This spice blend strikes the ideal balance of smokiness, sweetness, and heat — great for just about any BBQ dish you can imagine.
What Makes a Kansas City-Style Dry Rub?
In American BBQ tradition, there are four main regions: Kansas City, Carolina, Memphis, and Texas. Each one has a distinct flavor profile that showcases its unique take on smoked meats.
As you go through the different regions, you’ll find that each one also has its own techniques, rubs, and sauces. For Kansas City, the base ingredient is brown sugar with a little bit of spice.
What Are the Ingredients?
Besides brown sugar — which is the main component of this rub — you’ll need some granulated sugar, paprika, seasoned salt, smoked salt, onion powder, and black pepper.
On top of that, you’ll also be using some celery salt, a dash of chili powder, a bit of mustard powder, ground ginger, ground allspice, and finally some cayenne pepper.
As you can see, there’s a variety of sugars, salts, and peppers here. These are what give this seasoning its notes of smokiness, sweetness, and heat.
Equipment Needed
Although you can combine all the ingredients with a whisk and a bowl, I suggest pulsing the powders in a food processor or blender. That way, you can ensure a cohesive mixture without any lumps!
Storage Tips
Typically, this rub doesn’t last long in my house because it’s just that good. But, if you plan on saving it for your next cookout, simply transfer the spice blend to an airtight container.
Then, store it in the pantry, away from light and heat. This should stay fresh for up to 2 months!
The Best Food To Season With This Rub!
While pork, poultry, and beef are all fair game, burnt ends are the best for this rub! They’re the hallmark of Kansas City-style BBQ.
Burnt ends are cut from the superficial pectoral of smoked brisket, which means they’re super fatty and flavorful! As you cook them, their texture softens, and their juices ooze out.
Expert Tricks You Should Know
Want to learn some expert tips? Check these out:
- Use just the right amount of seasoning: As a general rule, the ideal amount of rub is whatever sticks to the pork, poultry, or beef. So, stop adding once the spices start to fall off.
- Cook your dish low and slow: The dry rub is meant to be cooked slowly at low temperatures, so barbecue or smoke it instead of grilling because high heat can burn the rub.
Complete Your Kansas City-Style BBQ!
Complete your BBQ experience by infusing Kansas City flavors with your choice of wood, sauce, and sides.
For the choice of wood, versatile hickory wood is the most popular option. It’s often referred to as a king of cooking woods because it has a strong, savory smoke with a rich flavor profile.
When you combine this with a light fruit wood (like peach or cherry), you get the perfect sweetness to match your Kansas City-inspired dishes!
For the sauce, go for a thick blend of ketchup, crushed tomatoes, apple cider vinegar, spices, and — of course — brown sugar. The result is a sweet and spicy combo that’s always a hit at any cookout.
And to close it off, Kansas City sides include baked beans (with burnt ends and bacon), mayo-based coleslaw, mac and cheese, and other soul food staples.
Now, you’re ready to have a full-blown regional cookout!
Kansas City-Style Dry Rub
The Kansas City-style dry rub is excellent for pork shoulder, baby back ribs, and burnt ends! Its sweet and spicy flavor is perfect for any BBQ dish!
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup of packed brown sugar (light, preferably)
- ⅔ cup of granulated sugar
- ½ cup of sweet or smoked paprika
- ¼ cup of smoked salt
- ¼ cup EACH of onion salt and celery salt
- 2 tablespoons EACH of ground black pepper and pure chili powder
- 2 teaspoons of mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon EACH of ground ginger and poultry seasoning
- ½ teaspoon EACH of ground allspice and cayenne pepper
Instructions
- First of all, gather all your ingredients from the spice cabinet, and measure them out. (Note: You can adjust the ratios based on your taste preferences.)
- Then, grab a bowl and mix all of your dry rub ingredients. You can either do this by hand or add them to a blender or a food processor to refine the texture.
- Once blended, feel free to use the rub immediately or store it in an airtight container.
Notes
Image credit to @mikebadella2.
Featured image credit to @keviniscooking.
