This Kansas City BBQ Dry Rub is so easy to make and tastes amazing on everything. Use it for pork, chicken, beef, sausage, or even fish. It's sweet, salty, and smokey, with just a hint of spice.
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About Kansas City BBQ Rub
Wondering what makes KC BBQ special? Unlike other styles of BBQ, it's typically dry rubbed with a sweet and savory spice mixture that's not too spicy or tangy. Dry rubs can be made with a variety of different spices, but we use a combination of brown sugar, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder, ground cayenne, salt, and black pepper.
Kansas City BBQ is typically served with a thick, tomato-based sweet BBQ sauce. Check out our Apple Cider BBQ sauce for a perfect pairing to this rub.
Why We Love This Recipe
- It's easy: Throw some spices together and you're done.
- It's great on everything: Put it on beef, pork, chicken, fish, sausage, turkey, or even veggies.
- It's well balanced: This bbq rub is sweet, savory, smokey, slightly spicy, and caramelizes to perfection when cooked.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Brown sugar: We use brown sugar to make this rub sweet (it also caramelizes super well). If you want to use something more natural (or make this recipe Paleo-compliant), you can use coconut sugar instead.
Smoked paprika: Smoked paprika adds a smokey flavor to this rub, but if you don't have it, you can use regular paprika.
Ground cayenne: If you don't like spicy food, you can omit this or decrease the amount. If you just want a little bit of spice (but not the punch that cayenne provides), substitute chili powder.
See amounts and full recipe list in the recipe card below.
📋 Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Combine brown sugar, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder, ground cayenne, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl.
Step 2: Store in a jar or small air-tight container for up to a year. Use on beef, pork, chicken, turkey, sausage, fish, or veggies.
Cooking Ideas
Looking for something to make with this seasoning? Here are some ideas:
- Pulled Pork: This recipe makes enough to cover a 7-9 pound bone-in pork butt.
- Smoked Chicken or Turkey
- BBQ-Seasoned Salmon Bites: Toss some chunks of salmon in this seasoning and throw them on the grill or smoker for a quick, delicious dinner that pairs well with everything.
- Smoked Sausage
- BBQ Veggies: Throw this seasoning on some veggies and toss them in the oven, air fryer, or grill for a quick, perfectly seasoned side dish. Try our BBQ Brussels Sprouts!
- Beef Brisket
- Beef or Pork Ribs
Frequently asked questions
You can store your homemade rub in a jar or air-tight container for up to a year. After that, it may start to lose some flavor.
A dry rub is a mixture of dry spices and ingredients applied to a meat before the cooking process.
They're typically sweet, salty, and smokey. Unlike some other styles of BBQ, they're usually not excessively spicy or tangy.
BBQ Side Pairings
Looking for something to serve with your BBQ? Try these great sides:
📖 Recipe
Kansas City BBQ Dry Rub
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 3.25 ounces
Description
This Kansas City BBQ Dry Rub is so easy to make and tastes amazing on everything. Use it for pork, chicken, beef, sausage, or even fish. It's sweet, salty, and smokey, with just a hint of spice.
Ingredients
¼ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon mustard powder
½ teaspoon ground cayenne
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Combine brown sugar, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder, ground cayenne, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl.
- Store in a jar or small air-tight container for up to a year. Use on beef, pork, chicken, turkey, sausage, fish, or veggies.
Notes
We use brown sugar to make this rub sweet (it also caramelizes super well). If you want to use something more natural (or make this recipe Paleo-compliant), you can use coconut sugar instead.
Smoked paprika adds a smokey flavor to this rub, but if you don't have it, you can use regular paprika.
This recipe makes enough to cover a 7-9 pound bone-in pork butt.
Store in a jar or air-tight container for up to a year.
Nutritional information is only an estimate.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Seasoning
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3.25 ounces
- Calories: 240
- Sugar: 49.5 g
- Sodium: 2347.2 mg
- Fat: 1.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 58.2 g
- Protein: 2.3 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Mollie says
Love this on veggies, fish, and pulled pork.
Sarah M says
Love this on everything. So versatile.