As you begin your grilling journey, you will notice that several recipes will call for using meat rubs or seasonings to give your meats flavor prior to cooking. Finding the most flavorful meat rub can be one of the easiest ways to level up your cooking and grilling game.
Whether you’re looking to use it as a seasoning or a rub, there are many different types of meat rubs and seasonings available. Whether you’re looking for a barbecue rub, a cajun seasoning mix or a chili seasoning mix, there are many options available to you.
We typically recommend buying a few that sound interesting to experiment with. Making rubs at home is far more economically, but it requires buying spices in bulk, so the first time purchase can be a little daunting. Montreal Steak seasoning is very popular, as is Meat Church if you are smoking meats.
Making Rubs at Home
You can also make your own meat rubs at home using spices and other ingredients. Just be sure to read the instructions that come with any seasoning mix so that you know how much to use and how to prepare it. This will ensure that your recipe produces the best results possible.
Let’s start with old faithful. Didn’t have a chance to go to the grocery store and buy a rub, or ingredients to make your own? No problem. Take a look at what’s in your spice rack, and you can likely make due with the ingredients that you already have.
Meat Rubs and Seasonings Ingredients:
- Salt
- Pepper
- Garlic Powder
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Brown Sugar
- Paprika
As you can imagine, the most common seasoning will be salt and pepper. No matter what you’re cooking, whether it’s chicken, fish or steak, you can never go wrong with adding some S&P prior to cooking your meals. If you’re smoking pork shoulder, here’s our homemade rub recipe.
Feeling a little adventurous? Try adding in other ingredients that you have in the house to spice up your next meal. In addition to rubs and seasonings, adding smokey flavor to your cooks is another great option. Check out our smoking wood flavor profiles.
Rubs for Smoking Pork, Chicken and Brisket
Depending on the meat, there will be slight variations to rubs that match the foods that you are cooking. Overall, in our experience, you can’t go too wrong when seasoning a piece of meat for smoking. And who are we to tell you what to put on your meat! Often times for pork and ribs, you’ll notice a lot of the rub recipes will include paprika, this will help give your pulled pork or ribs that red color that you see at the restaurants.
Meat Rubs for Smoker & Grilling
If you’re new to grilling and smoking, we’d recommend by starting out purchasing seasonings and rubs online or at your local grocery store. You’ll also find them at hardware stores, or wherever grilling products are sold.
Once you find a rub you like, one of the most cost efficient things to do is to read the ingredients. You can buy these in bulk and either hand mix, or gentle pulse in a food processor to get the desired seasoning.
A few rubs we’ve tried and enjoyed:
- Pork: Stubb’s Pork Rub
- Ribs: Famous Dave’s Seasoning Rib Rub
- Steak: Killer Hogs Steak Rub
- Chicken: SuckleBusters Clucker Dust BBQ Rub for Chicken
We started buy purchasing the different meat rubs. Once you understand the ingredients, what pairs well whether you’re cooking a steak, or smoking a pork shoulder, you’ll be on your way to finding the taste that you love and creating your own rub. There’s also nothing wrong with saving time and buying your favorite product.