Magic Dust's BBQ rub is made up of a blend of spices including pink salt, chillies, garlic, mustard, and muscovado sugar. It is also suitable for vegetarians and vegans which means you won't have to worry about who you are serving.
All you have to do is sprinkle this on your food a few hours prior to cooking and it will give your food an awesome barbecue-style taste. All ingredients used are 100% natural and it is lower in salt than most seasonings so you won't feel guilty using this rub when on a diet!
The flavour is very versatile and works brilliantly on a variety of foods from steak and sausages to vegetables. One thing to note is that this rub does have quite a kick to it so if you aren't a fan of spicy food you may want to look elsewhere.
Bad Byron’s Butt Rub has a mild smokey flavour and is made, mostly, up of black pepper, paprika, and chipotle powder. Contrary to its name this product can be used on more than just pork butts. Due to its flavour, it is a very versatile seasoning than can be used on just about anything!
This rub uses a fair amount more salt than the Magic Dust seasoning, however, this is not necessarily a bad thing as salty seasonings compliment very well with most meat, especially a pork shoulder. You may want to use less than is advised first time due to the heavy salt content so you can see what the right amount for you is. You can get this rub in a number of sizes as you will see later.
This is the same rub as our previous suggestion, it is just more expensive and you get more rub. If you are confident that you will enjoy Bad Byron's Butt Rub then you may want to opt for this size tub as it is better value for money and you will be getting a better deal.
Again, the general flavour of this seasoning is mild, smokey and authentic and it is made up mostly of paprika, black pepper, and chipotle powder. The salt content on this rub is still high so you if you are on a diet you may want to try having less than the recommend amount first time you use it and see what suits you best.
If you would prefer a sweeter finish on your meat then you can try rolling it is brown sugar after applying the rub. This will give it a much sweeter finish.
This is one of the most versatile rubs on the market, so much so that you can use this on anything from meat to vegetable to popcorn! However, back to basics, this rub has a peppery, sweet flavour and it also does have a slight kick to it. The main components of it are paprika, brown sugar, spices, and garlic.
Bone Suckin' rub is great for when you have lots of people around because it is mild enough that everyone will be able to handle the heat, it is also versatile so you will be able to use it on pretty much everything you are serving.
Finally, this product is 100% natural as well as gluten-free.
Plowboys Yardbird Rub is mild, slightly sweet and has a touch of spice. Its main ingredients are sugar, salt, paprika, chilli pepper, onion, mustard flour, and garlic.
This rub really announced itself on the BBQ scene when it won the 2009 Royal Invitational BBQ competition. Just like a lot of the other rubs on this list it is very versatile, which is essential for your first rub as you won't want one that only works with pork as that will decrease your flexibility. It works best, however, with ribs, chicken, and pork butts.
This has a very traditional taste so if you are someone who insists on doing everything yourself then give it a try because it may well be exactly what you are looking for. This rub allows us amateur pitmasters to try award-winning products!
Sweet bones and butts is a seasoning that provides the perfect balance of flavour and sweetness and is really good when used with chicken wings and ribs. Some of the ingredients it contains are sugar, salt, paprika, black pepper, nutmeg, garlic, cinnamon chilli, and onion granules.
This rub is great for people just getting into smoking as the amazing taste that it provides will leave any guests impressed and potentially be able to mask any mistakes. We would really recommend this product to all, whether you are new to smoking or an experienced pitmaster.
Oakridge call this rub SPOGOS which stands for salt, pepper, onion, garlic, and other spices. This is their own take on the classic SPOG rubs (we'll let you work out that one for yourselves). This seasoning really goes big on the salt and pepper so it is quite strong. This means that you might want to experiment with how much you use, depending on what you want from the rub.
Again this is a very versatile rub that can be used on all meats and also on vegetables, the last thing you want is to be limited by your rub. Use this rub as an alternative to salt and pepper, so you can put it on anything you'd put them on! Oakridge's rub is 100% natural as well as gluten-free, which is good as you won’t have to worry if you have friends or family around.
Oakridge are a very well respected brand in the barbecue world and you can trust that all of their products will be, at least, a good quality.
The key to remember when picking a BBQ rub is that it needs to be versatile. If you pick something that only works well on chicken then you’ll find yourself getting bored with cooking chicken over and over again and will not enjoy smoking as much.
All of the products on this list are suitably versatile so all would be good choices. Our top pick is the Magic Dust BBQ rub so if you are still not sure then that would be an excellent choice.
Last update on 2023-10-24 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API