Best BBQ Rubs: Homemade or Commercial?


 
JeffB

JeffB

TVWBB Pro
I normally make my own rubs for BB, ribs, etc, but I've read a lot lately about using commercial rubs because there are some great ones out there to be enjoyed. What I find is that the popular rubs can be exceedingly expensive (go figure) so I do not buy them often.

Having said that, I would be interested in obtaining a list of the best commercial rubs on the market based on the experience of others on this forum. Where do you buy it and price would be great too. If you are feeling generous, I'd love to hear which rubs you use in combination for extra layers of flavor.

Thanks and SMOKE ON! :cool:
 
I use both commercial and rubs from recipes, just depends.

I don't know if these rubs are " the best " , but they are one's I like.

Plowboys Yardbird is absolutely my fav for chicken, and it would probably be great on turkey also. I buy it from Plowboy's web site, but its fulfilled by All Things Barbecue, the Yoder folks in Wichita, Ks

I really like Meat Church Holy Cow on beef. Best I can tell, its a S/P with a bit of heat and maybe some color from paprika.

I also like Meat Church Holy Gospel. Its a good all around rub, but goes well on pork as does the Meat Church Honey Hog.

I get Meat Church rubs from the Meat Church web site. I buy from the maker's site if possible, as I think I'm getting the freshest rub. I'm wary of buying from places like Ace Hardware or Amazon, don't know how long that rub has been on the shelf. Don't really know how old it is from the maker either, but it seems to me to be the safest bet.

I can't recall prices. I think I pay anywhere from $8 to $10 for a 14 oz shaker.

I also like Cavenders Greek Seasoning on chicken. Its readily found at the grocery store in small 4 or 6 oz containers.

I have found that when I prepare a rub from recipe's , many times I will end up paying more sourcing all the ingredients, than what I would pay for a commercial rub. I've been doing some recipes from Tuffy Stone, some baby back and St Louis ribs, and we had to source some ingredients that really ran up the cost.

So I don't think in terms of cost . If I'm gonna spend the time and effort to try to smoke some quality barbecue, I'm not gonna scrimp on how much I pay for rub. Got too much work and time invested. And I'm gonna get the freshest possible ingredients.
 
Here's a simple rub I made up about 20 years ago. I use on Baby backs and St. Louis spares. Also like Weber's original dry rub.

A very simple rub that doesn’t over power the taste of the pork

Rich’s Simple Baby Back Rub

¾ cup packed golden brown sugar
¼ cup Paprika
2 ½ TBLS Course salt
2 ½ TBLS Ground black pepper
1 TBLS Onion powder
½ tsp Cayenne pepper
 
For commercial rubs you cannot go wrong with Oakridge. Most, if not all, have salt down the list of ingredients.
Their Santa Maria is my favorite.
ingredients: Garlic, ground black pepper, fine flake sea salt, extra fine raw cane sugar, chiles (incl. New Mexico & chipotle), parsley, onion, and other spices.
https://www.oakridgebbq.com

For making my own, I like Harry's SYD rub, the original one:
Ingredients

  • 4 tbsp Kosher Salt
  • 2 tbsp White Granulated Sugar
  • 2 tbsp Brown Sugar
  • 2 tbsp California Mild Chili Powder
  • 2 tbsp Paprika
  • 1 tbsp Ground Cumin
  • 1 tbsp Granulated Garlic
  • 1 tbsp Black Pepper
  • ½ TSP Cayenne Pepper (use sparingly or not at all)
 
JeffB said:
I normally make my own rubs for BB, ribs, etc, but I've read a lot lately about using commercial rubs because there are some great ones out there to be enjoyed. What I find is that the popular rubs can be exceedingly expensive (go figure) so I do not buy them often.

Having said that, I would be interested in obtaining a list of the best commercial rubs on the market based on the experience of others on this forum. Where do you buy it and price would be great too. If you are feeling generous, I'd love to hear which rubs you use in combination for extra layers of flavor.

Thanks and SMOKE ON! :cool:
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I vote for homemade. First time out it can be expensive, but over time, the spices pay for themselves by what you save not buying commercial rubs.

I also like knowing what every ingredient in my homemade rub is. Don't give me this,"sugar, salt, garlic powder and other spices". Commercial rubs, keep your little secret recipes. lol

Also, what would I do with all the rub recipes I have saved over the years. lol
 
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Our future DIL tends bar part time on the weekend and she met this lady who works for this company.
https://jakseasoning.com/

She gave her a bottle to try, and this stuff is insanely good on chicken, vegetables, rice or taters.
I had to order more.:)

Tim
 
Brian_D said:
Interesting - I just Googled plowboys yardbird - you can get it at local Ace Hardware stores
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Our local Ace Hardware carries a lot of rubs and sauces. They carry a lot of things barbecue besides that. Everytime I go there for some little piece of hardware, I spend my time in the barbecue section.
 
I almost exclusively make my own as there's not much choice out here and, more important, I find most of the commercial ones either too salty or too sweet.
 
Lynn Dollar said:
Our local Ace Hardware carries a lot of rubs and sauces. They carry a lot of things barbecue besides that. Everytime I go there for some little piece of hardware, I spend my time in the barbecue section.
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The same is true here for the local Tru-Value. Surprisingly large bbq and food storage sections.

As a rule I make my own. About the only thing I lack is the preservative and flow agent additives.
 
Kosmos Q Dirty Bird and SPG are good. Meat Church Holy Cow is great. I get some weird ones here or there that I like. I make my own occasionally usually from a recipe. It's nice if you can just make enough for one cook. I try to keep a good assortment of spices from the Spice House or Penzeys or what have you but it's sometimes hard to use them fast enough when they are fresh.

It's stupid how good salt and pepper can be on beef. After I get away from it for a while and I go back to it, it's always great. I know it can get boring for some, but throw it back in every once in a while!
 
I use Harry Soo's original rub (home made). I have it in two versions - with and without salt.

In addition, I use GFS (Gordon Food Service) Trade East Salmon rub on Cedar Planked Salmon and Steelhead. Further, it is my choice on Pork Kabobs, then use a finishing sauce "Apricot Preserves, Honey, and Chipotle in Adobo sauce". The Salmon rub also works well on Chicken.

Keep on smokin',
Dale53
 
I have been trying some commercial rubs lately and aside from Dales GFS salmon rub and some stuff called “BootyRub” from Lowe’s I just don’t find anything to them, mostly salt and heat no flavor profile at all. I’ve tried almost a dozen and they are all too expensive for the lackluster end product. I don’t know that I will be bothering with anymore of them, go back to my basic, do it your self! And yes, there will be variations based on what I have in the pantry at any given moment.
Deeply let down by the SYD from Harry Soo, maybe it was a really old jar but, at those prices it should be better.
I’m happy that so many like these products but, I guess it’s just not for me.
 
I use both, but make my own mostly from markets that have a bulk spice rack. It’s fun to make them. Sometimes I mix commercial and my own together. Favorite cmmcl are Harry Soo’s, Cattlemen's Grill-carne Asada and Tri Tip, and R Butts are Smoking Cherry Habernero.
I also keep a “rub dump container” with all the leftover rubs that are mixed together to use for a ”surprise rub” that never fails. Of course it’s always cheaper to make your own, so many good recipes out there.
 
Jon M said:
I use both, but make my own mostly from markets that have a bulk spice rack. It’s fun to make them. Sometimes I mix commercial and my own together. Favorite cmmcl are Harry Soo’s, Cattlemen's Grill-carne Asada and Tri Tip, and R Butts are Smoking Cherry Habernero.
I also keep a “rub dump container” with all the leftover rubs that are mixed together to use for a ”surprise rub” that never fails. Of course it’s always cheaper to make your own, so many good recipes out there.
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We also have a "rub dump container", but we dump a lot of things in it. If a spice mix has been sitting around for too long, that goes in it. I put the bought/open date on all spice/ herb jars and if they are too old, in they go. We use our "surprise rub" mostly to coat burgers. It is always fun to have a different taste all the time. Thank goodness it is a good taste most of the time. lol I'm glad to see so many that like to make their own rubs.
 
My favorite store bought is Strawberry's Grand Champion Shake-On Bar-B-Que Seasoning.

And, of course, granulated garlic.
 
Joan said:
We also have a "rub dump container", but we dump a lot of things in it. If a spice mix has been sitting around for too long, that goes in it. I put the bought/open date on all spice/ herb jars and if they are too old, in they go. We use our "surprise rub" mostly to coat burgers. It is always fun to have a different taste all the time. Thank goodness it is a good taste most of the time. lol I'm glad to see so many that like to make their own rubs.
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My rub leftovers go into a shaker labeled "Mystery Rub", and I used it on one of the two butts that are in the smoker now. It will be interesting to see how it turns out, since the Mystery Rub apparently (based on the aroma) contains some cumin, which is not an ingredient in any of the rubs I normally make for pork.
 
Larry D. said:
My rub leftovers go into a shaker labeled "Mystery Rub", and I used it on one of the two butts that are in the smoker now. It will be interesting to see how it turns out, since the Mystery Rub apparently (based on the aroma) contains some cumin, which is not an ingredient in any of the rubs I normally make for pork.
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Hi Larry, like your name for the rub. How did dinner turn out? Did it have a cumin taste? I think it should make the pork taste real good. We cook a lot with cumin.
 
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