I don't drink much soda, never have regular sweetened soda, and don't cook with soda, but I recently had some cola left after having visitors. I dug deep into the archives to pull out this delicious Soy-Cola Braised Pork, which I never forgot about, even though I made it a full 13 years ago.
My family won't let me put it aside again. Even without the sauce, my daughter was sneaking pieces of pork. I'm lucky I even got to finish the recipe!
The pork is tender from slow cooking, sweet from cola, salty from soy sauce, and tangy from hoisin sauce and rice vinegar. It's delicious as leftovers, and doesn't take much hands-on work to make!
My favorite way to eat soy-cola braised pork is over rice, but it would also be great on a bun as an alternative to traditional pulled pork.
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Ingredients
You'll need a pork shoulder, and a few other ingredients.
- Cola (name brand or otherwise)
- Hoisin sauce
- Rice vinegar
- Less sodium soy sauce
- Garlic and ginger
- Sesame oil
You'll want a pork shoulder or a Boston butt, something with plenty of fat that will stand up to long cooking times. Anything lean, like a pork loin, will become dry and tough and won't shred. I prefer boneless cuts overall, but bone-in will also work. 3 pounds is the right size for my 3.5 quart slow cooker.
Yes, I have Coca-Cola here because that's what we had leftover, but use whatever you'd like. The important thing is that it is not diet soda. Artificial sweeteners will degrade when exposed to heat, and won't taste very good. You need the sugars in the soda for the recipe to work. It's ok if the soda is flat; in fact, this is a perfect recipe for flat cola!
Hoisin sauce is a sweet and salty Asian condiment. It's thick and savory, and there's not really a substitute for it. Some, but not all, brands are gluten-free. You can find it in grocery store international food aisles; I bought mine at Target most recently. This recipe will take about half a bottle; you can use some of it in my Spicy Pork with Asparagus.
Rice vinegar is slightly less acidic than standard white distilled vinegar you may have already. I don't like vinegar overall, but I like how mild rice vinegar is. Rice vinegar is easy to find at grocery stores, but if you don't want to buy some, substitute a tablespoon of white vinegar for it for braising, and add more to taste when reducing the sauce.
You must use less sodium soy sauce for this recipe. Regular soy sauce will make your sauce entirely too salty. Some brands of soy sauce are wheat-free, if you'd like to make this recipe gluten-free.
Garlic and ginger round out the flavors; jarred or frozen is fine.
Sesame oil adds a great flavor to the sauce at the end, but is optional. If you have some, though, you can make my Steak Salad with Lime and Cashews!
Instructions
TL:DR version: First you braise the pork; then, you separate the pork from the liquid, discard the fat, and reduce the sauce. The original recipe from Cooking Light magazine braised the pork in the oven and used some kind of messy method to separate the fat. I hated this. So now I do it in a slow cooker over two days, which makes the recipe more hands off, with less mess.
Day 1
- Remove the pork shoulder from its netting (if it's in twine), and place in a 3.5 quart slow cooker. Add the cola, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, less sodium soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. Cook on low for 8-10 hours, until the pork can be broken apart.
- Place the pork in a container. Transfer the liquid to a separate large container, like a 4-cup measuring cup (affiliate link); I highly recommend using a mesh strainer (affiliate link) to strain out any extra fat or meat. Refrigerate both overnight.
Day 2
- The next day, remove the solidified layer of fat from the braising liquid. You'll have about 4 cups liquid total.
- Pour the liquid into a 1.5 quart saucepan. Heat it over medium-high to high heat, and bring it to a boil.
- Once it comes to a boil, reduce it by half, to about 2 cups. Give it a stir every now and then to be sure nothing sticks. Yes, it will spatter and make a mess.
This process can take 15-30 minutes, depending on the range temperature. The sauce will still be thin, not thick like barbecue sauce.
- Stir in the sesame oil if using, and add the shredded pork in the sauce. (Discard any liquid that may have been in with the pork, as it will dilute the sauce.) Reheat the pork gently, for 5 or 10 minutes, until everything is warm.
Serve immediately. I prefer mine over rice! It would also be nice as a soy-cola pork sandwich with a nice, fresh slaw.
Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for a few days. They're great as a weekday lunch!
Top Tip
Be sure you reduce the sauce enough for your taste. Mine seemed a little soupy, but the pork soaked most of it up, and it was delicious over rice. If you're eating it on a bun, you will likely want the sauce thicker; aim for 1.5 cups sauce when you're done.
Recipe FAQ
Yes. Soy-Cola Braised Pork was originally a one-day recipe. The pork was seared on the stovetop, and then braised in a 300F oven. I converted it into a slow cooker recipe for 2 reasons. First, I prefer to braise in a slow cooker, which can be left unattended. Second, fat is much easier to separate from liquid when it's refrigerated overnight. You can make this in one day if you have a surefire method of separating the fat, but I find it to be tedious, messy, and not worth it.
By removing the fat, we get rid of calories, which I assume was one of the reasons Cooking Light magazine included it as a step. But as a practical matter, removing the fat makes for a tastier sauce for this pork. Removing the fat is very easy to do when the liquid is separated from the meat and refrigerated.
You can boil the sauce on high heat, and try using a wider saucepan; both should speed up how quickly the sauce reduces. Since you strain out the solids with a mesh strainer, the chance of anything scorching on bottom is low.
However, the time you cook the sauce is very hands-off. Use that time to shred the pork, prepare sides, or clean your kitchen; that's what I did. Just be sure to set a timer if you walk away from it, so you don't reduce the sauce too much.
This recipe is gluten-free if you find gluten-free hoisin sauce and gluten-free soy sauce. Not all brands are, so check the ingredient labels.
You could easily do the Day 1 slow cooker prep, and then refrigerate the items separately for up to 3 days before finishing the sauce and combining it with the pork. Leftovers also last for a few days in the refrigerator. I believe that the prepared, sauced pork would also freeze well in a freezer bag with the air removed, although I've never tried it.
If you can only find a larger pork shoulder, you should be able to easily double the recipe. The biggest concern will be if a 6-quart slow cooker would hold all of the liquid. Only add partial quantities of the braising ingredients to start, and then add the rest if there's room. If you can fit most of the sauce ingredients, add the cola last; it will be okay to hold the remaining cola to add to the sauce the next day when you reduce it.
If you double the ingredients for the recipe, the sauce will take longer to reduce to half, so factor that into your cooking time.
The first time I made this, I tried to use a zipper bag to separate the fat from the liquid; it burst open, and all my sauce drained away. The pork was delicious, but dry without the sauce. If you want to try to use less sauce, you can drizzle it over the pork when serving, instead of mixing it together.
Other Asian-inspired recipes
Here's some of my other favorite Asian-inspired recipes!
Interested in other recipes? I save and share recipes I like or want to try on my Pinterest page - follow me there! You can also check out my Facebook page for more recipes and helpful tips. I'm also happy to try to help troubleshoot my recipes there.
Have you tried this recipe? Or have a question about it? Rate it or leave a comment below! (PS: rating my recipes helps other people find them, too!)
📖 Recipe
Soy-Cola Braised Pork
Equipment
- 3.5-4 quart slow cooker
- Mesh strainer (affiliate link)
- 4-cup measuring cup (affiliate link)
Ingredients
Day 1
- 3 ½ pounds pork shoulder
- 2 cups cola (454 grams/16 ounces)
- ½ cup hoisin sauce (160 grams)
- ¼ cup rice vinegar (60 grams)
- ¼ cup less sodium soy sauce (60 grams)
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger (from about 1 inch stem)
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
Day 2/To Finish
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil (14 grams)
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
Day 1
- If the pork shoulder is in netting, remove the netting. Place pork in a 3.5-4 quart slow cooker. Add the cola, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, less sodium soy sauce, ginger, and garlic.
- Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, until the pork breaks apart easily.
- Transfer the meat into a container. Pour the braising liquid into a 4-cup measuring cup (affiliate link) or other large container. (I recommend using a mesh strainer (affiliate link) to catch little bits of fat and meat that won't be pleasant to eat.) Refrigerate both overnight.
Day 2
- About 1 hour before you'd like to eat, reduce the sauce.
- Remove the fat from the top of the cooking liquid. It will have solidified in the refrigerator and should be easy to remove. Put the liquid in a 1.5 or 2 quart pot.
- Bring the liquid to a boil over medium high heat. It takes mine 10 minutes to begin to bubble. Once it simmers steadily, let it reduce by half, to about 2 cups of liquid. This takes mine around 30 minutes from when it starts to boil. Give the bottom a stir once or twice, just to be sure nothing sticks.
- Meanwhile, reheat the pork gently so that you can break it apart and shred it. If you have a lot of liquid mixed in with the pork, try to discard it; it will dilute the sauce.
- Even when the sauce reduces to 2 cups, it will be thin - not a barbecue sauce consistency. Reduce it more if that's what you're after. Otherwise, stir in the tablespoon of sesame oil.
- Add the shredded pork. Heat with sauce on medium low for another 5 minutes, stirring often, until everything is warm and the pork is well coated. Add black pepper to taste.
- Serve the pork with rice and cucumbers, or on a bun for a fusion pork sandwich. Leftovers will keep for a few days in the refrigerator.
Notes
[Originally published December 31, 2011. Completely rewritten and revised, with new photos, on July 8, 2025.]
Leona Konkel says
This recipe is so easy, I'm really not sure why it took me so long to make it again. My husband and daughter really loved it - my daughter so much that I almost didn't get the chance to finish making the sauce! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.