Pork Rub Recipe

Once you try this simple homemade pork rub recipe, you’ll find it’s just the ticket for award-winning BBQ results!

Nothing tastes better than a flawlessly grilled, roasted, or smoked piece of pork. Pork dry rub is perfect on pork roast, a pork shoulder, pork ribs, pork chops, pork loin, or even pulled pork! This is the best Texas BBQ rub you’ll ever try!

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Pork is such an easy meat to prepare, and most of the cuts sold at the supermarket don’t require additional cutting. Just give it a good rinse and pat it dry and it’s ready to go! 

What is Pork Rub?

A good pork rub has one key element, and that is salt. Salt acts like a flavoring agent as well as a heat conductor, keeping the outside of meat from cooking too much before the inside is ready.

• Experiment with a smoke-flavored salt or another spice like ground red chili or even garlic.
• A sweet component, like sugar or honey, is added to offset the spicy flavor and to caramelize the meat.

This Texas dry rub is perfect for all cuts of pork. It even tastes good on bacon or as a pulled pork dry rub!

What We Love About this Texas Dry Rub

Aside from it’s deep and savory flavor, we love this Texas rub because it’s so versatile! It’s also good as a seasoning for roasted veggies like potatoes or broccoli, and even as a topping on garlic bread! Make an extra batch or two!

This dry rub is a great combo of salty sweet and works well with most any meat. It’s a fantastic flavor enhancer and is great on avocado toast, and fried eggs too! Think of it as an every day seasoning!

How to Apply Pork Dry Rub

Unlike seasonings, dry rubs are usually coarse and are applied more liberally. This is true especially if the cooking method is smoking. A smoked pork shoulder rub will require more product and more work getting it into every nook and cranny, but the end result is worth the prep!

The best way to use a rub on pork:

1. Pat the meat dry with a paper towel until the surface of the meat is very dry, almost sticky.
2. Liberally sprinkle the rub onto all surfaces and then massage the pork rub into the meat making sure the rub gets into all the crevices and is firmly adhered to the outside. 

How Long Do I Put the Rub On Before Grilling or Smoking?

Pork rub can be applied between 30 minutes and up to 2 hours before cooking a pork rib or any other cut, unless the recipe specifies otherwise. The trick is to apply it so that as much stays on as possible during the cooking process.

For extra flavor, try these tips!

• For a pulled pork rub, sprinkle the rub over the shredded pork in a casserole dish and cover with aluminum foil before roasting.
• For a pork butt rub or a pork tenderloin rub, pierce the widest parts of the meat and massage in extra rub into the small holes so the flavors cook into the meat.

How To Make a Pork Rub

This is the easy part!

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl and then store them in a jar with a tight-fitting lid like a mason jar.
2. Once the lid is on tight, give the jar several hard shakes to make sure the rub is totally combined.
3. Label the lid with the date the rub was made or write in on the outside of the jar or container with a sharpie.

That’s it! You’re ready to spice it up!

How to Store Pork Dry Rub

I recommend using a jar with a tight fitting lid to store it. I love using mason jars with my favorite mason jar caps, but any storage will work! You may prefer plastic containers, or another type of air tight container.

Store pork rub with the other spices and seasonings in a pantry away from direct light or extreme temperatures. Before each use, shake the jar to break up any clumps. Pork dry rub doesn’t really expire, but after about 4 months the flavors might not be as sharp.

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