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Mountain Dew, 7Up, Coca-Cola, and other soft drinks are timeless thirst-quenchers, but their high sugar content and acidity makes them ideal additions to recipes. The sugar sweetens sauces and marinades, while the acid tenderizes meats. The carbonation in soda can also serve as a leavening agent, giving cakes a tender crumb and making batters light and crispy. Here, 15 clever recipes that put soda’s components to good use.
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Perfect Marinated Chicken Breasts
The secret to super-tender chicken breasts? Sprite! “I used ginger ale instead of lemon lime soda since that’s what I had,” says Celena Pankhurst Shaw. “Also I baked it at 400F for about 45 min. It came out moist and delicious!!”
Sweet Simmered Pork Chops
Simmering thick pork chops in Dr. Pepper, barbecue sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and black pepper makes them tender and flavorful. If you prefer a thicker sauce, mix a flurry of corn starch and water into the mixture before pouring it over the pork chops.
Frosted Pistachio Cake
This Bundt cake is made with yellow cake mix, club soda, and pistachio pudding mix. If you’re not a fan of pistachio, the recipe works with any flavor of instant pudding, according to Allrecipes community member TheRecycleChef.
Roasted Soda Can Chicken
This riff on oven-baked beer can chicken involves baking the chicken on a can of lemon-lime soda, which gives the bird subtle citrus flavor and makes the meat tender and juicy. “This turned out great, but I did add a bunch of other seasonings & I used Sprite Zero,” says reviewer Jenn M. “Will definitely make this again and again.”
Easy Orange Glaze Duck
“This was such a good recipe! Was a little hesitant about the orange soda, but it turned out perfect. Definitely a keeper. Thank you for the recipe.” —watsonmelis
Old-Fashioned Vanilla Ice Pops (a.k.a. Pop Pops)
Old-fashioned Vanilla Ice Pops—made with water, cream soda, sugar, and vanilla extract—are the perfect treat for warm days. “OMG!!!!!” says locograndmom. “Haven’t had these since I was a kid, used to love them and can’t find them anymore. Recipe is great, thank you!”
Fruity Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Pick up your choice of fruit-flavored soda and jam for this five-ingredient pork tenderloin recipe (Allrecipes community member Kris Schultz likes black cherry soda and plum jam). “Excellent!” says Terri Frank Ramseyer. “The best and easiest pork tenderloin recipe I have ever found! I have also used the marinade for chicken breasts. They are great. I usually marinate them the night before, and they turn out great!”
Lemon-Lime Cupcakes
Allrecipes community member platinum designs makes these six-ingredient treats for a cupcake business. The secret to the light and moist cake is lemon-lime soda.
Orange-Pineapple Ice
“We really enjoyed this, but used 2 liters of soda (about 8 cups, or a half gallon). It made 3 quarts of the ‘ice.’ Since the soda foamed up as I added it, I started adding a bit at a time and stirring/folding to reduce the carbonation. BTW, we also used fat-free condensed milk and diet soda. Came in at 52 calories and no fat for a half cup serving.” —THYMEFORME
Bourbon Baked Beans
Bourbon and Dr. Pepper inject canned baked beans with rich notes of vanilla and caramel, while half a pound of bacon gives the dish plenty of meaty flavor. “Amazing and beautiful keep getting asked to make them over and over,” says reviewer FairCrisp8283.
Easy 7-Up Biscuits
“A little sticky, but a lot of Bisquick or flour helps. Fluffy, easy-to-make biscuits that are delicious with honey. I did have to cook them a little longer than the suggested time.” —Myron
Instant Pot Dr Pepper Pulled Pork
Allrecipes/Julia Hartbeck
Pork tenderloin soaked in Dr. Pepper simmers in the slow cooker to produce the perfect fall-apart tender protein for sandwiches. Be sure to buy your favorite barbecue sauce for the three-ingredient recipe.
Country Apple Dumplings
DOTDASH MEREDITH FOOD STUDIOS
“I’ve made this twice now… First time with Granny Smith apples, and just recently with fresh peaches instead. Both ways were so delicious! I served it warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and was a BIG hit with the family.” —Viva Margarita
7Up Cake
This cake is so good, one Allrecipes reviewer made the easy recipe four times in seven days. You can make a glaze out of confectioners’ sugar to drizzle on top, but many who’ve made it say the citrus-zinged masterpiece is delicious on it’s own.
Crispy Cider-Battered Chicken Fingers
While sparkling apple cider isn’t technically soda, it has similar properties! The carbonation helps self-rising flour become a light and crunchy batter for chicken and fish.