On-loan Tottenham striker El Hamdaoui struck just 46 seconds into the second half to cancel out Kenny Miller's sixth goal of the season and his fourth in five games.
For Derby, it was another welcome and hard earned point as Phil Brown's side built on their first win in nine games against Stoke City last Saturday.
But Wolves, who have now taken just two points from their last four home games, only had themselves to blame for not collecting a badly needed win.
They missed a hatful of chances with Derby's veteran goalkeeper Kevin Poole defying his 42 years to pull off a string of fine saves to deny Miller, Carl Cort and Joleon Lescott.
Wolves were made to pay for their problems in front of goal when El Hamdaoui collected a deflected shot from Seth Johnson and fired past goalkeeper Michael Oakes.
It had all looked so different for Wolves when Miller took just six minutes to continue his red-hot run of form when he raced on to an inch-perfect pass from Darren Anderton.
Miller cut into the left-hand side of the area and held off the challenge of Lewin Nyatanga before drilling a shot past Poole at his near post.
Wolves should have gone on to put the game out of sight but they could not turn their domination into goals and that proved to be an inspiration for Derby who were unfortunate not force their way on to level terms before half-time.
El Hamdaoui shot wide when well placed in the 27th minute and was then frustrated on the stroke of half-time by a smart save from Oakes.
They were warnings Wolves failed to heed and El Hamdaoui took full advantage at the start of the second half.
The shock of being pegged back led to a predictable flurry by Wolves, but Miller and Cort were out of luck in front of goal leaving Glenn Hoddle's side to be booed off the pitch by their disgruntled fans.