Cola Oven Barbecue
Submitted by icepalace
Oven-baked chicken smothered in a homemade cola barbecue sauce with ketchup, Worcestershire, and dry mustard. Baked then broiled for sticky, crispy, caramelized skin.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
2 hrsREADY
2 hrsNo grill? No problem. This oven barbecue delivers all the sticky, smoky, finger-licking satisfaction of backyard BBQ chicken without ever stepping outside. The sauce simmers for an hour on the stove, building deep flavor from cola, ketchup, garlic, and a crumbled bay leaf.
Chicken pieces bake in the sauce, getting basted and flipped halfway through. Then a quick hit under the broiler crisps up both sides until the skin is lacquered and caramelized with that gorgeous dark glaze.
The cola does something magical during the long simmer. All that sugar concentrates into a sticky sweetness that clings to the chicken like nobody’s business.
Pro Tips
- Use a nonaluminum saucepan for the sauce. The acid in the vinegar and ketchup reacts with aluminum and can give the sauce a metallic taste.
- Don’t skip the broil at the end. Those 4 minutes per side under the broiler are what take this from baked chicken with sauce to legit barbecue.
- Watch it closely under the broiler. The sugar in the sauce burns fast. Stand right there and pull it the second the edges turn dark and bubbly.
Ingredients
Directions
In a large nonaluminum saucepan, melt butter over low heat.
Add onion and garlic, and cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
Add bay leaf, cola, ketchup, Worcestershire, mustard, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer sauce 1 hour, stirring occaisionally.
Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃).
Pour ½ cup sauce in bottom of a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish .
Arrange chicken peices skin side up in dish.
Spoon ½ cup more sauce over chicken.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Turn chicken, baste, and bake another 30 minutes.
Turn oven to broil.
Spoon ½ remaining sauce over chicken.
Broil until crisp, about 4 minutes.
Turn chicken over and spoon on remaining sauce; broil until crisp.
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