Soy-Cola Braised Pork
A delicious, Asian-inspired recipe made easily in the slow cooker. Refrigerating the liquid and meat overnight means you can easily and cleanly remove excess fat before reducing the sauce.
Servings: 9
Calories: 506kcal
Equipment
- 3.5-4 quart slow cooker
- Mesh strainer
- 4-cup measuring cup
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 or other large container. (I recommend using a mesh strainer 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
You can make this in a single day if you braise the pork in the oven and have a method to remove the fat before reducing the sauce, but I always make this over 2 days in a slow cooker. Refrigerating the liquid separately from the meat allows the fat to solidify at the surface, making it easy to discard.
This sauce is thin, for mixing with the pork. It is not a barbecue sauce consistency.
Use a boneless pork shoulder, Boston butt, or boneless country style ribs. You need something fatty that can cook for hours. Do not use anything lean, like a pork loin.
You can use a generic cola. The soda can be flat; it won't affect the cooking. However, DO NOT use diet soda, as the artificial sweeteners will degrade with heat, and it won't taste good.
Hoisin sauce is an ingredient in Asian cooking. It can be found in the international food aisles of grocery stores; Target also carries it.
Rice vinegar has lower acidity than distilled white vinegar. If you don't have rice vinegar and don't want to buy any, substitute 1 tablespoon of white vinegar during the braising process. Add more to taste when reducing the sauce.
DO NOT use regular soy sauce. This sauce is a little salty even with less sodium soy sauce; regular sodium soy sauce will be entirely too salty.
Sesame oil enhances the Asian flavors in the dish, but skip it if you don't have it.
Calorie count calculated in MyNetDiary and is an estimate only. My family was hungry, so we got 9 large servings out of this recipe most recently; 12-14 servings would be more in line with nutritional guidelines. I expect that the calorie count will be less in practice since you separate out some of the fat from the pork.
Adapted from Cooking Light.
Revised and rewritten 7/8/2025.
Nutrition
Calories: 506kcal
