Name: Johnny's Spice Rub
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon garlic powder; 2 tablespoons ground black pepper; 1 tablespoon salt; 1 tablespoon mustard powder; 1 tablespoon chili powder; 1 tablespoon ground cumin; 1 tablespoon brown sugar; 4 tablespoons ground paprika; ½ teaspoon dried oregano

This is a good general barbeque rub! Sprinkle or rub onto ribs, tri-tips, steaks, chicken or whatever meat you desire! Let rubbed meat sit at least an hour before cooking.

Johnny's Spice Rub

garlic powder

black pepper

salt

mustard powder

chili powder

cumin

brown sugar

paprika

oregano

In a small, nonporous bowl, combine the garlic powder, ground black pepper, salt, mustard powder, chili powder, cumin, brown sugar, paprika and oregano. Mix well and apply to meat.


I mixed this up just as directed and was so pleased with it I'd do so again in a heartbeat.  This is an absolutely outstanding all-purpose spice blend that will do anything you use it on a favor.  I used it tonight on "Bacon Wrapped Barbecue Shrimp," recipe also from this site, but I won't hesitate to use it on just about anything.  This was truly excellent.

This is a very spicy rub and was on the edge for me; the men in my family all loved it. They are asking for more and again! When I make this again I will definitely cut the cumin wayyyy down. I used this on baby back ribs. I rubbed them down, sealed them in foil and threw them in the fridge for two days. I then threw them into a 350 oven for 2 hours. The meat was so tender it was all but falling off the bone. Great tenderizer! The ribs were good as is but we elected to go ahead and wet them down with barbecue sauce. Old habits die hard. I was a bit heavy handed with the rub and next time will use sparingly. This is a good rub and not your typical sweet, bland seasoning salt. This is an officially awesome rub that separates the men from the boys.

I've made this twice, and its great! I mix all the powders and put it in an extra herb shaker that I've emptied, then shook the rub all over country western pork ribs......let it marinate for a few hours and let it set on the counter for an hour to come up in temperature. Then I steam them for an hour and when I'm ready to go, I grill them with a little sauce on them (I've used both barbecue and caribbean jerk sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings) Both times they came out excellent! I will always have this on hand, especially during grilling season! :)

We rarely grill without it!!  We keep a big container in our spice cabinet.  It gives a sweet spice to steak and pork.  It also darkens the outside which gives it more of a charred look for gas grills.  Sometimes we'll add olive oil to the meat after applying the rub so the flames jump up and sear it.  Wonderful.

I have to agree with other reviewers the cumin taste in this is way too strong.  I halved it and still felt it was over powering.  If I make again I will quarter it.  I also havlved the chili power, but didn't find the rub had much spice so if I use the remaining rub I will add more.  I used the rub on steaks.  They did have a lot of flavor and were tender and juicy, so it has potential if you cut the cumin back.

Made this exactly as directed...rubbed on sirloin steaks and left to sit in fridge all day....WONDERFUL...reminded me of Applebees.  Won't cook steaks without it now!  Thanks Johnny!

This is absolutely the best rub I have ever made myself.  I doubled the recipe and use it on every meat I cook.  Not just for grilled meats, I use it on all meats, baked, fried, etc.  The only thing I will do different next time is cut the salt back slightly so I can sprinkle it liberally.  This stuff is GREAT!

This is my new favorite rub for ribs.  I made some in the oven for Sunday dinner and everyone loved it and wanted the recipe.  I HIGHLY recommend it. My bro said he wants ribs every Sunday now......try it...it's delicious!!!!

We have tried this rub on a pork tenderloin, ribeyes, smoked turkey and a boston butt.  It is great on all of them - I highly recommend it.

I liked it, but it did have too much cumin.  Next time I will put 1/4 the cumin, otherwise the heat and spices were great!

This was a very good rub.  I used it on a whole chicken that I put on my rotisserie.  It gave the chicken a really good taste.  I want to try it on some steaks next to see if it's just as good.

I cut back on the salt and pepper a bit and increased the oregano a bit. We were supposed to grill chicken today but my husband is late today so I had to come up with a substitute. I tossed this rub in a cup of flour and coated my chicken legs in it, then fried it in hot vegetable oil, then baked it to finish it off and crisp it up a bit. HUGE hit, especially with my two boys. My youngest boy ate two chicken legs, which is huge for this kid who's pickier than any other kid I know. We loved it.

A great all-around dry rub.  Can be adjusted to suit your tastes.  Like others, I reduced the cumin -and left everything else the same.  Next time, might cut back on the black pepper, too.  Would make great little hostess gifts - put in a small glass jar with a 'Grub Rub' label.  Thanks for sharing!

Nicely balanced flavors make this rub a star!  I am glad that I doubled the recipe so I will have it on hand; I can imagine using it on various grilled meats and vegetables.  The only change I made was subbing smoked paprika for a portion of the paprika called for in the recipe.  Great!

Not sure if I rated this before, but I have to say that I have been using this "grub rub" recipe for years now, and it is my favorite dry rub!  Great for steak, chicken, everything!  Thank you, Johnny.

YUMMY!  I too cut the cumin way down (3/4 tsp).  Other than that, followed the recipe to a T.  Was amazing on chicken, thanks!

This was good, we skewered some large shrimp intertwined with bacon &amp; gave them a nice sprinkling of this rub prior to grilling. Personally I'd cut down a bit on the cumin but other than that it's a nice blend that the hubs wants to try on his next smoked pork project. Very good though not overly spectacular.

Family loved it! It made alot and I am storing in the freezer for future usage.

Outstanding! we loved it but on the ribs we used this with i put 1/2 black pepper and the other 1/2 red pepper and topped with sweet baby rays barbaque sauce .the ribs will melt in your mouth

smoked a pork roast with this as the rub and it turned out great.  My husband is now bragging about his cooking abilities.

This is a very good barbeque rub with room to modify the amount of spiciness or sweetness to suit your tastes. First, I scaled this down a quite a bit to serve for only two people plus, I did not want to make a whole lot not knowing whether or not my family would like this or not. They generally do not like anything remotely spicy. So what I did was add a little more brown sugar and went real light on the cumin, paprika, black pepper, and omitted the chili powder. I used this for a shrimp dish. This ended in a happy surprise for me as my family actually liked the blend of the seasonings. I was pleased that this worked out since I was hesistant when measuring the ingredients. As for me, I like the flavors, thou, I would and could have used some "more" spiciness to the rub. I am more delighted that I finally found a bbq rub that the whole family can embrace and enjoy over meats, seafood, etc. Thank you Johnny!

Really good.  I cut the serving size by half of that listed but ended up doubling the brown sugar . . . just because it sort of smelled strong, like I needed a little more sweet [what's an extra tablespoon of brown sugar anyway?].  I rubbed the mixture over a pork tenderloin and kept it refrigerated overnight.  Next day we grilled it and at the end of the grilling time mopped it with Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory and Brown Sugar bbq sauce.  It was probably the best pork tenderloin we've had and we're sort of picky.  Add to this, my husband is expert at knowing just how long to get a sear on the hot side of the coals and when to transfer the meat to the indirect side which makes for an incredible juicy cut of meat.  Try this rub -- I had extra and will definitely try on other cuts of meat.  Cheers.

Used this for a roasted chicken! very good.

We've used this rub for years and years.  It was so good we've added it to our emergency 72 hour kits so our dinners can have some spice.  It's the only thing we used on our deep fried turkeys and chickens!

Very good dry rub! I used it for my london broil and grilled it....awesome base. For the paprika, i used half smoked paprika and half regular paprika. I had let the rub sit on the meat for an hour and I can smell the strong cumin but after grilling, I didn't find it overwhelming at all...everything blended very well....thanks

I thought it was too spicy; my husband loved it. I did add oil so the rub would stick to the meat, and that may be why it was so spicy. I am going to use it again because it has a great flavor, probably just reduce the amount of rub on my steak.

this is sooo good! put it on country style pork ribs and frill them the whole neighborhood will stop by to see what smells so good! I've also made up batches of this rub and put them in pretty glass jars &amp; tie on a gingham ribbon . great hostess gift when your invited to a barbeque.

We have already used this a few times and I really love it.

This rub was great.   I didn't have the mustard, but used everything else.   I doubled the brown sugar to give it just a hint of sweet taste.    We rubbed down 12 thick pork chops and grilled them.  They were delicious!   This rub is spicy - might be a bit hot for younger children.  But my family loved it!!!   We served it with orange marmalade dip like Outback Steakhouse serves: 1/2 cup orange marmalade, 1 t. horseradish and 2 teaspoons stone ground mustard.  Mix together and refrigerate for a little while before serving.    It was perfect with the chops.  We definitely will use this rub again.

Two of us really loved it, the third really didn't love it.

I have a feeling that I applied far too much of the rub to the meat.  I wouldn't change any of the ingredients or proportions but I would certainly back off on the amount used.

I am one of those guys who loves flavour, flavour, flavour however I am realizing that a house doesn't have to fall on you for you to enjoy a recipe.

Use sparingly unless you want to eat alone.

Loved it!

This is the most versital rub I've found yet.  We all love it and I'm going to try to leave the salt out of one to see if it would suit my brother-in-law who is on a low-sodium diet.

This rub was excellent, my guy and I loved it. We used it on steaks, let the rub sit about 2 hours then grilled them up.  Being the first time I was using it, I did take the recommendations from other reviewers and cut the cumin to 1/2 a tablespoon. It is a great flavor with just the right amount of heat, do not let the strong smell fool you (not the burn your tongue so you cannot taste other things heat).  Where we enjoy spicy things I actually may add a bit more heat next time, and try the original measurement of cumin.  We will definitely be using this again!  Thank you for the recipe!

This rocks as an all-purpose seasoning, as well as a rib rub.

Combine with Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce and it's the best I've had.  Five stars!

Excellent rub. I did change two items.  I used granulated garlic instead of powder (more flavor) and reduced the black pepper to 1 Tablespoon.  Used it on a Tri-tip &amp; grilled on the rotesserie. Very juicy.  Will use it on chicken &amp; pork next.
Alex, Prescott, AZ

This just tated like I had thrown a bunch if cumin on the ribs---it was WAY to overpowering. Next time I may just omit it or cut down on it a little.

This is great on everything.  One exotic way to use it is on the Thanksgiving Turkey.  Inject strained Italian Dressing into the meaty parts, rub the rub all over the outside after patting the skin dry.  Then roast at 350 until done.

I took the advice of some others and cut the cumin way down. I think I used like 1/2 tsp. I did the same with the chili powder. My kids don't like spicy food. I also doubled the brown sugar. I cooked half the meat in the oven on low heat and half on the BBQ. They both were delicious!

Works well on moose tritip marinated for two days

"Johnny, Johnny!" Thank you for this rub recipe!
The frist thing my husband said when he saw the ribs was "where did you get those?" He thought I bought them.HA! And when he tasted them well....the next day he was still talking about them! Thank you! Joan

Absolutely great!! Had 7 couples over for a "home rib fest" and everyone loved 
the ribs! Thanks for an outstanding rub!

This is probably my favorite homemade seasoning blend to make.  I even use it on vegetables.

We Loved it!  What a nice alternative to a maranade!  It tasted just like a steak at a good steakhouse!  And I didn't even have any cumin, and accidentaly put in 1/2 tbsp of oregano instead of 1/2 tsp!  Oops! :)

AWESOME RUB! THANK YOU JOHNNY!I bought tri tips and had never made them before, I rub our tips and let them sset for half the day then grill them, even my 4 year old grandson liked it! after finding this recipe, I know I'll make more! And use this rub all time! Cheryl in WI

Loved this!  Used it on pork chops last night and rubbed some on a steak that is going on the grill tonight.  Great combo of flavors-and all things I had on hand already.  Also liked that it made enough for several servings..........cause we are definitely gonna be using this a lot this summer!

Thanks so much  -  finally someone to give you a perfect "rub". I added 1 Tbst cayenne, we love it hot.

I love this stuff!! I always have some on hand. I cut down on the cumin and chili powder as the kids prefer a little less spice.  Thanks for this recipe!!

wow.. just wow.. we used this on tri tip.. i ran out of paprika half way through so i used cayenne for the rest (we love spicy).. very food-gasmic.. we also grilled some corn on the cob.. cut the kernels off added a few shakes of the rub and some sour cream.. mmmmmm!  ty for such a versatile rub

Very Good!  I've used this on chicken and pork and both were delicious!

This is a fantastic rub, and so easy to make!  It was fabulous on roast pork, and I can hardly wait to try it on grilled chicken.  This is now a staple in my kitchen.  If you try it, you'll love it.

this is a general all around fantastic rub...i love it especially on pork ribs...

Very tasty. A good change from the usual spices I put on my steak.

Well, I'm impressed. I used this on country style beef boneless "ribs". I had my husband grill the meat for about 16 minutes and then served bottled bbq sauce (KC Masterpiece original) on the side. This rub was perfect for the sauce, the flavors went together nicely. This was very very good. My teen complained "too much paprika". I'd used Hungarian paprika instead, maybe that made a difference?  I wouldn't change a thing. This is definitely a keeper! Thanks Johnny!
UPDATE 07/10/2011: Excellent rub! I found this hidden in a ziplock baggie in my pantry and used it for a brisket rub that DH hickory smoked for several hours. This made the best barbecue in all of south Texas! Thanks!!!

This rub was so flavorful.....I put the rub on a pork butt that I let marinate in the rub overnight in the fridge. Next morning I placed it in the crockpot on low for about 9 hours, shredded up the meat(which just fell apart beautifully)and added about 3/4 bottle of KC Masterpiece, served on potato rolls. Family loved it....sorry I didn't make your sauce, pressed for time.....but the rub was outstanding and will use this recipe again.

Very good rub - I do have to agree that a little less cumin might be in order, but very yummy!  Goes well on any type of meat.

Absolutely delicious on steak! (Spicy and Tasty)

This was so good.  I loved it.  But my kids and husband thought it was too spicy.  Next time I will cut down on the cumin.  But otherwise, super yummy.

The rub is very tasty.  I have used it on steaks and just today used it on a roast for the crock pot.  

Rubbed this onto filets and grilled... Made the outside of the steaks crispy, excellent flavor...

Tasted great! Made enough rub for 12 pork chops. Made them on the grill, YUM!

I have done this rub on pork tenderloin and pork roast in crock pot with sauerkraut.  To do this cut the recipe in half, otherwise it would be too overpowering.  It really adds a lot of flavor.

I didn't have the dried oregano but the rub turned out fantastic anyway.  It held up great on the ribs throughout grilling and I didn't even need sauce on top.  I am so glad I found this.

This is a great rub...made from ingredients most people keep in their kitchens.  It's good on any meat and even the kids love it!

I have used this recipe in BBQ competitions several times -- have placed several times. It is most excellent, simple and easy to make up.

We always keep a batch on hand. We put it on burgers and I swear it is a copy cat of burger king's seasoning. It makes the burger!

Meh.... Chili powder overwhelms all the other spices.
I won't use it again

Delicious! This was an amazing spice rub. I mixed this up after reading another AR user comments for BBQ bacon wrapped shrimp.  I made this for as an appetizer for our Christmas dinner and sprinkled the spice rub over the shrimp then over the bacon. Delicious!!! I did it the cayenne pepper in half due to kids but next time I am going to make two batches, one spicy and one mild:) to use on steak and grilled shrimp.

This was good, wasn't anything "out of the ordinary" but was tasty.

This rub is a winner. Both my picky eaters ate chicken marinated in it. I diced the chicken, cooked it with diced onions and red peppers, and then rolled it up in tortillas. It was so good with sour cream!

This recipe is the best "grub rub" I've found. It's an excellent basic rub with great flavor and depending on how heavily it's applied can give a mild to spricy taste to chicken and pork. With the addition of some cayenne pepper you can "kick it up a notch" and really tingle your taste buds!!

Thanks Johnny! We made this to rub on a full size pork loin for our sons first birthday party. We wanted something different to impress the family and friends at the party, and this sure did! We did make one change since we had no oregano we used Mrs. Dash garlic and herb seasoning. This recipe was so delicious it gave the pork the perfect flavor. We will definitely use this recipe again! 

Even though we loved this rub the first time we tried it, I have waited to review it to see if it was as tasty on other meats and poultry. Much to my surprise it was great on everything! I entertain alot and cook for my living, and I can't even guess how many people have already asked me for this recipe!!

Having tried to develop my own dry rub over the years and experimenting around with different mixes, this one definitely hits the mark with flavor and simplicity

I was very hesitant about this recipe because I was missing mustard powder, chili powder, brown sugar and paprika. I used 1 tsp of cayenne to substitue for the heat of the chili powder and paprika and was afraid it would be too hot. I basted in mustard to sub for the powder and it helped the seasoning to stick, and I just used white sugar instead of brown. To my surprise, I got fantastic reviews. If this was good missing those ingredients, I'm assuming it'd be good when done correctly. I have to give it 5 stars for the praise it got me! The smoky cumin taste was a plus.

This is potent stuff and really packed some flavor into the ribs I cooked low and slow for 6 hours before applying BBQ sauce.  The rub and BBQ sauce went rather well together as the spice from the rub complimented the sweet and smoky sauce.  Recommendations:  there is some mouth tingle.  For less mouth tingle, perhaps cut the paprika and black pepper back by half.  Oh, I traded a tablespoon of paprika from smoked paprika, yum. Will make again, with a little less paprika and black pepper next time.  Good rub, will have to try on steak.

This was so good, I've made a batch for my spice rack. Great not only on beef but also on chicken.

There is love in this rub!  Delicious on our baby back ribs.  Makes quite a bit, too, enough for two racks well rubbed.  I prepared pretty much as written with exception of using celery salt in place of plain, and divided the paprika two TBSP sweet/two TBSP smoked.  Thanks for sharing your delicious recipe, tasty stuff!

I used this on steaks, and we didn't think it added much flavor.  We've tried rubs before and liked them, so I think this combination of spices just didn't do it for us.

Kids liked the idea, but family didn't care for the results. Sorry.

this is awesome! you didnt even need to use bbq sauce in addition to this rub. the 2nd time around we did brush on a bbq sauce during the last 10 mins and it was really really good!

Used this rub on Beef Briskit.  It was outstanding!

This is a great rub!  I used the entire batch on one whole chicken and grilled it.  If you don't like food that's real spicey, try half the batch. I can't wait to try it on ribs!

made it as the recipe, 1 change 1/2 the cumin.  Enjoyed it very much, will make more.

SO GOOD!  I used smoked paprika and it added a little bit of oomph.  We rubbed this on ribs and they were the best I'd ever tasted.  I've been looking for a long time for a good dry rub recipe...and this is it!

I mixed this up and rubbed it on a rack of baby back ribs. Then I left it sit in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap for about 4 or 5 hours.  Then I made the ribs. I thought this was excellent. My husband on the other hand, thought that it was too spicy. I also liked the idea of it making twice as much so you could save half or give half away for somebody else to try. I loved this recipe, and I am saving it.

This is so recommended. An absolute awesome Rub. 
From the measurements listed, I used this on 28 good sized chicken wings. Left them to marinade overnight in an airtight container.
The result after indirectly cooking on the BBQ, was the best wings we've had in a long time.

Theres a reason this rub is so highly rated! Its so easy but so good. I didnt have any paprika and added a touch more chili powder. It was very good but very spicy. I chose to use this on cubes of meat about 1.5in each. Dipped them directly in the rub and made a great side.

This is a great rub for ribs and chicken.  My family loves this recipe for the grill.  It's a standard for all our BBQ's.

Great all around rub for chicken or beef.  If you let it sit a few days, the flavors come together better.

Taste like all other spices, bland, not exciting and no taste different than other spices.. Would not make again.

This is just what i've been looking for!Last year I made it for an Anniversary BBQ and sent everyone home with a jar-people have been calling for the recipe eversince!It's great on veggies too!Thank you Thank you Johnny !

This is a great rub. I use it primarily for chicken and pork and it is great on both. Also works well for roasted vegetables too. Easy to put together and just store in a jar and use when needed. Quite spicy too!

Johnny's Spice Rub

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total: 5 minutes

Author : Johnny

Ingredients

Instructions

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