One of the staple dishes at our house when I was growing up was this delicious Pollo a la Coca-Cola dish. It tastes great and is easy to throw together.
The chicken is tender and the sauce is deliciously rich and full of flavors. We ate it with black eyed peas rice, and it made a wonderful meal. I used chicken legs for this dish, because I love all the flavor that chicken legs have to offer, but you can use chicken breast if you don’t have legs or thighs on hand. I am a chicken leg girl, for sure.
Buen provecho!
Pollo a la Coca-Cola (Braised Chicken with Cola Drink)
Ingredients
- 8 chicken legs or thighs
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 cup Coca-Cola
- 1 ¼ cups chicken stock
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp sugar
- Fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper. In a large sauce pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Working in batches, brown the chicken on all sides, 5 to 8 minutes total, adding more oil to the pan as needed.
- Transfer to a plate. Set aside.
- Reduce the heat to medium, add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 2 minutes.
- Add the Coca-Cola, tomato paste, sugar and stock and bring to a boil, stirring to scrape up the browned bits from the pan bottom.
- Return the chicken to the pan and spoon some of the sauce over the chicken. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the juices run clear when the chicken is pierced with a knife, about 45 minutes.Sprinkle fresh parsley and serve warm with rice on the side.
Joan Nova
I don't drink cola (or any soda) but I wouldn't be averse to using it cooking. I'm sure it created a delicious sauce.
Karen
Sounds so good... I think the cola would give it a little sweet taste. I love braised chicken, too.
Phil
Coca-cola and chicken !!! are you mad or am i missing something, the only way to find out is to give it a go i suppose, but if you say its delicious then i'm sure i'm gonig to love it.
Chris
I must make this for the family, I know they'll love that flavor profile and will wonder where the sweetness comes from but I'll not tell them the name and see if they can guess;)
Jenn and Seth
this chicken sounds so good! i need to try it!
Belinda @zomppa
I'm chicken leg too - what a fun sweet sauce!
grace
i don't care to drink coke, but it makes a fine ingredient! 🙂
Joanne
I don't think I've ever seen coke used in a savory dish before! Very cool.
Anonymous
My Colombian friend used to make this for me with a Colombian coconut Rice Recipe with raisins.
Dona
OMG! This was delicious...I followed the recipe and it came out the way my mom used to make it.Thank you so much. Every time I cook a Colombian meal from your site I feel like I am back in Colombia! I miss Colombia so Bad!
Erica
Thank you all for your comments and feedback. I truly appreciate it!
Anuar
As half Colombian and half Puerto Rican. This is my favorite dish that my mother (R.I.P) ever made. I've always wanted to make it and am afraid to make it and not come out like hers. But it is delicious.