Last week I had chicken on the menu but didn’t know what recipe I was going to make. I had a 2 liter bottle of ginger ale going flat in the fridge and made a quick decision to marinate the chicken in a ginger ale mixture and grill it. Lo and behold my entire family liked it. Bribery was involved slightly because I promised that each of the kids could have a glass of ginger ale if they ate all their chicken. They were both rewarded with the drink and they both said that they liked the chicken.
So this weekend I asked my husband if we could try out Coca-Cola Chicken and he said “You might as well.” While that was not the enthusiasm I was looking for at least he wasn’t complaining. We all decided that we liked the Ginger Ale Chicken better but now I know that flat soda (pop) can be used for marinating chicken. The photo at the top is the Coca-Cola chicken and since the results look very similar I am grouping these recipes together.
Coca-Cola Chicken Marinade
- 4 oz Coca-Cola (half a can)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- Juice from half a lime
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Coca-Cola chicken marinade
Ginger-Ale Chicken Marinade
- 1/2 cup ginger ale
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1-2 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
Ginger ale chicken marinade
Mix the ingredients for the marinade in a glass dish and add 4 boneless chicken breasts. Poke the chicken a few times with a fork and place the bowl in the fridge for at least 3o minutes or up to 4 hours.
Grill the chicken until cooked thoroughly discarding the excess marinade.
The Ginger-Ale Chicken was very flavorful mostly because of the extra ginger added to the marinade. It was a hit with the whole family.
The kids didn’t need to be bribed to eat the Coca-Cola Chicken but they needed to have it seasoned with salt to eat it. I ended up making my Grilled Sweet Potatoes for my side dish and the honey-lime-ginger dressing from the potatoes seeped over to my chicken. That addition made it lovely but I still liked the Ginger Ale Chicken more.
Sounds like a great way to use up leftover/flat soda!!
My mom swears by Coke on her Easter hams, and I just picked up some pork to do a root beer pulled pork. I guess great minds must think alike, eh? : )
Root beer pulled pork eh? That sounds really good. Make sure you post that recipe.
Wow. Completely innovative. We’ll be trying the ginger ale chicken. We have a leftover 2 liter bottle from a bout with the stomach flu and no one seems interested drinking it!
That’s why we had the ginger ale too. Let me know how you like it.
I must try this out. I have used soda before by opening a can of coke and baking a whole chicken with the can in the chicken’s open cavity. It was good but a little too sweet for me. This sounds perfect. It looks grilled to perfection. Love your blog.