Recipes

Soda-Based BBQ Sauces: 3 Easy Recipes

Coke. Sprite. Dr. Pepper. Pepsi. Black cherry. Ginger ale. Cheerwine, a specialty of North Carolina. We serve these sodas at barbecues, and we love to drink them with our favorite brisket and ribs.

But did you know you can also use soda pop to improve the flavor of your barbecue? Yes, barbecue sauces based on fizzy soft drinks turn up all across Planet Barbecue, and whether they owe their popularity to the sweet-sour flavor dynamic or simply to the convenience and whimsy of using a carbonated beverage to flavor the meat, we can’t say. But soda is mildly acidic, and along with its sweetness it can help season the surface and encourage browning. In marinades and barbecue sauces, that sweet and tangy combo plays especially well with smoke. And the sugar in soda, providing you don’t use diet versions, promotes beautiful caramelization over the dry heat of the grill.

Best Sodas for Barbecue, Quick Picks

• Best all-purpose: Dr Pepper
• Best with ribs: Black cherry soda or Cheerwine
• Best with pulled pork: Cola
• Best with chicken: Sprite or 7-Up style lemon-lime
• Best for a spritz: Pepsi, Dr Pepper, or cola

Tip: For sauces and glazes, skip diet soda. The sweetener does not reduce the same way sugar does.

How to Use Soda in Barbecue

• Soda-based barbecue sauces
• Soda as a braising liquid
• The soda spritz

Don’t believe us? Just ask a Filipino grill master. Sprite or similarly-flavored 7-Up is an essential ingredient in many Pinoy barbecue sauces. (Check out Steven’s recipe for Sparkling Barbecue Sauce in his groundbreaking book, Barbecue! Bible. It’s terrific with pork (ribs, pork shoulder, chops, etc.) or chicken, adding a satisfying stickiness to the meat if applied near the end of the cooking time.

Soda-Based BBQ Sauces

Soda as a Braising Liquid

Soda pop is also terrific when used as a braising liquid. Venezuelans, for example, braise their pot roasts in Coke. Making our ultra-popular 3-2-1 ribs? Add a bit of pop to the ribs during the foiling stage (step 2), enough to come up the side of the ribs by about 1/3 inch. When you return the unfoiled ribs to the grill, reserve the flavorful braising liquid and add, if desired, to your preferred barbecue sauce.

The Soda Spritz

Then there’s the soda spritz. Start with a glass bottle of Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, or your preferred soda. Hold your thumb over the opening and gently shake the bottle. Point the neck at that brisket or rack of ribs on your smoker or pork shoulder on the rotisserie. Slide your thumb back just a bit: a thin stream of soda will squirt out, basting the meat with effervescent goodness.

Which brings us to barbecue sauces: One of Steven’s all-time favorites is the Coca Cola Barbecue Sauce published in Barbecue Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades. Developed by financial-planner-turned-pit-master, American Royal Champion Jim Budros, this distinctive sauce takes advantage of Coke’s sweet, tart, and spicy personality, aided and abetted by ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and a few other pantry ingredients.

Speaking of soda-based barbecue sauces, how about the following cherry soda barbecue sauce? It’s flavored with black cherry soda, whole Bing cherries, and cherry preserves. We love it with pork ribs.

Of course, the ultimate use of soda in barbecue might well be the soda can chickens in Steven’s latest book, newly re-released: Beer Can Chicken. We’re sure you’re familiar with chicken cooked on a beer can. Did you know you can use the same technique with cola soda, orange soda, root beer, and even black cherry soda?

Soda-Based BBQ Sauces: Frequently Asked Questions

Try It Next

• 3-2-1 Method Ribs
• How to Slice Brisket
• Beef Smoking Times and Temperatures
• Barbecue Tips for Beginners