My favorite seasoning to use when smoking meat is this sweet pork rub. It works wonderfully on chicken and ribs but I made it for smoked pork butt. For the finest flavor, liberally spread on meat and let sit overnight. A lovely bark is made from the brown sugar. This recipe yields enough to cook six racks of ribs or two 8-pound pork butts.
| Prep Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 5 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 2/3 cup |
Ingredients
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Combine brown sugar, paprika, salt, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, dry mustard, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon in a small airtight container. Seal and store in a cool, dark place until ready to use.
Reviews
I have used this recipe on ribs and pork butt several times. We absolutely live it. It is now in my forever file. Great job!!
This recipe is great but I did make some of my own changes the second time around. I substituted regular paprika for the smoked and used some smoked pink Himalayan salt instead. I also used fresh ground peppercorn medley and replaced the cayenne with 1/4 tsp of ground ghost pepper.
This recipe is a godsend! I omit the cayenne since I am wimpy but I’ve used it on chicken, pork & steak. I always have a batch of this spice mix on hand to sprinkle on veggies, homemade cheese crisps or anything else that needs a dash of flavor. This recipe delivers & I simply cannot thank you enough for sharing this. It is truly life changing.
I omitted the cayenne. I have a family of wimps. everyone loved the ribs!
Used this rub on my first time making ribs and it was simply delicious!…….Can’t wait to try it on other meats!
Excellent rub for any meat you are smoking. I halved the recipe because I only had half rack of St. Louis ribs to smoke. They had the perfect balance of smokiness and sweet thanks to the smoked paprika and brown sugar. The sight of the bark made my mouth water and first bite in did not disappoint Only doing half rack of ribs I had some leftover so I ran out and grabbed a pork butt and 2 cornish hens. Perfection on those as well. 5 star rub and one I will definitely use again. Brisket is next and I cannot wait to fire up the smoker again!
Great rub. Made the full recipe with the scored pork butt, prepared mustard, and rub. Smoked for 11 hours with applewood and the taste was great. I’m not a big fan of the “bark.” I know this is sacrilege for bbq but it usually tastes burnt to me. The bark on this pork butt had a wonderful depth of flavor. It had a sweeter taste without the deep char flavor. It really added to the taste of the pulled pork. Recipe note: used paprika, not smoked paprika