The last time I tried making coke chicken was about 10 years ago, but it was just too rich with the combination of ingredients. My husband recently brought up the topic again so, of course, I jumped straight in looking for that awesome mixture that would delight the taste buds. I came across a recipe that called for just 3 ingredients…coke, chicken and soy sauce. Now anything with soy sauce is always going to rate pretty highly with me so I gave it a try – very nice, but as with most things, I tweaked it a bit and added grated fresh ginger and whole peeled cloves of garlic, just to fragrance the sauce, I didn’t want to be chomping on a piece of garlic while enjoying the coke. Give it a try – definitely not for anyone on a diet!
ingredients:
chicken pieces
coke (no diet coke here, or if you do use it, add a few spoons of brown sugar to help with caramelisation)
soy sauce
grated fresh ginger (enough to make it zing, but don’t overdo it – you know how much you like)
3 small or 2 large cloves of garlic
Preheat oven to 180ºC. Place coke, soy sauce, peeled garlic cloves and grated ginger into an oven dish (I used skinned and boned thighs as I find this meat far more full of flavour). I didn’t measure the coke or soy sauce as it all depends on how much chicken you’re cooking, but the ratio of soy sauce to coke should be about 1:3. You want enough liquid to cover the chicken so it is able to lie languidly in the sauce without sticking out as you don’t want it drying out. If it sticks out a little, simply baste and turn the pieces during the cooking process. Add chicken pieces and pop into the oven for about 40 mins to an hour. The sauce should begin reducing.
It can be served at this stage, but I preferred to transfer it to a pot and let it bubble away on the stove top for a further 20 minutes or so, allowing the liquid to reduce and thicken, coating the chicken with a delicious tangy sticky sauce. Watch it though, as you want to reserve some of the mixture to be used as a gravy over the fluffy white rice.
