What Is Cola and How Can I Use It?

Wondering what to do with cola? This guide covers how to pick it, cook it, store it, and swap it, plus 85 recipes to put it to work.

Key Points

Sweet dark soda whose sugar and mild acid tenderize meat and build glossy glazes.
Stars in cola-braised pot roast and ribs, barbecue sauces, glazes, and chocolate cake.
Always use full-sugar cola; diet has nothing to caramelize or thicken.
Watch the sugar load and scorching; cut other sweeteners and keep heat moderate.
Substitute root beer or Dr Pepper, or stock with brown sugar and balsamic.

What is cola?

Cola is the familiar dark, sweet, fizzy soft drink, flavored with a mix of caramel, citrus oils, cinnamon, vanilla, and a hint of spice. Most cooks know it from a glass, but it has long been a quiet workhorse in the kitchen.

What makes it useful is what is dissolved in it. A can carries a lot of sugar, mild phosphoric and carbonic acid, and that caramel-spice flavor, which together tenderize and glaze the food while sweetening it as the drink cooks down.

When you simmer it, the bubbles cook off and the sugar concentrates into a glossy, almost syrupy sauce. That is the secret behind so many cola-braised and cola-glazed dishes.

Cooking With Cola

Cola truly belongs in braises and barbecue. Its acid helps break down tough cuts while the sugar builds a sticky glaze, which is exactly what happens in Coca-Cola Pot Roast and Cola Barbecued Ribs as the liquid reduces around the meat.

Stir it into a barbecue sauce or into a glaze for ham and ribs or chicken wings. Cola Chicken Wings cooks the soda down with soy and garlic until it coats each wing, and a splash thickens and sweetens many a quick pan sauce.

It works in savory simmers too. Indian Chicken Curry Coca-Cola uses it to round out the spices, and a can poured into a pot roast or short ribs deepens the gravy with malty sweetness.

Then there is baking. Favourite Coca Cola Cake folds the soda into a fudgy chocolate batter, where the liquid and sugar keep the crumb moist and tender.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Cola pairs naturally with smoky barbecue, soy sauce, brown sugar, chili, ginger, and chocolate. It loves fatty, rich cuts: pork shoulder, ribs, beef chuck, anything that can stand up to its sweetness.

The most common mistake is forgetting how much sugar it adds. A full can in a sauce can turn cloying fast.

So cut back on other sweeteners in the recipe and taste as the liquid reduces.

The second mistake is using diet cola for cooking. Without real sugar there is nothing to caramelize or thicken, so the glaze never sets and you lose the whole point. Always reach for full-sugar cola.

One more thing to watch: cola scorches easily once it reduces, since it is mostly sugar at that stage. Keep the heat moderate near the end and stir so the glaze does not catch and burn.

Substitutes

For braises and glazes, root beer or Dr Pepper steps in cleanly, bringing the same sugar and similar spiced, caramel notes. Root beer skews more toward vanilla and sassafras, which is pleasant with pork.

Want the body without the cola flavor? Use beef or chicken stock as the base.

Stir in a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar and a splash of balsamic or Worcestershire for depth and tang.

In baking, replace cola with an equal amount of another dark soda, or use brewed coffee plus a little extra sugar, which mimics the bittersweet, caramel side of the flavor in a chocolate cake.

None of these copy cola exactly, but each lands close enough that the dish still works.

Buying and Storing

Any standard cola does the job. You do not need a premium brand for braising or baking, since the flavor blends into the dish.

Buy full-sugar, not diet or zero, whenever the recipe relies on caramelizing or thickening.

An unopened can or bottle keeps for many months in the pantry, well past the date printed on it, though the fizz and flavor slowly fade over time. For cooking, flat cola is no problem at all, since you cook the bubbles off anyway.

Once opened, cola goes flat within a day or two, even capped and chilled. That flatness does not hurt a recipe, so a half-used bottle from yesterday is perfectly good for tonight's glaze. Just keep it covered in the fridge so it does not pick up off odors.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size unknown (100g)

Amount per Serving

Calories 20Calories from Fat 0

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 0.0g 0%

Saturated Fat 0.0g 0%

Trans Fat ~

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 4mg 0%

Total Carbohydrate 5.2g 2%

Dietary Fiber 0g 0%

Sugars 5.2

Protein 0.0g

Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0%

Calcium 0% • Iron 0%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your caloric needs.

recipeland.com/nutrition

Quick facts

Where to find cola: Cola is usually found in the beverages section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group: Cola is a member of the Beverages US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese: 可乐
British (UK) term: Cola
en français: cola
en español: cola

How much does cola weigh?

Amount	Weight

Beverages

Beer 431 Creme de menthe 43 Brandy 416 Rum 290 Vodka 132 Cognac 125 Tequila 80 Gin 28 Whiskey 80 Bourbon whiskey 86

Recipes using cola

There are 85 recipes that contain this ingredient.

More cola recipes

List of all ingredients

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