Easy BBQ Chicken Rub Recipe: How to Store BBQ Chicken Rub

A BBQ rub is a seasoning made with salt, sugar, and spices applied to meat before smoking or grilling. Dry BBQ rubs are a key element of Memphis-style barbecuing, which involves seasoning the meat with a spice rub before smoking and serving it as-is or with a thin sauce on the side.

Use BBQ rubs immediately before cooking as a steak seasoning or apply it the night before as a marinade for larger cuts of meat like brisket. Serve homemade BBQ rubbed meats with classic barbecue side dishes like potato salad, coleslaw, and cornbread.

Chicken has a mild flavor that pairs well with a range of spices and flavorings. Here are a few ways to modify a classic BBQ chicken rub to suit your tastes:

1. 1. Chinese-inspired BBQ rub: Chinese five-spice powder is a mix of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Szechuan peppercorn, and fennel seed that pairs beautifully with poultry. Add five-spice powder to your next BBQ rub blend.
2. 2. Italian-inspired BBQ rub: Add dried oregano, thyme, and basil to your spice mix for a hint of Italian flavor.
3. 3. Mexican-inspired BBQ rub: Use a blend of ground chipotle chilis, cumin, cinnamon, and coriander for a spicy chicken rub ideal for smoked chicken tacos.

Though you can purchase premade BBQ rubs, making a homemade spice rub allows you to customize your seasoning to fit your preferences and dietary needs. Use these tips to maximize the impact of your homemade dry rub:

1. 1. Add an emulsifier. Before applying your dry rub, cover your chicken with an emulsifier like BBQ sauce, mustard, or olive oil. The emulsifier helps the dry rub stick to the surface of the meat better, creating a tasty caramelized crust on grilled chicken.
2. 2. Get the timing right. Experiment with the amount of time you let the spice rub sit on the chicken. The salt in the rub will draw moisture out of the meat, which helps create a crispy skin. Allowing your dry rub to rest on the chicken overnight in the fridge can produce different results than a rub that sat for thirty to forty minutes.
3. 3. Temper the meat. Before cooking the chicken, let it come to room temperature so that it cooks more evenly. Tempering can take fifteen minutes for a boneless chicken breast to one hour for a large whole chicken.

Here is how to use BBQ chicken rub on different cuts:

1. 1. Chicken breast: Transform boneless chicken breasts with BBQ rub to pack the lean cut of meat with lots of flavor. Chicken breasts can dry out quickly and benefit from fast cooking methods like grilling. For skin-on chicken breasts: Add an emulsifier like mustard, followed by the rub, to the skin just before cooking. For skinless breasts: Cover the entire breast in BBQ rub just before cooking.
2. 2. Chicken legs: Chicken legs are difficult to overcook. Cover skin-on whole legs in an emulsifier like mustard followed by the dry rub, and then smoke or grill them over indirect heat. Alternatively, separate the legs into drumsticks and thighs and bake them on two separate baking sheets. The drumsticks will finish cooking shortly before the thighs.
3. 3. Whole chicken: With a whole chicken, there are a couple of popular options. You can brine the chicken overnight with a chicken brine or plain salt, then coat it in an emulsifier like mustard and apply the dry rub just before smoking the chicken. Alternatively, use the BBQ rub as a dry brine, covering the chicken in the rub the night before you plan to cook, and then roasting the whole chicken.

If you have leftover BBQ chicken rub spice mix or want to make a larger batch to save time in the future, store it in an airtight container in a dark, dry place for up to three months. Discard any leftover rub that has come into contact with raw chicken to avoid spreading pathogens.