Cola Chicken Wings (Ke Le Ji Chi)

The story

Every Chinese student's first dish and every parent's trump card with picky kids — now a TikTok phenomenon with hundreds of millions of views. The science is real: cola is sugar and acid, and reduced with soy sauce it makes a mahogany glaze that mimics a slow braise. There is no cola taste at the end, only shine.

Ingredients (6 + pantry staples)

• Chicken wings, split at the joint — 2 lb / 900 g
• Regular cola — 1 can (330 ml)
• Soy sauce — 3 tbsp
• Garlic — 3 cloves, smashed
• Ginger — 3 slices
• Scallions — 1, sliced

Pantry staples used (don't count toward the 6): cooking oil. Not stocked yet? See the pantry page.

Steps

1. Brown the wings in a dry-ish pan over medium heat, 6–8 minutes, until golden on both sides (they render their own fat).
2. Add garlic and ginger for 30 seconds, then the cola and soy sauce.
3. Simmer uncovered 15 minutes; raise the heat for the last 3–5 minutes until the sauce coats the wings like lacquer.
4. Scallions on top. Watch people lose their minds.

Swaps

Drumsticks work (add 5 minutes). Diet cola does NOT caramelize — this is the one recipe that needs real sugar. A peeled hard-boiled egg thrown into the sauce is the insider move.