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My Spice Rub |  |
& Life-Changing House Seasoning
The all-purpose DIY spice blend I didn't know I needed ... until I couldn't live without it. It leans on five common spices you may already have in your spice collection (chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, dry mustard, a tiny touch of cinnamon) plus a little cocoa powder, sugar, salt and pepper. It's savory not sweet, robust but not overpowering. It adds color and promotes browning. It like a little "chef's kiss" for turning out amazing fish, ribs, steaks, burgers and more, even mac and cheese!
A DIY Spice Blend & All-Purpose Seasoning for Meat & More, Made to Order, Mixed to Taste. Beautiful Color! Mere Minutes to Mix. Just One Container, No Grinding Required. A New Addition to DIY Spice Blends & Homemade Seasonings, a Kitchen Parade Specialty. Easily Adapted to Your Family's Tastebuds. Year-Round Kitchen Staple. Budget Friendly. Great for Meal Prep & Food Gifts. Easy DIY. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real. Naturally Gluten Free. What're you waiting for?! So Good!!
COMPLIMENTS!
- "What's that spice? This salmon is extra-good." ~ One hungry husband.
- "Your ribs are amazing. Is it the spices? They're perfect." ~ One hungry great-nephew. (Yes, I sent him home with a jar!)
Who Needs a DIY Spice Rub, Anyway? It Turns Out, I Do!
Regular readers know that my recipes often call for a list spices — spices are my jam! But I did NOT see this one coming.
- Who needs a spice rub when there's a cupboard full of herbs and spices?
- Who needs to make a spice rub when there are so many choices at the grocery store?
Thank you, Facebook. I've seen the light.
Way back, a friend shared her own friend's recipe that he uses as a rub for salmon. My friend had already made a double batch.
I started with a single batch that very day, then moved to double batches, over and over, every single one pulling spices from my cupboard.
I didn't know I needed a homemade spice blend. But I've been cooking with it ever since, not everyday but multiple times a week.
Multi-Purpose: My New Spice Rub Has Become the House Seasoning, Too.
We know the difference between a rub and a seasoning, right?
- RUB A rub is lightly sprinkled or "rubbed" with your fingers onto the outside of a food before it's cooked, lightly coating the entire outer surface. My Spice Rub is what's called a "dry rub"; in barbecue, especially, there are also "wet rubs" that lean on spices plus BBQ sauce, Worcestershire, soy sauce and other liquid ingredients.
- SEASONING A seasoning is mixed in with a food before or while it's cooked, such as when sautéing meat chunks or chopped vegetables. Those herbs and spices that we add to a skillet as we're cooking? Those are seasonings. That little bit of salt and pepper we add to foods at the end? That's seasoning too.
My Spice Rub works well both ways. So far, I've used it like this, multiple times for each one. It's so good, I'm obsessed!
- As a rub for roasted salmon.
- As a rub for Fast Roast Chicken.
- As a seasoning for the best burgers to ever come out of my kitchen (recipe on coming soon!)
- As a seasoning for roasted potatoes.
- As a rub for grilled steaks and pork chops.
- As a seasoning for roasted vegetables.
- As a seasoning for Mac n Chicken.
"My" Spice Rub Is a Brand-New "My" Recipe
Regular readers know that when I call a recipe "mine" it's not only a stand-out recipe, it means I'm done looking for another because This.Is.It. I just won't be tempted by another version, no matter how bright and shiny it might look on paper or in pixels.
So yeah, I'm putting a pin in My Spice Rub. It's so easy to mix up and keep on hand. It's so useful. It makes so many dishes taste just a little bit more special. To my taste, it's a chef's kiss of perfection.
There are more than 600 recipes here on Kitchen Parade, a two-decade plus collection of tried and true personal favorites, the best of the best.
But "my" recipes are extra-special and there are just a few.
Recipe Overview: "My" Spice Rub
- My Spice Rub combines common spices into a convenient, easy-to-use savory blend that's more "bold spice" than "spicy heat" and enhances meats, vegetables and other foods without overpowering their own natural flavors. It just makes foods taste a little bit better without being obvious, a chef's kiss in a jar.
- Use My Spice Rub like you'd use a store-bought seasoning such as Lawry's, Old Bay, Montreal Seasoning, etc. On the sweet side, I feel the same way about Penzey's Baking Spice and Cake Spice as substitutes for cinnamon, they just elevate.
- My Spice Rub is vegan and if the spices themselves are gluten-free, gluten free.
- Distinctive Ingredients = Chili Powder + Cumin + Smoked Paprika + Black Pepper
- Short Ingredient List = all the above + sugar + salt + cocoa powder + dry mustard + cinnamon
- Kitchen Tools = nothing special, just a jar, some measuring spoons and an optional scale for measuring some of the more prevalent ingredients
- This is a time-friendly recipe, mix it once, use it until it's time to make more!
- So good! I hope you love it!
- Not quite what you're looking for? Check out my other DIY Spice Blends & Homemade Seasonings, made to order, mixed to taste.
You Might Wonder Be Wondering ...
Have another question? Ask away, I'll do my best to answer!
There's sugar in this recipe. Does it make the foods taste sweet? No! After several weeks of using "My" Seasoning in one savory dish after another, not a single one had even a hint of sweetness.
Could you drop the sugar back? Probably.
But do know that the sugar also encourages browning, that's especially true for fish, chicken, ribs and burgers.
Keep in mind, too, that while the whole rub recipe calls for a quarter cup of sugar, an individual serving will have just a small amount of sugar. For example, for burgers, I use 2 teaspoons of My Seasoning for a pound of hamburger, that adds up to only 1/3 teaspoon of sugar per pound of meat, only 1/12 teaspoon per quarter-pound burger. That's tiny-tiny!
There's salt in this recipe. Is it a seasoning salt? No! Salt is the distant #3 ingredient in this recipe. In contrast, other seasoning blends list salt as the #1 ingredient and don't disclose what percentage of the overall blend. Methinks, it would be much, much higher.
- THE COLLECTION DIY Spice Blends & Homemade Seasonings Made to order, mixed to taste. (PIN This)
- AND ANOTHER Easy Egg Recipes A collection of thrifty egg recipes. (PIN This)
Bookmark! PIN! Share!
How do you save and share favorite recipes? recipes that fit your personal cooking style? a particular recipe your mom or daughter or best friend would just love? If this recipe inspires you, please do save and share! I'd be honored ...
~ PIN This Recipe ~
"MY" SPICE RUB & HOUSE SEASONING
Time-to-table: 5 minutes
Makes 3/4 cup, easy to halve or double (I usually double)
- 4 tablespoons (30g) chili powder
- 4 tablespoons (50g) sugar
- 2 tablespoons (20g) kosher salt (assumes Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, see ALANNA's TIPS)
- 1 tablespoon (8g) ground cumin
- 1-1/2 teaspoons (6g) smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground dry mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
In a glass jar such as a pint-size Mason jar, combine all the ingredients, then stir or shake to mix well. Cover tightly and use within about three months.
Before cooking with the seasoning, give the jar another shake to re-mix as the ingredients tend to settle at different rates.
So far, I've used the seasoning with roasted salmon and other fish, steaks, ribs, burgers, mac and cheese, sautéed onions and more.
Dang salt conversions! The two common kosher salts are Diamond Crystal and Morton's Kosher. If you measure by weight, use 20g for either salt. But if you measure by volume, use 6 teaspoons Diamond Crystal or 4-1/2 teaspoons Morton's (about 25% less). Sure, like many kitchens, I have a well-used pepper grinder. But for recipes like this, I also keep a jar of pre-ground black pepper because of its fine, even grind and its consistent pepper-iness. What if you don't like or have a particular ingredient? Feel free to substitute though try to stay within the same flavor profile. For example, if I didn't have enough chili powder, I might substitute the Mexican spice blend called "tajín" which would pull in more heat and add a touch of lime as well.
FOR MORE INFO If you "skipped straight to the recipe," please scroll back to the top of this page for ingredient information, ingredient substitutions, tips and more.
If you print this recipe, you'll want to check the recipe online for even more tips and extra information about ingredient substitutions, best results and more. See https://www.kitchenparade.com/2024/07/my-spice-rub.html .
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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences.
Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, for more scratch cooking recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.
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2024
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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. But I also love hearing your reactions, your curiosity, even your concerns! When you've made a recipe, I especially love to know how it turned out, what variations you made, what you'll do differently the next time. ~ Alanna