Put 7Up in Your BBQ Sauce

The first BBQ sauce I ever tasted came from McDonald’s. I immediately liked it for its sweet and smoky tanginess, though I had none of the language to describe its flavor profile at the time (I was five). Since then, I have met very few BBQ sauces I didn’t enjoy, and just as few that blew me away. Then I tried Filipino barbecue chicken, inihaw na manok, which calls for 7Up in the marinade.

Unlike the 7Up-spiked recipes that were popular around the midcentury, this chicken is shockingly balanced and not at all cloying. The sweetness of the soda is tempered by tangy vinegar, salty soy sauce, woody bay leaf and savory garlic and black pepper. When it hits the grill, the sticky sauce reduces into a shiny, lacquered coating—thank you, corn syrup—with lots of charred bits to punctuate the citrusy soda pop.

And this marinade isn’t merely stirred, it’s blended to extract as much flavor as possible. Chuck the ketchup, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, bay, peppercorns and a little salt into a blender, then whirr it up until well combined and the bay leaves are broken into tiny bits. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, then stir in the soda.

You can use this marinade on white or dark meat, but I highly recommend getting some thighs into the mix. Maximize the surface area available to the sauce by making slashes about ½ inch deep through the skin and meat, so it can really get down in there. (It also helps speed up the cooking). 

Both gas and charcoal work fine for this recipe, though you might have to do some futzing with the gas to figure out the best burner configuration. On my 4-burner propane grill, I found that turning the two outer burners to high and leaving the two in the center turned off resulted in the most even cooking.

The marinade doubles as a basting sauce, but there are a few things you have to do to it before you get to brushing. First, you have to strain out all the little gritty bits of peppercorn and bay leaf—no one likes a gritty sauce. Next, bring it to a simmer and reduce it down to a cup—this step helps to eradicate any harmful bacteria, but it also drives off excess water so the sauce will cling to the meat and get nice and glossy.

Make this chicken for your first BBQ of Grilling Season. You will be hounded for the recipe. As far as sides, stick with the classics—potato and pasta salads, corn in some form, preferably grilled. If you need inspiration, we have a lovely collection of Picnic Salads, featuring grilled potato salad, the easiest shredded carrot salad, and a pasta salad takes inspiration from Mexican esquites. Continuing with the lime theme, this Chili-Lime Melon Salad would be right at home next to a plate of tangy-sweet lemon-lime chicken.

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Claire Lower

Claire Lower is the Digital Editor for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, with over a decade of experience as a food writer and recipe developer. Claire began writing about food (and drinks) during the blogging boom in the late 2000s, eventually leaving her job as a lab technician to pursue writing full-time. After freelancing for publications such as Serious Eats, Yahoo Food, xoJane and Cherry Bombe Magazine, she eventually landed at Lifehacker, where she served as the Senior Food Editor for nearly eight years. Claire lives in Portland, Oregon with a very friendly dog and very mean cat. When not in the kitchen (or at her laptop), you can find her deadlifting at the gym, fly fishing or trying to master figure drawing at her local art studio.