3 rubs for meat – all you’ll ever need!

3 rubs for meat – all you’ll ever need!

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

My husband and I like to smoke and barbecue a lot. We started out with a little smoker from Canadian Tire (a lot like this one Smoker) and we put it to good use! Friday we upgraded to a large barrel Char-Broil Oklahoma Joe Smoker
My husband spent Friday and Saturday putting it together, sealing it and seasoning it; getting it ready for Sunday where we celebrated a belated birthday for my mom and an early Mother’s Day. The menu for the lunch was as follows:

Drink: 
“Mom”mosa!
Rub

Appetizer: 
Citrus-Honey Grilled Shrimp
Rub

Main Event: 
Applewood Smoked Ribs with All Purpose Rub
Smashed BBQ Potatoes
Black Bean and Corn Salad with Chipolte-Honey Dressing
Rub RubRub

Dessert: 
Lavender Cupcakes with Honey Frosting

Rub

I will share all of these recipes down the road, but for today I want to focus on the rub for the ribs. Most of the time when we barbecue or smoke meat, we will use a rub. We experimented with spices for rubs mostly inspired by the amazing book Smoke!

We basically have three staple rubs that we use now; one can be used on any meat including fish, chicken, pork and beef, but we especially love it on pork; the second is fantastic on beef; and the last is perfect for chicken. Here are the three rubs that you can make from your spice cabinet and are the only three rubs you’ll ever need!

3 rubs that we use and you should too:

Rub
Print

General All Purpose Rub

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp sea salt
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp paprika
  • 2 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp oregano
  • 1 tbsp pepper
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp dried marjoram
  • 1 tsp dried parsley
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp dry mustard powder
  • 1 tsp celery seed
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne powder
  • 1/2 tsp ground fennel

Instructions

  1. Mix all spices in a bowl.
  2. Rub meat with spice rub.
  3. Left over rub can be stored in an airtight container, in a cool, dry place.

Recipe Notes

Great with any meat - but perfect for pork!

Rub
Print

Coffee Rub

These are the same ingredients from the BBQ Beef Coffee Cure from the book Smoke, but we changed the portions to more coffee, sugars, paprika and cumin and less cayenne.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup ground coffee we use a dark roast
  • 1/2 cup chili powder
  • 1/3 cup smoked paprika
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1.5 tbsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne powder

Instructions

  1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
  2. Rub meat with spice.
  3. Store left over spice in an airtight container, in a cool, dry place.

Recipe Notes

Great with beef!

Rub
Print

Chicken Rub

Also inspired by Smoke. This rub is great for chicken and white fish like tilapia.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp sea salt
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 1 tbsp ground corriander
  • 1 tbsp ground celery seed
  • 1 tbsp dry mustard
  • 1 tbsp white pepper
  • 1 tbsp onion powder
  • 1 tbsp dried marjoram
  • 1 tbsp ground rosemary
  • 1 tsp tumeric
  • 10 dried bay leaves crushed

Instructions

  1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
  2. Rub bird or fish with spice.
  3. Store left over spice in an airtight container, in a cool, dry place.

Recipe Notes

Awesome with poultry or white fish.

The whole dinner was awesome and my parents enjoyed everything! We are giving the smoker a raving review; we are in love with it and will be smoking as much as we can this summer!

For the ribs we used applewood for the smoke and we basted the ribs every 20 minutes in an apple juice and all purpose rub mixture. They. Were. Excellent. 

Do you have a smoker? Do you make your own rubs? What are you doing for Mother’s Day next weekend?

Comments are closed.
Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial