Cola Chicken

These braised cola chicken wings are a delightfully savory and sweet dish that comes together with only a few simple ingredients. Moist, tender, and juicy, this cola chicken is perfect as a weeknight meal or a meal prep for the week.

Growing up, we did not buy soda and it was really only reserved for special occasions. However, if I saw a can of cola in the kitchen, then I knew I was going to be in for a treat. It was most likely going to be Thit Kho or coca cola chicken (可乐鸡翅), both recipes I would inhale and reach for seconds of. Today, I’m sharing just how easy it is to make this childhood favorite!

 

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• It’s made with pantry staples, making for a pretty budget-friendly recipe. My mom would always work to stretch what we have and this recipe uses pretty much what we always had on hand.
• The chicken wings are a perfect combination of sweet and savory. I love serving these wings over rice, so the rice can soak up all the delicious sauce.
• In my opinion, these wings go with everything. While it was traditional in my household to serve it with rice (everything goes with rice lol), you can enjoy these on their own or as a snack!

Ingredients You’ll Need

• chicken wings — you can use a mixture of wingettes and drumettes or just one. It’s up to you. We buy and use whatever’s on sale.
• salt & pepper
• oil — you can use your choice of oil. I usually use olive oil.
• Coca Cola — ok so this dish is named after Coca Cola, but I’m sure you can use Pepsi as well! I don’t recommend swapping to diet cola, though. The sugar is required for the recipe!
• green onions — ok, so my mom would add both ginger and green onions to enhance the aroma of the dish, but I’m sticking with just green onions as I don’t always keep ginger on hand.
• Shaoxing wine — Shaoxing wine is also known as Chinese cooking wine, from the city, Shaoxing. It’s an amber-colored rice wine that can be found online or at your local Asian grocery store! I’ve read that dry sherry can be substituted for Shaoxing wine but I’ve personally never tried it.
• soy sauces — I use low sodium soy sauce and dark soy sauce. It might seem like the dark soy sauce cancels out the point of using a low sodium sauce but you’ll need the dark soy sauce to add color. If you only try to use regular soy sauce, you’ll need a lot more to achieve the same color.

How to Make Coca Cola Chicken

• Pat dry the chicken wings with a paper towel. Season them generously with salt and pepper.
• Heat up a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet (this is the one I use and recommend) over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken wings in a single layer.

• Sear the chicken wings on both sides for 5 to 6 minutes per side, or until the skin is golden. You can add more oil as needed.
• After searing the wings on both sides, add the cola, green onions, shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and dark soy sauce to the skillet.

• Simmer the mixture in the skillet for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened to coat your chicken wings.
• Discard the green onions and serve.

Recipe Tips and Notes

• The cook time for your chicken wings really depends on their size. You can tell when it’s time to flip the chicken when the skin releases itself. If you try to flip the wings before they’re ready, the skin will stick to the skillet and tear.
• Keep a close eye in the last couple of minutes of simmering the sauce. It very quickly goes from a thin liquid to a sticky glaze. It sauce also thickens as it cools, so don’t allow it to cook allllll the way down to your final desired consistency.
• It’s important to sear the chicken first as it helps render the fat under the skin. Don’t skip this step!
• For a little bit of heat, you can simmer the chicken wings with a chili pepper or add some crushed red pepper flakes.

Make Ahead Tips

• Storage: These cola wings keep up to 4 days in the fridge. Make sure to use an airtight container.
• Reheat: You can reheat these coca cola wings in the air fryer or microwave.

More Chicken Wings To Try

• Crispy BBQ Chicken Wings
• Honey Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings
• Grilled Chicken Wings
• Teriyaki Chicken Wings
• Garlic Butter Chicken Wings
• Whole Baked Chicken Wings
• Soy Garlic Chicken Wings

Other places to connect with me
@carmyshungry on Instagram
Facebook
Shop my Amazon faves
Email: [email protected]