The Ultimate Dry Rub
This is the only Dry Rub recipe you will ever need. It’s a great Dry Rub for ribs, for chicken, brisket, chicken wings, and more. Use this dry rub on any meat that you’re grilling, smoking, or cooking in the oven. It’s quick, versatile, tastes amazing and made with a simple ingredients.
Try this rub on some baked chicken wings, when grilling your favorite steak, or even on sided dishes like grilled potatoes.
DRY RUB
Dry rubs are a wonderful way to infuse a lot of flavor into the meat. What is a dry rub? It’s very simple, dry rub is a combination of spices, herbs, and sugar. Basically, it’s dry ingredients and spice ingredients mixed together for coating and flavoring meat.
When making a homemade dry rub, it’s best to incorporate all taste elements like sweet, savory, and spicy. All three elements combined together make a flavor explosion for your taste buds.
When it comes to sweet, the best base is brown sugar. I often use dark brown sugar for an additional molasses flavor, which comes out even more when the dry rub starts to caramelize in heat.
For heat, I find cayenne to be the most complimentary of the other spices. If cayenne is not available, you can get the heat from chili powder. The reason I prefer cayenne is that it adds a good amount of heat without overpowering other flavors like chili powder tends to do.
All other ingredients are savory flavor additions. Start with the must-haves like salt, black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Then we add a few more layers of flavor from aromatic herbs like cumin and coriander.
When it comes to paprika, which is a big and important ingredient in a dry rub, I prefer to go with smoked, especially if I’m making meats in the oven. If I’m cooking on a grill or in the smoker, I can easily use regular sweet paprika since there will be plenty of smokey flavor coming from the grill.
HOW TO USE DRY RUB
Dry rub is used on meats to get a lot of flavor into the meat without having any additional sauces or meats. Even though you can always add a glaze or a sauce after the meats have been cooked, it’s absolutely not necessary with a dry rub.
It’s incredibly simple to make and use as well. In just a few minutes and a few shakes, you will have this amazing aromatic combination of spices ready to be applied to the meat.
Once dry rub is mixed, spread it in a rimmed baking sheet or a large bowl, whichever fits the meat you are using best. Add meat and generously rub it all over with the rub, getting every nook and cranny, while massaging the dry rub into the meat.
For many meats, like chicken breasts, brisket, or pork, I prefer to rub it and then refrigerate it overnight or even up to 12 hours. This will give the meat extra time to get as much flavor out of spices as possible.
Refrigerating the meat is not a necessary step, it just adds so much extra flavor. Rubbed meats can be cooked right away if there is no time to let it sit in the refrigerator.
TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST DRY RUB:
When possible, use the freshest ingredients. Spices tend to lose their aroma and flavor after the jar has been open for 9 months. Use fresh spices and grind some fresh herbs like black pepper and coriander. (If you don’t have a spice grinder, you can also use a small coffee grinder.) Herbs are so much more aromatic when freshly ground.
It’s best to quickly mix fresh dry rub right before using it but it can be prepared ahead of time and used at a later date.
If planning on grilling the meat with dry rub on it, it’s best to not cook it right over direct heat but off to the side from direct heat. Direct heat will burn the dry rub versus caramelizing it.
HOW TO STORE DRY RUB:
For the best way to keep dry rubs fresh, use a zip-lock freezer bag and store it in the freezer. Get as much air out of the bag as you can before sealing it.
You can also store dry rub for up to 6 months in an air-tight jar in a cool dark place or in the refrigerator.
Make sure to date and label the bag or the jar.
SOME MORE GREAT RECIPES TO TRY:
The Ultimate Dry Rub
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 4 tbsp smoked paprika can substitute regular paprika
- 2 tbsp coarse salt
- 1 tbsp ground black pepper
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Combine all spices and herbs in a bowl and mix very well. (You can also combine it in a jar with a lid, close the lid and shake well to mix.)
- Dry rub can be used right away or stored for up to 6 months.
- To use: spread mixed dry rub in a rimmed baking sheet or a large bowl, whichever fits the meat you are using best. Add meat and generously rub it all over with the dry rub, getting every nook and cranny, while massaging the dry rub into the meat.
- To store: For the best way to keep dry rubs fresh, use a zip-lock freezer bag and store it in the freezer. Get as much air out of the bag as you can before sealing it.(You can also store dry rub for up to 6-months in air-tight jar in a cool dark place or in the refrigerator.)
Notes
Nutrition
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
I used 3 tbsp of Hungarian paprika and 1 tbsp of smoked paprika when I made this for a n Easter brisket , it was A huge hit at the table. I’m going to try it on rib next .
What a good idea to use Hungarian paprika! I am so glad you liked it!
is the sodium correct in the nutrition list – 13,998mg ??
If I have an 11 pound beef brisket how many servings of this rub should I use?
Absolutely Delish. This has got to be the best rub. I made baby back ribs, put the rub on and marinated them in the fridge overnight. This rub is so delicious, you don’t even need BBQ sauce.
Wow! Thank you for such a nice compliment! I am so happy you like the recipe, Nancy! 🙂
The rub sounds delicious. All other recipes I’ve seen use a lot of liquid when making their brisket in the oven. You don’t and I was wondering why? I want to make brisket for our Christmas dinner. Any advise you could give me would be appreciated.
Thank you
This is the best dry rub ever! I think the smoked paprika really sets it apart. I have always used a similar recipe and almost didn’t even try it. I’m so glad that I did. I can’t wait to try it on other meats!
I am so glad you gave it a try and like it! 🙂
I also use this rub as a marinated. I take about 2-3 tab. Of rub and add to 1/4 of oil in a ziplock bag and mix together then add chicken to it and put in refrigerator overnight or at least an hour then grill meat.
For my ribs I use this rub as a dry rub. I rub my ribs then wrap in foil then refrigerator overnight in morning I put them into my crockpot (leave them wrapped in foil) for about 6 hours. Drain grease and unwrap meat then put on grill and add some BBQ sauce grill about 10 minutes. Yes this is time consuming but well worth it.
Hi Gloria,
I am so glad you like it! Thanks for all the great tips I will give them a try!
Hi Lyubab,
I love this rub on everything. Meat, potatoes, even some roasted veggies. My question isn’t about the rub, I’d like to know where you got those cute wire bail jars? I just love those. Thanks so much.
Kris
Hi Kris,
I am so glad you like the rub so much! You can buy similar ones on Amazon like these ones
https://www.amazon.com/1-6-Ounce-Airtight-Odor-Proof-Canisters-Containers/dp/B074QPS6HQ/ref=asc_df_B074QPS6HQ/
Thank you so much. I never even thought of Amazon. Sheesh!
Kris
Your so welcome, Kris!
What is the cup volume of this rub mixture – I would like to try your brisket recipe but my brisket is 11lb and it calls for 1.25cups of dry rub.
Thanks
Hi Keri, this makes about a cup so I would double the recipe and store the leftovers in an airtight jar or container in a cool place.
Hey! I’ve used this dry rub on beef before and it has been absolutely delicious.
I am coming now to ask whether it can also be used on pork? I just got a pork shoulder joint, and all the pork joint recipes I’ve found online have barely any seasoning.
Yes, I like this rub on a pork shoulder! I also have a sister site with a great recipe for a pork shoulder that you can find at the link below
https://grillingsmokingliving.com/smoked-pork-shoulder/
I notice on that recipe, you say to use a smoker. Is it possible to follow it in an oven instead?
Hi,
Yes, you can definitely do it in the oven instead! Just remember to be generous with salt fist to give it extra flavor, you can rub with salt overnight and then add the rub the next day but I would use less or just omit the salt in the dry rub if you do salt overnight. Let me know how it turns out!
Well, I’ve already got a wee jar of dry rub prepared, so I’ll rub a little bit of the coarse salt into the meat beforehand.
I also noticed that the cooking time for your recipe is 7 hours, although the recipe itself is more based on temperature. Since I’m relatively new to cooking these delicious recipes of yours, is there a standard time for cooking the pork per kg/lb, or would it be best to check the temperature every half hour or so?
Love the recipe, have used it different times.
Hi, Barb! So glad you love it! Thanks for taking the time to tell me and for rating my recipe! 🙂
I love this dry rub and use it on everything! It’s delicious!
Thanks, James!