When it comes to barbecuing, choosing the Best BBQ Dry Rubs is crucial. Whether you make your own or buy one from someone else, it’s one of the most important factors in determining the flavor of your meat, with only a sauce (if you chose to make a wet barbecue) having more influence.
To that end, I’ve compiled a list of some of the best qualities of BBQ Dry Rubs and why they’re so good. Unlike many other items, determining what constitutes a good BBQ rub is a bit more subjective. What creates a nice flavor is entirely up to personal choice.
As a result, the list below focuses on providing you with a wide range of taste profiles to pick from in brands that employ high-quality ingredients.
Top 7 Best BBQ Dry Rubs Reviews
1. Killer Hogs The BBQ Dry Rubs
Because the rub doesn’t have a strong flavor, it’s easy to blend with other spices. It’s fantastic on its own and in combination with other flavors. This easy, adaptable rub has everything I seek in an excellent BBQ rub.
Sugar, paprika, salt, chili powder, orange peel, garlic, onion powder, dill weed, and turmeric, along with a few additional components for color and mild taste, are all simple ingredients. This imparts a wonderful, sweet flavor to the basic BBQ rub, which goes well with a variety of meats, particularly pork and various types of ribs.
The hot version of this rub has fewer sweetening substances to give the other ingredients more of a fiery bite. Both are attractive and, as previously said, easily customizable.
Pros
- For a reasonable price, a pair of large shakers
- Simple, mostly natural tastes that go well with most meats and are simple to change.
- It has a pleasant flavor that is not overbearing.
- Granules that are thick and simple to rub.
Cons
- While the absence of powerful taste is appealing for blending with other items, other people who desire an all-in-one spice may find it less tempting.
2. Traeger Grills SPC174 Seasoning and BBQ Rubs
Unlike the Killer Hogs BBQ rub above, this one has a distinct flavor of its own, which I enjoy
It comes in a stackable metal container that does a great job of keeping the rub fresh and aromatic for a long time.
Cane sugar, salt, paprika, dried apple, onion, chili pepper, honey, a few more spices, and natural binding agents are among the components (maltodextrin and corn starch).
Whatever you put on it gets a really lovely, yet unmistakably sweet flavor. The apple flavor is mild yet perceptible behind the other flavors, and it goes well with a variety of meats. While initially designed for chicken, Traeger discovered that it works well on just about everything.
This is definitely my favorite taste on the list, albeit it’s a little more difficult to adapt and blend with other spices than the others, so it gets a tiny ding. It has a distinct sweetness and apple flavor, which significantly restricts your seasoning possibilities (adding dill, for example, would be ill-advised).
Pros
- The flavor is pleasant and apple-like.
- The metal container is stackable and keeps spices fresh for longer.
- Ingredients that are kosher and non-GMO.
Cons
- The distinct apple flavor is great, but it makes it tough to change or add to the dish.
3. BBQ BROS RUBS Ultimate Barbecue Spices Seasoning Set
This is a fantastic package of three distinct Southern-style BBQ rubs. Although I prefer Carolina-style rubs and sauces, all of these are tasty and savory in their own right, and they work well with other dry rubs and sauces.
The Carolina rub is straightforward, consisting of salt, paprika, garlic, onion, and red pepper, as well as a few other basic spices. It has a wonderful spicy bite to it that I enjoy, but it may be too hot for some; some people believe the heat overpowers the natural flavors of the meat.
All three are really good, and when combined, they provide three terrific starting points for cooking any type of meat.
The Memphis style rub, a wonderful sweet rub with salt, paprika, brown sugar, a bit of red pepper (powder rather than flakes this time), and basic spices, is probably what most people think of when they think of BBQ rubs. This one has a sweeter, more subtle flavor that fits with almost anything.
In many respects, the New Orleans-style rub is similar, but it includes garlic and onion in addition to the more traditional paprika, salt, sugar, brown sugar, red pepper, and silicon dioxide. Apart from the silicon dioxide, I like this one; for the most part, I prefer it to the Memphis style.
Pros
- For a reasonable price, you get a great variety of three useful spices.
- Shaker bottles of a reasonable size.
- Great tastes that may be used for a multitude of applications.
Cons
- Some folks may find the Carolina-style rub to be too hot.
- Although silicon dioxide is theoretically safe to ingest, it is an unwanted ingredient in the New Orleans rub.
4. Bad Byron’s Butt Rub Barbeque Seasoning BBQ Dry Rubs
Despite its amusing moniker, this BBQ seasoning is serious business. It’s a tasty Southwestern rub with a variety of pleasant tastes and a naturally smokey character.
Salt, black pepper, granulated onion, granulated garlic, paprika, and chipotle powder are among the ingredients, with microcrystalline cellulose serving as an anti-caking agent. It’s a fantastic blend, and with a few simple tweaks, it may produce a great blackened seasoning. It’s inherently savory rather than sweet unless you want it to be sweet (brown sugar works well with this rub’s flavor).
You also get quite a bit of this rub for a very affordable price, a fantastic-sized 26-ounce bottle for a low price. It’s versatile and works well with a variety of meats, but a pig in particular (this rub is made, as the name implies, for Boston butt roasts and makes an excellent flavor for pulled pork sandwiches). We’ve compiled a list of the top pulled pork recipes.
This one has a great flavor and texture, and its adaptability cannot be stressed, considering that it’s prepared with simple, natural ingredients that go with practically anything.
Pros
- Excellent smokey taste.
- Subtle and adaptable to different flavors.
- Sweet rather than savory.
- For the price, it’s a big bottle.
Cons
- Chipotle is amazing with pork and chicken, but not so much with beef.
5. Plowboys Yardbird BBQ Dry Rubs
This is a fantastic rub for chickens and other birds. It’s fairly tasty, with a few characteristics that don’t work well with other meats but bring out the inherent flavor of the barbequed chicken.
You’ve got a great combination of salt, sugar, chili pepper, paprika, dried garlic, dehydrated onion, celery seed, mustard seed, and a few more blended spices, as well as some fake tastes that are comparable to MSG.
For some, the last point may be a deal-breaker. MSG and other chemical additions aren’t necessarily harmful, but they can’t be considered natural flavoring, and some individuals have a sensitivity to them, making them quite unpleasant to consume.
That’s really the deciding factor; it’s a great, extremely delicious rub that I’d suggest for any poultry dish if you don’t mind the chemical additives. If you don’t want to have chemical additives in your meals because of sensitivity or simply don’t like them, you’ll have to pass on this one.
Pros
- The chicken taste is quite good.
- Excellent color.
- A good-sized bottle at a reasonable price.
Cons
- Chemical additions are palatable, but some people find them unpleasant (or even inedible) due to personal choice or sensitivity.
- Pork, beef, and other meats have a different flavor characters.
6. Applewood Smoked BBQ Awesomeness – Rub & BBQ Seasoning
This all-natural BBQ rub is really tasty and pairs nicely with a variety of tastes. With a lot of sweets on the ingredient list, this rub is obviously sweet, but it’s still tasty.
This time, the ingredients are relatively straightforward: smoked paprika, chipotle powder, chipotle flakes, black pepper, garlic, onion, granulated honey, and smoked applewood sea salt.
That latter ingredient is the true star here, providing a distinct apple flavor and a pleasant light undertone to the rest of the spices, which are mostly muted save for the chipotle powder and flakes, which steal the stage.
That may put off some who aren’t fans of chipotle flavor or don’t want it on the bulk of their barbecue, but if you enjoy a bit of apple flavoring with your Southwestern flare, this is a great rub.
For what you receive, the pricing is also a little high. This jar contains just 7.1 ounces of barbecue rub, however, it is reasonably priced. It’s not outrageously costly, but a little excessive considering the container’s size. Those all-natural elements come at a significant cost.
Pros
- Ingredients are all-natural.
- Granularity is excellent.
- Delicious, sweet taste.
Cons
- Extreme sweetness mixed with a unique chipotle flavor may not be to everyone’s taste.
- Natural ingredients are fantastic, but they raise the cost.
7. Slap Yo Daddy BBQ Dry Rubs
Other tastes, such as “Jailbird Chicken,” are allocated. But this is my favorite because it uses cumin, one of my favorite underappreciated seasonings.
With sea salt, cane sugar, maple sugar, granulated garlic, chile, paprika, and cumin, as well as a few other spices, you get a beautiful balance of tastes. Unfortunately, this rub is far from natural, since it contains a number of fillers like soy lecithin.
Despite this, it tastes really excellent and goes with just about anything. It works well as an all-purpose rub on whatever type of meat you choose to try it, and it adds a pleasant flavor to whatever you’re cooking.
It’s particularly good for producing pulled meats, such as Mexican pulled pig, which already calls for cumin.
The primary issue here is the cost; “name brand” rubs come at a premium, and I’m not convinced it’s worth it in this situation. It’s certainly nice, but not so amazing that I’m willing to pay a premium for it. The reality is that any rub isn’t worth purchasing if it costs more than making it yourself, and this blend falls into that category.
Pros
- Excellent taste.
- The color is nice.
- The bottle is rather large.
- Cumin pairs well with a variety of dishes.
Cons
- It’s much too expensive for what it is; it’s cheaper to make your own without the extras.
We are a veteran-owned business that manufactures all of its goods in Wisconsin.
To feed our own families, we’re dedicated to using only the best foods.
All of our products have excellent flavor and are free of added sugar or additives.
We proudly support Fisher House Wisconsin, Operation Homefront, and other Veteran charities, and we donate a part of our profits to the veteran community.
Pros
- We are unified by service and motivated by taste.
- Made from a blend of sugars and all-natural components, the attractive, delicious bark hints spice towards the finish.
- This seasoning is equally adaptable and works well as a dry rub applied to meats before cooking to add flavor to any meal in place of salt and other spices.
- Easy to use.
Cons
- A bit too spicy for people who cannot eat spicy food.
Lillie’s Q – Carolina Dirt BBQ Rub
This sugar-based rub gets its name from the Carolinas’ red clay-colored soil. This mixture is all you’ll need for slow-cooked ribs and pork, but it also tastes amazing on fries. Gives a mixed flavor of different spices and enriches the flavors.
Pros
- Easy for all kinds of meats
- It also can be used for frying
Cons
- Packaging is sometimes disturbing
Blackstone BBQ Seasoning Bundle
Blackstone is included in this package. 9.6 oz. Whiskey Burger, 7.4 oz. Tequila Lime, 7.3 oz. Parmesan Ranch, and a recipe card with the ThisNThat logo.
Everything is fantastic with beef, pig, chicken, and vegetables! A wonderful fusion of smoke and whiskey gives BLACKSTONE Whiskey Burger Seasoning its authentically rustic flavor.
The BLACKSTONE Parmesan Ranch combines aged parmesan with tangy ranch. To improve any cuisine, authentic tequila and lime tastes are combined in BLACKSTONE Tequila Lime Seasoning.
Pros
- A perfect blend of smoke and whiskey for a true rustic flavor
- Combines authentic tequila and lime flavors to enhance any dish
Cons
- A little bit spicy for those who cannot take spicy food.
How to Apply a Rub:
Barbecue aficionados are notorious for obsessing over little things. What could be easier than rubbing a barbeque rub on your meat? There’s a little more to know than you would think.
Here are Some Pointers to Think About:
- Use one hand for the rub and the other for the meat (but not that flesh!). To avoid cross-contamination, wear a latex glove like the one seen below.
- While most store-bought rubs may be shaken, they are prone to becoming clogged, particularly in humid conditions. A good adjustable rub shaker is something we like to utilize (which is also super useful when you make your own rubs).
- The most common mistake is applying too much rub. You want to slather layer after layer of rub on the meat.
- A lot of it boils down to individual taste. Nothing beats practicing and refining your skills as you go.
What to Think About When Buying and Using Rubs
Commercial rubs can contain a lot of salt. Because it’s inexpensive and heavy, several major producers utilize it to cut costs rather than improve flavor. Use caution when using salt-based rubs, such as seasoning salt. Salt and sugar are used sparingly in a good rub to improve the flavor of the other components rather than merely to add weight.
Also, sugar burns at 375°F (190°C), so if you intend on grilling meat or poultry for a lengthy amount of time at or above that temperature, a sugary rub will burn and become bitter.
If you intend on finishing searing any meat, such as chicken, on the high side of your grill, be cautious of this.
What’s the secret to getting the rub to cling to the meat? Some individuals rehydrate the components by allowing the moisture from the meat to retain the rub in place. Others employ a “glue” such as olive oil or mustard.
Experiment to find which approach works best for you, and be sure to read our guide to appropriately applying dry rubs, which includes when to apply, how much to apply, and more.
Conclusion
I hope this list of the Best BBQ Rubs above has assisted you in finding the correct rubs for your preferences. Even while they share many similar components, each has its own distinct flavor profile. Before you apply it, try a small amount of the rub on its own. That way, you’ll know how sweet, salty, or spicy it is before adding other ingredients or mopping it with a sauce at the end.
Have I forgotten any of your favorite rubs? Let me know what you think and which rub or seasoning you prefer.
Grilling success!
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