This is a basic barbecue rub that goes great on chicken or anything really! With only 6 ingredients that you already probably have in your pantry, you can easily make this dry rub.
It's grilling season people and this year I am all about upping my grilling game.
I want to work my way through some ideas of barbecue rubs, sauces and marinades. Give you a good solid core of grilling basics that you can turn to time and time again.
I'm starting with this basic (but delicious) chicken dry rub. I am calling it a chicken rub, simply because it's really basic and I used it on chicken. You could also use it on beef, pork, or seafood!
I revisited my Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken and instead of using the rosemary garlic marinade, I used this dry rub. Delicious!
Ingredients
Kosher Salt - I use either Morton or Diamond Crystal. I prefer Diamond Crystal for my everyday cooking, but since it's so difficult to find, I use Morton's for brines and rubs.
Cayenne Pepper - I bought a new jar and I couldn't believe how faded the pepper in my old jar was!
Coarse Ground Black Pepper - you can grind this yourself, but I like to keep a jar handy for whenever I need large amounts.
Paprika - this is one where you definitely want to buy as big a jar as you can. Most rubs use lots of paprika!
Chili Powder - I have all sorts of fancy chili powders in my spice cabinet, for this one, I use just a plain chili powder.
Brown Sugar - I had light brown sugar in my pantry so that is what I used.
Instructions
Measure:
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Place all the spices in a bowl and whisk to combine.
That's it, you've just made an easy (and delicious) chicken rub!
This was so good!! This recipe makes enough to easily cover one chicken. I might have actually gone a little heavy handed with it.
But it was still so good! Added the perfect sweet and spicy flavor to the chicken. Perfectly balanced.
I dry rubbed the chicken when I took it out of the fridge to come to room temperature. You can use also use the dry rub more like a marinade and rub it in up to 12 hours before grilling.
For even more flavor, you can lift up the skin and apply some of the dry rub directly on to the chicken meat. So much yum!
More barbecue rubs for you to try:
Recipe
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Chicken Rub
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
- Store in a lidded jar in your pantry.
Robert Tanious says
Is this pretty spicy? I’m using it for bbq grilled chicken but don’t want it to be too spicy
Pam Greer says
I don't think so, but if you are concerned, you can use less cayenne.
Angela says
This rub would be great on so many things! I can't wait to make some more!
Amy Desrosiers says
I love a smokey flavored chicken and know these would be perfect for achieving those results. I can't wait to try it on some grilled chicken pieces.
Luci says
I love how simple and easy this rub is. I have everything already and can't wait to try it on my chicken tonight! I know everyone will love it!
Alisa Infanti says
I used this rub for some shrimp skewers last night and it was delicious!
Ana F. says
I'm definitely making a small batch of this delicious rub! I can almost taste that chicken thru my computer! The combo sounds amazing! Thanks Pam for the recipe