How to Make Cola Chicken Wings
Estimated Cooking Difficulty: ★★★
Essential Ingredients and Tools
- Chicken mid-joint wings
- Cola
- White sugar
- Light soy sauce
- Salt
- Ginger
- Cooking wine or beer
- Scallions
Measurements
For 1 serving:
- 10 to 12 chicken mid-joint wings
- 500 ml of cola
- 10 g of white sugar
- 15 g of light soy sauce
- 3 g of dark soy sauce
- 2 g of salt
- 2 slices of ginger
- 20 ml of cooking wine
- Scallions tied into a knot
Instructions
- Place the chicken wings in a pot and cover with cold water. Add 1 slice of ginger and 10 to 20 ml of cooking wine. Bring to a boil over high heat (approximately 2 minutes), then skim off the foam and drain the water.
- This step is for frozen or chilled chicken wings. If using freshly bought wings, you can skip this and directly score them with a knife and marinate them with light soy sauce.
- Remove the chicken wings. You can score both sides of each wing with a knife. Marinate the wings with about 10 g of light soy sauce for 10 minutes (ensure the soy sauce fully coats the surface of the wings for flavor absorption).
- Heat a small amount of oil in the pot over low heat. First, stir-fry the remaining ginger slices until fragrant, then add the marinated chicken wings. Fry the wings until golden brown, flipping them over (until both sides are golden). Use a spatula to turn the wings a few times, stirring them together with the ginger slices for 4 to 5 times (this prevents the wings and ginger from sticking together).
- Once the wings are golden, pour in the cola to cover the wings. Bring the cola to a boil over high heat, then skim off any black foam (which includes blood residues). At this point, add the scallion knot.
- Seasoning: Add 2 g of salt, 10 g of white sugar, and 3 g of light soy sauce to taste (you can add a small amount of dark soy sauce, about 3 g, for color).
- When the scallion knot turns yellow, remove it along with the ginger slices. Continue to simmer the cola chicken wings over medium-low heat.
- When the sauce thickens and becomes syrupy, reduce the heat to low to ensure the sauce clings firmly to the wings. Remove from heat and plate.
Additional Tips
- Adding ginger and stir-frying it until fragrant helps prevent the chicken wings from sticking to the pot.
- When reducing the sauce at the end, do not use high heat to avoid a bitter taste.
- This dish is on the sweeter side.
If you encounter any issues or have suggestions for improvement while following this guide, please submit an Issue or Pull request.