Spice Rub - Basic Spice Rub Recipe (2024)

This spice rub recipe is the perfect simple way to season your meat and vegetables. It’s also super easy to modify our spice rub to create all different flavors!

This spice rub goes well on just about everything! You’re probably going to look at the ingredients and say to yourself, ‘really?’ – But yes! Really! We like to use this spice rub on all types of meat and veggies. Some of my favorites arecrispy chicken thighs,broiled flank steak,roasted asparagus,roasted cauliflower.

Basic Spice Rub Ingredients

• Salt – a good coarse kosher salt is what you’ll want to use. Skip the tables salt, please! It will work in an absolute pinch but we definitely don’t recommend it.
• Pepper – just as with the salt, try to use a good fresh ground pepper, not the finely ground table pepper you find in the square spice tins. That’s still a thing, right? As you can see in the pictures, you want the salt and pepper to have some texture and volume.
• Garlic Powder -and in direct contrast to my recommendation on the salt and pepper – regular finely ground garlic powder is what you want for this! Make sure it’s not garlic salt, as you have already added your salt separately.
• Onion Powder – here too, regular finely ground onion powder is good. You don’t want to find chunks of dried onion in your rub, it will burn and taste off.

How do you use spice rub?

Spice rubs are traditionally used directly on a cut of meat shortly before it’s cooked. You rub a generous portion of the spice rub into the meat and then roast or sear it. I love to put it on steak or chicken and then toss the meat into a screaming hot cast iron pan with a little bit of oil. Yum.

You can also use spice rubs as a the base for a marinade! Add some oil, water, and a little acid like vinegar or lemon juice and whisk well. Then pour over your meat and allow to sit refrigerated for several hours.

How long will spice rub last?

Spice rub can stay good for several years. Just like when making salad dressings and marinades, you’ll want to look at the expiration dates on the individual ingredients. Most spices keep for a very long time, and while they won’t spoil in the sense that they will make you sick, they will start to lose their flavor.

Spice rub variations

• Chipotle spice rub – Add a teaspoon of chipotle powder for a smoky spiced flavor. Perfect on steaks and chops.
• Coffee spice rub – Add a teaspoon of instant coffee for a deeper more complex flavor. Great on beef or ribs!
• Cocoa spice rub – Add a teaspoon of unsweetened dark cocoa powder for a hint of dark chocolate flavor. Also great on beef!
• Brown sugar spice rub – Add 1/4 cup of brown sugar for a sweet rub, great on pork, salmon, and chicken.
• Ginger spice rub – Add a 1/2 teaspoon of ginger for an Asian style rub perfect on all meats.
• Curry spice rub – Add 1/4 cup yellow curry powder for an Indian flare – amazing on chicken and lamb.

More spice rub type recipes!

• Soy ginger marinade perfect for salmon
• Best ever lamb marinade
• Awesome shrimp marinade
• Ridiculously delicious flank steak marinade

Spice rub making tools

• Metal spice tins with clear lids– Pictured in this post! We absolutely love these tins. Not only are they stylish, but they’re practically sized and it’s great to be able to see inside them!
• Plastic Spice Bottles with Aluminum Lids– How pretty are these spice bottles?! The aluminum lid adds such a nice touch.
• Glass Spice Bottles and Vials with Corks– I officially want to put a cork in everything. You can’t help but love these gorgeous glass bottles.

How to make a basic spice rub

Try this on our smoked chicken legs recipe!

This spice rub recipe was originally developed in collaboration with the awesome SKS Bottle and Packaging, Inc. All recipes and opinions belong to Mama Loves Food.