table salt | £10.99 | 6000 g | 20 g | £0.04 |
| Celery (head) | £13.99 | 12 each | 2.5 each | £2.91 |
| Vegetable oil (fryer top-up allowance) | £8.50 | 5000 ml | 500 ml | £0.85 |
| Batch total | £17.17 | |||
| Per portion (÷ 10) | £1.72 | |||
Cost per line is pack price × (amount used ÷ pack size), the same sum the tool runs. Change one pack price and every line that uses it moves.
What it really costs: waste and staff time
| Ingredients | £1.72 |
| Waste allowance, 5% (trim, ends, the odd one binned) | £0.09 |
| Staff time: 10 min hands-on for the batch of 10 at £12.71/hr + 25% on-cost | £0.26 |
| Food, waste and staff per portion | £2.07 |
At the sample takeaway menu price (£6.66 ex VAT) that is 31% of the price, before rent, energy and everything else. Many UK sites aim to keep food plus staff (prime cost) at or under 60–65% of sales. The staff line counts hands-on prep only, not unattended cooking, and uses the April 2026 National Living Wage; put your own rate, minutes and waste in the calculator's real cost section or the prime cost calculator. Every dish side by side: the UK dish cost index.
Method
- Pat the wings dry and toss in the flour and salt.
- Fry at 175 °C for 10-12 minutes until the skin is crisp and the thickest piece reaches at least 75 °C in the centre (or roast at 220 °C for 40-45 minutes, turning once).
- Melt the butter into the buffalo sauce and toss the hot wings in it.
- Serve with celery sticks.
Costing notes
Wings lose about a quarter of their weight in cooking, so 400 g raw serves as roughly 300 g. The fryer oil line is a top-up allowance (oil absorbed and carried out on the product), not the whole fryer fill; if you change the oil weekly, divide the full fill by the portions you fry in that week instead.
Frank's sold by the 3.78 L jug costs about 6p per 10 ml, so a heavy-handed sauce toss moves the portion cost more than you would expect.
Where the prices came from
JJ Foodservice collection prices as shown on its public search pages on 9 October 2026 (delivery runs about £1-2 a case higher). A few lines JJ did not list in that day's searches reuse the dated prices already on our other starter recipes (7 September 2026, JJ Foodservice or Tesco retail, marked on each line). JJ does not label VAT on most lines: raw food is zero-rated in the UK, while soft drinks, alcohol, confectionery and some ingredients carry standard-rate VAT. Your supplier's price is the one that matters: open the recipe and type it in.
- Chicken wings, 2-joint, raw frozen: Frozen Halal Raw 2 Joint Chicken Wings 1x10kg, 10 kg, £25.49 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
- Frank's RedHot Buffalo wing sauce: Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce 1x3.78L (SAU608), 3.78 L, £23.49 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
- Unsalted butter: Lakeland Unsalted Butter 20x250g (DAI186), 5 kg, £30.49 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
- Plain flour: JJ Plain Flour 1x16kg, 16 kg, £12.49 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
- Table salt: DP Table Salt Tub 1x6kg (SPI277), 6 kg, £10.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-10-09
- Celery (head): Celery 1x12 (VEG377), 12 each, £13.99 collection — JJ Foodservice, accessed 2026-09-07
- Vegetable oil (fryer top-up allowance): Tesco Vegetable Oil 5 Litre (list price, not the Clubcard promo), 5 L, £8.50 — Tesco (retail), accessed 2026-09-07
More costed dishes: takeaway
- Margherita pizza (12-inch) — £2.01 a portion
- Lamb doner kebab in pitta — £2.62 a serve
- Portion of chips — £0.40 a portion
- Southern fried chicken burger — £1.56 a serve