My mixture of savoury spices is the best dry rub for ribs. The combination of paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, and coconut sugar culminate in a seasoning that crusts onto ribs during cooking and infuses them with some smokiness. While it is wonderful on pork and beef, it is great on chicken as well.
How to Make the Best Dry Rub for Ribs
If you are not a cook by nature, you will love the fact that this rib rub doesn't involve any cooking at all. All you have to do is mix coconut sugar with paprika, sea salt, ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon each onion and garlic powder, and cayenne pepper until combined. However, if you don't like heat, you can feel free to leave the cayenne out. A small whisk is a perfect tool to blend the sweet and savoury flavours together, but you could use a fork as well. I tend to like a whisk because it ensures the ingredients blend together thoroughly.
Coconut sugar is a wonderful sweetener because it has a lovely coconut taste with a hint of caramel. It is also more nutritious than regular white sugar in that it isn't just empty calories. In fact, it contains minerals like potassium, zinc, calcium, and iron, along with inulin fiber. As a result, coconut sugar also has a lower glycemic index than white sugar, meaning that it won't cause your blood sugar to spike as quickly.
If you don't have coconut sugar on hand, you could substitute it with muscovado sugar instead. It is a type of cane syrup that has a similarly complex taste to coconut sugar. It is brown with a hint of molasses and equally wonderful in this rub recipe for ribs.
The Importance of Using Fresh Spices
When you are making something as simple as this rib rub, it is crucial to ensure that you are using the best ingredients possible. This means utilizing spices that are fresh and robust in taste. Older spices may be pale in colour, cake together, or be dull in flavour. On the other hand, fresh ones will have a bright hue, loose consistency, and huge flavour.
Several components can influence the freshness of your spices, such as light, humidity, and oxygen. The key to ensuring your spices stay fresher longer is to limit their exposure to all of those elements. You should keep them in a sealed container and in a dark area like a cupboard rather than exposing them to air and sunlight.
Generally, under the proper conditions, both whole and ground spices should stay fresh for up to 2 years. However, always use your nose and eyes to determine whether they will still provide you with the impact you want in your dishes.
How to Use This Dry Rub for Ribs
As with most spice blends, a rib rub recipe can simply be sprinkled on your favourite foods and enjoyed as is, such as on fries, eggs, or freshly popped popcorn. However, similar to many spices, the flavours tend to intensify when used in cooked applications.
I like to use this dry rub in my Instant Pot BBQ Ribs Recipe. In this dish, I rub the ribs generously with the seasoning before cooking in the Instant Pot. You can cook the pork ribs right after seasoning or allow them to marinate with it for a minimum of a half-hour to a total time of overnight. The dry rub recipe gives the ribs a tremendous depth of flavour that makes them incredibly addictive. If you are a bbq sauce person, though, feel you could layer on some bbq sauce on the rack of ribs in the last moments of cooking, though.
How to Use This Dry Rub for Chicken
If you prefer, you could use this rub for chicken rather than ribs. I use it in my Instant Pot BBQ Chicken recipe, which is basically saucy full-flavoured pulled chicken. Similar to the Instant Pot ribs, you coat the chicken in plenty of the dry spice rub before cooking in a pressure cooker. Afterward, you shred the chicken into fine pieces before mixing with BBQ sauce and piling on buns with coleslaw or spooning over rice.
How Long to Store Dry Rub for Ribs
This dry rub makes up a relatively small amount, but if you would like to have some available to use on a whim, feel free to scale up the batch to fill a jar. As with your other spices, you should store the mixture in an airtight container like a sealable jar and store it in a dark cupboard in between uses.
If you are starting with freshly purchased spices, you can expect the mixture to keep for up to 2 years just fine. However, if you are beginning the recipe with spices that have already been in your pantry or cupboard for a while, you will want to keep an eye on the mixture to ensure you use it while it is at its freshest.
Other Spice Blend Recipes You'll Love:
Recipe
Best Dry Rub For Ribs
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon brown sugar or coconut sugar (I use muscovado sugar)
- 2 tablespoon paprika powder
- ½ tablespoon sea salt
- ½ tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper optional
Instructions
- In a small bowl whisk together all ingredients of the rib dry rub.
- Ready to use right away. Leftovers can be stored in a jar on the spice rack for several months.
Pin for later?
Random Questions
Allow the dry rub to sit on the ribs for at least 30 minutes to overnight for optimal flavor. Marinating longer enhances the depth of taste.
While not necessary, using a binder like mustard or oil can help the dry rub adhere better to the ribs.
The 3-2-1 method involves cooking ribs for 3 hours unwrapped, 2 hours wrapped in foil, and 1 hour unwrapped to achieve tenderness.
A light coating of mustard or oil on the ribs helps the dry rub adhere, ensuring a flavorful crust during cooking.
Leave a Reply