Aaron Franklin’s Barbecue Seasoning Recipe: Learn How to Make Barbecue Dry Rub

A dry rub (a.k.a dry brine) is any type of dry seasoning applied to meat before it is cooked. At its simplest, a dry rub can be a palmful of salt, though most barbeque dry rubs contain additional herbs and spices. The function of a dry rub is to season meat ahead of time, giving the salt and other flavorings time to penetrate the meat, so that you’re seasoning the whole piece—not just the surface. It’s called dry to distinguish it from wet brines and marinades, which involve liquids. (Think: buttermilk-soaked chicken breasts.)

In addition to the salt, dry rubs often contain dried spices or herbs, usually ground or finely chopped to maximize the surface area that can come into contact with the meat.

Experiment with different spice blends to create your own signature barbecue rub, or keep things simple like Texas pitmaster Aaron Franklin, who only uses coarse salt and black pepper, sometimes with a little paprika for color.

Popular dry-rub additions include light brown sugar, dry mustard, and celery seed. Blend your favorite spices together or look for regional inspiration:

Try rubbing Jamaican Jerk seasoning (allspice, nutmeg, black pepper, thyme, cayenne pepper, paprika, sugar, salt, garlic powder, and ginger) on chicken wings or turkey.
Use an Italian seasoning blend of dried oregano, rosemary, marjoram, sage, onion powder, and crushed red pepper on pork chops or pork tenderloin.
Make a Mexican spice mix of chipotle or ancho chili powder, cumin, and coriander for fajitas.

The best way to use a dry rub depends both on the cut and type of meat you’re using, along with how you’re cooking it.

For the juiciest smoked pulled pork and baby back ribs, you’ll need to season the meat ahead of time, not just slather it with barbecue sauce at the end of cooking. If you’re roasting a small chicken, seasoning can be as easy as rubbing a palmful of salt into the skin. When smoking large cuts of meat, applying the rub can get a little trickier.

1. 1. Use a shaker. To make seasoning easier, mix rub ingredients in a plastic shaker with an adjustable lid and sprinkle the rub onto the meat directly from the shaker.
2. 2. Slather just enough. Before applying the rub, apply an emulsifier like mustard or hot sauce to help the rub stick and form a bark. After a long cook, the slather won’t have much impact on the flavor of the meat but it’s still good to be judicious in how much you apply. The more slather you use, the more likely it is that your bark will flake off as the meat shrinks during the cook (though that’s a much bigger concern for a cut like brisket than for, say, pork butt). Aim to get the meat tacky, but not wet.
3. 3. Rub smart. Identify the “presentation side” of your meat: for pork butt and brisket, it’s the fattier side; for ribs, it’s the “outside” of the ribs. Starting with the non-presentation side, slather the meat with mustard or hot sauce, then shake or sprinkle the rub from side to side in an even layer until the surface is covered. To make things easier for yourself, use one hand to slather and turn the meat and the other to sprinkle the rub. When applying rub to the sides of a pork butt or brisket, cup one hand along the side of the meat and use it to catch the rub and press it evenly onto the meat. Flip the meat over to the presentation side and repeat. Allow meat to rest at room temperature, about 30 to 40 minutes. The meat will begin to absorb the rub and the salt will start drawing out the internal moisture.

A simple salt-and-pepper dry rub is easy enough to make that you can blend it just before you plan to cook. If you have leftover dry rub, or want to make a larger batch, store it in an airtight container in a dark, dry place for up to a few months.