Add A Can Of Cola To Your Crock-Pot For Unforgettable BBQ Chicken

Making chicken in the slow cooker is super convenient. You set it, forget it, and by the end of the day, you've got a protein-packed meal at the ready. Sometimes, however, chicken in the Crock-Pot can get a tad bland — but there is one fantastic thing to jazz it up. The benefits of adding a can (or bottle, if you're fancy) of Coca-Cola into meat- and poultry-based dishes is twofold. First, the acidity of Coca-Cola brilliantly tenderizes meat (it has a pH level of about 2.37 — similarly acidic sodas include Pepsi and Dr. Pepper). Second, the soda's sweet flavor can work nicely alongside your favorite BBQ sauce, especially as it cooks down and becomes concentrated when the liquid begins to evaporate from your slow cooker.

The process is pretty simple: add a can of cola, raw chicken, some BBQ sauce (store-bought is totally fine, or you can make a simple three-ingredient BBQ sauce recipe at home), your go-to seasonings, and you're done. Once you get a taste of cola-infused Crock-Pot BBQ chicken, you'll wonder whether it's even possible to make it better. Spoiler alert: it totally is, and we've got you covered. There are some ways you can improve further upon the near-perfection that'll be waiting for you in your slow cooker. 

While throwing the base ingredients together can work perfectly well, there are also some variations you can take to bring out the flavors of the BBQ sauce and cola even further. If you want your BBQ chicken to taste reminiscent of a summer cookout, you might want to try adding a little bit of liquid smoke to the mix. The distinct smoke flavor plays well with the sweetness of both the BBQ sauce and the Coca-Cola. Another option: try going half-and-half with Coke and another highly acidic soda, like Dr. Pepper. It's actually pretty smart to keep Dr. Pepper on hand as a part of your BBQ arsenal — using the soda to spike BBQ sauce can help boost the flavor of ribs and other grilled meats.

We get it — once you smell Coca-Cola BBQ chicken in your kitchen, you'll likely be standing at the slow cooker eating it with a fork (we're not here to judge). While you certainly can enjoy the good stuff on its own, there are a few different ways you can make it even more delicious. If you're making pulled chicken sandwiches, you might want to opt for a sweeter bread to play up the sweetness that the cola brings to the chicken (King's Hawaiian are a great fit, and Aldi also has a dupe of the beloved rolls for about half the price). No matter how you decide to elevate your recipe, starting by adding a can of Coke to your slow cooker adds sweetness, flavor, and just the right amount of acidity to create unforgettably tender BBQ chicken.