Coca-Cola Is The Secret Ingredient That Totally Elevates Your Burger

If your burgers are missing something extra, you may want to head to the fridge and pop open a cold can of cola. While it may primarily be a soft drink, it's also something of a secret powerhouse in the world of grilling. 

The sweetness of the soft drink does a good job of permeating through your ground beef and giving flavor to your meat. Your finished patties may have a slightly sweet taste that should pair well with the heartiness and saltiness of the meat. The mixture adds complexity to what may have been an otherwise simple meal. But, cola also helps solve one of the big mistakes of grilling hamburger meat — accidentally drying out your burgers. The added moisture from the soft drink makes for a juicy final product. 

Additionally, cooking with cola gives the meat a nice crispy crust and caramelization. Due to the Mallard reaction, the high sugars from the cola will provide an outer layer that you might not have gotten otherwise without the risk of burning the burger. From both a taste and texture perspective, cola performs double duty in improving the quality of your meat, making for a burger you wouldn't mind sinking your teeth into.

If you're the type of home cook to turn your nose up at using a soft drink in cooking, you should know the practice is becoming increasingly common. In fact, Coca-Cola even has its own recipe on how to use its product to cook a burger. In addition to the soft drink, Coca-Cola suggests combining French salad dressing into the mix to create a marinade. The idea behind this concept is that the tanginess of the dressing will help balance out some of the sweetness of the cola, leading to a more well-rounded burger.

However, the company is far from the only one to put its spin on the cola burger. In fact, feel free to experiment and figure out what works for you. While it doesn't have its own recipe, Pepsi wants consumers to consider its soft drink product for cooking, as well. Although, it's worth noting that the rival soft drink is slightly sweeter than Coca-Cola, so that may affect your finished product.

For maximum flavor, consider letting your patties soak in the cola for an extended period. Due to its acidic nature, cola will help tenderize the meat.