Cola wings are called 可樂雞翼 (hoa lok gai yick) in Cantonese and 可樂雞翅 (kě lè jī chì) in Mandarin. These chicken wings are very popular all over Asia.
Some say that it started with a chef in Shandong province when he made these yummy chicken wings by accident. He had knocked over a bottle of cola soda and the cola went into a pot of soy chicken marinade. Consequently, the chicken was stained with a nicer brown colour than before and made it sweeter. Patrons liked the new combination and the chef incorporated cola wings into his menu.
Even though this dish has a relatively short history, there are already many versions of it. Some recipes add star anise, Sichuan peppercorn, Ketchup, or lemon juice. Others require marinating overnight. My recipe for Cola wings可樂雞翼 is very easy and very tasty with no marinating required. Cola soda is an excellent braising liquid, not only because it’s sweet but because of its acid content. The acid acts as a tenderizer for the meat, the sugar balances the savoury soy sauce and the dark colour gives the chicken wings a nice shiny glaze when the liquid evaporates. Plus the ginger adds a little zing to it.
Try making these on an indoor smokeless grill! Have the whole family involved in flipping their own wings. In addition to the Cola Wings, try some of my other Asian inspired marinades for a fun indoor barbeque night! It’s a great way to bring the family together, young and old, cooking and fighting for their favorite pieces of meat!!
Your family will love Cola wings 可樂雞翼…sweet, savoury, tangy, tender and juicy. What’s there not to love? Make them for a late night snack, game night, movie night, or picnic food. Furthermore, you can store them in the fridge and have them cold. They’re a great companion to a nice cold beer or my Beer and Calpico Jelly.
Cola Wings 可樂雞翼
Ingredients
- 450 g Chicken wings
- 4 cloves Garlic , minced
- 2 slices Ginger , sliced
- 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp Sesame seeds
- 1 tsp Oyster sauce
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 200 ml Cola soft drink
- 1 tbsp Oil
- ½ stalk Green onions , chopped
Instructions
- Wash and pat dry chicken wings
- Marinade chicken wings with 1 tsp of oyster sauce. Mix well
- Heat a pan to medium heat. Add oil and ginger. Move the ginger around the oil for 1-2 minutes until the ginger starts to brown
- Adjust the heat to medium-high. Add chicken wings to the pan and fry for 2 minutes on each side or until chicken wings start to brown. Brown on both sides
- Add minced garlic, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, and 200 ml of cola soft drink
- Reduce heat to low, cover with a lid and let simmer for 10 minutes
- If the liquid has not reduced to a thick sauce, remove the lid and turn heat up to medium-high
- Once the sauce thickens, turn off heat and put the chicken wings on a plate
- Spoon some of the sauce onto the chicken wings, sprinkle with sesame seeds and top with chopped green onions
You can never go wrong with cola and chicken wings! Thank you for your easy-to-follow instructions! It was a big hit at our family table.
I’m glad to hear that everyone enjoyed these and thanks for the compliment! I try to add more notes to my recipe instructions, happy to hear that it makes it easy to follow. Happy Cooking!
I had a friend that made these but I’m pretty sure she said that there were cloves in it. If I wanted to add cloves how much should I use and am I getting that wrong?
Hi Myah, there are many different variations to this recipe with the spices. There are some families that will use 5 spice powder, cloves, cassia bark, cinnamon, peppercorns and/or star anise. There's no original form of this recipe because we can't really be sure how it came about. My mom does not like to add any spices to anything except for occasional black pepper, so our rendition of this dish did not include any spices. At restaurants, the spices are also not uniformed. However, if you would like to add cloves and other spices, you can put them into a tea/spice bag and add it in step 5. I think 2-3 cloves would be enough. Hope this helps. Happy cooking!