Dry Rub for Chicken or Turkey

Submitted by Kittencalrecipezazz

"This makes about 3/4 cup of the most wonderful spice blend, I have used it many times in the past --- the amounts listed is enough to coat one large roasting chicken, 1 small turkey or 2-3 small whole fryer chickens, or 12-14 pieces of chicken, if you like lots of heat then increase the cayenne, you will love this! :)"

 

• Ready In: 6hrs
• Ingredients: 9
• Yields: 3/4 cup (approx)

ingredients

• 1⁄4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (can use more)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 3 teaspoons mustard powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper

directions

1. Mix all spice ingredients together.
2. Rub onto chicken (use as much of the rub as desired, use lots or use a little.
3. Cover the chicken then place in the refrigerator for 6-24 hours.
4. Grill as desired.

Reviews

[food6142]

I made this last night, applied to 14 chicken thighs, let them "marinate" overnight, and grilled. They turned out surprisingly delicious. However, I'm removing 1 star, because I think the recipe can be improved, as detailed below. Too Much Sugar 1/4c (4T) of brown sugar is a huge amount of sugar, IMO. If you want sweet chicken, go for it, but I like my chicken more savory. I reduced the amount to 1T for my first batch, and it still seemed a little sweet. I'll probably reduce to 1t next time. Why Chili Powder? This rub already lists amounts for paprika, cumin, cayenne, garlic powder, black pepper, and salt ? 6 ingredients common in chili powders. It would be better to list the individual spices, rather than having the unknown quantities in a chili powder. If you just add individual measurements for oregano and onion powder (and bump up the paprika, etc.), you could remove the chili powder and have a more consistently reproducible recipe. Nitpicks ? 3t is 1T. I don't see a reason to list 3t of mustard powder, instead of just 1T. Maybe I'm missing something. ? It would be great to list the type of salt. 2t of fine/table salt is about 2.5t of (coarse) kosher salt, a 25% increase. I guess it's assumed to be table salt if a type is not listed, but I used kosher salt and found the chicken well seasoned. 2t of table salt might be too salty. However, if you use the full amount of sugar, you might need the extra salt to counter it. ? No fat. I know this is a dry rub, but some of these spices are fat soluble. It probably doesn't matter if dry-brining a whole bird (or fatty pieces like thighs), but if you're applying this to skinless breasts, it's probably wise to add a ~2T oil and make it more of a paste. Spices like paprika and (I think oregano in the chili powder) will release more of their volatile compounds (i.e., more flavor) in the presence of fat. Anyway, except for the excessive sugar (IMO), this is a great rub and could be damn near perfect with some tweak. It surprised me with how delicious it is, and my picky wife and even pickier 2 year old both loved the results. Good job.

 

[GSCook]

Let me start by saying that Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday of the year. It means spending hours in the kitchen and being too tired to move by time dinner is served. Not to mention the fact that I dislike turkey... I can almost stand the dark meat but forget about the dry, tasteless white meat. And frankly, the dark meat isn't much better. Enter Kittencals dry rub. You've made me a believer! For the first time in forever, I actually LIKED the turkey and even had SECONDS! Who knew? Turkey is actually GOOD! My entire family raved and said this was the best turkey I've ever made... and believe me, I've made a few... roasted, deep fried, injected, basted, brined, you name it! I doubled the recipe as I had a 23 pounder but only used about 2/3 of the rub. The turkey was very nicely crusted. The gravy was different... not your typical sage-laden sauce. But it was good and the kids loved it. FYI... this is the only way I will ever make turkey again. Thanks!!

 

[Hawg R.]

This was one of the most tasteless rubs i've ever used or concocted. I used this on a turkey that i grilled over charcoal. Skin is usually one of my favorite parts of the bird and this rub was just bland. It would of tasted better if i just used garlic salt and pepper. I'm an experimentalist when it comes to cooking. Most times its better to keep a recipe simple. You can make the perfect turkey with salt, pepper and some melted butter.

 

[Marie Nixon]

Very good. I used it on a chicken that I cooked on my Showtime Rotisserie. I will use this recipe again.

 

[Mary Christmas]

Excellent. The whole family loved it. I'm looking forward to having this in my summer meal rotation! Thanks.