Smoky BBQ Rub

Perfect for beef, chicken and especially pork, this Homemade BBQ Rub is what makes grilling so amazingly delicious. Just dig in!

We love this on grilled chicken, smoked brisket or pork ribs! It’s great on everything! Heck, I’d add it to roasted brussel sprouts or broccoli and it would be amazing! Ooh, and I totally need to do a salmon recipe with this rub too!

Why Make You’re Own Rub

In my opinion, rubs are a tastier alternative to marinating meat as they give a fuller flavor. We prefer to dry rub the meat so that it can get all flavorful before any BBQ sauce is even added. In fact, sometimes we enjoy meats dry because they are so good on their own.

Making your own seasoning blend is the best way to go since you can fine tune the ingredients to exactly what your palate is craving. Whether or not if you feel like having a sweet, spicy, or smoky flavor — or a mix of them all! — it is very easy to do when you start with the right base. It is great on meats that are smoked, grilled or roasted.

How to Make a Dry Rub

When creating any bbq dry rub, the base typically starts with your sugars and salts abd then you add spices for flavoring. 

Sugar

There are many different kinds of sugar (brown sugar, dark brown sugar, turbinado, regular refined sugar and so on) that will give you different flavors. Experiment to see what you like best, and keep in mind that it may be a combination of them as well.

Salt

There are a lot of different salts as well (kosher salt, sea salt, table salt…etc). We prefer kosher salt, but if you don’t have it, you can use table salt. See section below for the differences in salt.

Spices

After getting you sugars and salts picked out, move onto choosing how much and what kind of pepper to use, as well as the other spices that are typical among many rubs, like cumin, chili powder and paprika. Then, start adding in combinations of other spices to make it to your very own liking.

The best part about making a barbecue spice blend is that if you start with very small increments then it’s hard to screw up. When I first started playing around with how much to put in, I forgot to write down what I put in and how much, so don’t make that mistake :).

Here is one of our rub recipes that we really enjoy with any meat.

What’s in This Homemade BBQ Rub?

As I mentioned above, there are so many flavor combinations to choose from when creating a bbq dry rub. Here’s what we used in this particular recipe:

• Kosher Salt
• Brown Sugar
• Black Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Chili Powder
• Smoked Paprika
• Thyme
• Ground Cumin
• Nutmeg

NOTE: If you want to add some heat to this rub, add 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

The exact measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card down below so keep scrolling for all the details.

How Long Does Homemade Barbecue Rub Last?

This barbecue dry rub will last up to 2 months in your pantry. Keep it sealed in an airtight container. The molasses in the brown sugar may cause clumps in the barbecue spice rub, but that’s normal. Just break it up with a fork as much as you can.

Do I Have to Use Kosher Salt?

Technically, no. However, if you use regular table salt in place of kosher salt, you need to scale down the amount of salt you add to the barbeque dry rub recipe. Kosher salt flakes are larger than regular table salt flakes, so the same amount of kosher salt tastes less salty than table salt.

Ways to Use BBQ Rub

This BBQ dry rub can be used in so many different dishes! Here are a few easy ways to use it in your cooking:

• As a BBQ rib rub: Grilled Baby Back Ribs, Instant Pot Short Ribs, Traeger Smoked Ribs
• As a BBQ chicken rub: Grilled BBQ Chicken, One-Skillet BBQ Chicken & Potatoes, BBQ Instant Pot Whole Chicken, Smoked Chicken Wings
• As a BBQ brisket rub: Smoked Brisket, BBQ Brisket Nachos

Add a burst of flavor to your next summer barbecue and rock your taste buds with this smoky BBQ rub recipe. Perfect for ribs, chicken, beef, pork or veggies, this rub will take your grilling game to the next level.

More Homemade Condiment Recipes You’ll Love:

• Red Enchilada Sauce
• Taco Seasoning
• Classic Pesto
• Burger Sauce
• Pizza Sauce
• Authentic Salsa Verde
• Restaurant Style Salsa
• Nacho Cheese Sauce
• BBQ Sauce
• Ham Dipping Sauces
• All CONDIMENT RECIPES!