This spice rub is an amazing little stocking stuffer for anyone who loves to grill, and it would also work perfectly in a nice little jar as a small gift for a co-worker or acquaintance. I mean, who doesn’t like flavor? Everyone likes flavor! Give the gift of flavor, friends.
I love this spice mix. Love, love, love it. I’ve been using it on everything from salmon to veggies! I’d consider this a pretty all-purpose spice rub. I mean, I wouldn’t recommend sprinkling it on top of your morning Wheaties, but anything savory is a go. It really does make a ho-hum dinner like baked salmon into something spectacular. In fact, I like this spice mix so much that it’s been living on our kitchen windowsill because I want it close by at all times.
It comes together very quickly and uses spices you probably already have stashed in your spice rack, making this an excellent last-minute gift for when that person who you “accidentally” left off your list gives you a call to say they’re coming over in 10 minutes to give you your gift.
Whoops. I know! Give the gift of flavor!
And even if you don’t use this as a last-minute rescue gift, it would work beautifully done in bulk ahead of time. Head to the bulk section of your local health food store and fill up on all the spices, come home and mix it in a big bowl, dole it out into cute little jars, label it, and put a bow on it, and you’ve got a great little gift.
Of course, this recipe is highly adaptable. Add more red pepper if you want more of a kick. Cut back on the garlic powder if your recipients are garlic-phobes (do those exist?). Cut out almost all the salt if you want to give a low-sodium version to someone watching their salt intake. Make it your spice rub. And once you’ve got the recipe down pat, I promise folks will be asking for it year-after-year.

Barbecue Spice Rub
This Barbecue Spice Rub is easy to throw together and adds wonderful flavor to everything. It makes a perfect gift for people who love to cook or grill!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup sea salt
- 1/3 cup brown sugar or maple sugar
- 1/4 cup paprika
- 2 tablespoons black pepper
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container. Use as a spice rub on chicken, fish, beef, or veggies.
Notes
Try using smoked paprika if you love smoky flavors.
To add extra flavor to chicken or meat, rub thoroughly with this blend and refrigerate for a few hours or up to a day before cooking.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1 tablespoonAmount Per Serving: Calories: 26Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 2337mgCarbohydrates: 6gFiber: 1gSugar: 4gProtein: 1g
At Wholefully, we believe that good nutrition is about much more than just the numbers on the nutrition facts panel. Please use the above information as only a small part of what helps you decide what foods are nourishing for you.
Love the way your blog looks, and the pictures. What program do you use to images and fonts. Love it !
I use Photoshop and Illustrator mostly for my blog graphics, plus CSS for styling the actually blog. 🙂
Adorable! I love this idea. I should do this with my smoked salt.
I think I just found what to give my brother in law! And as a side note, I was reading back through the archives of domestic_snark on Livejournal and saw one of your user pics and was all hey I know who that is!
What size of sea salt did you use? Is the coarse too big?
I used fine sea salt. Although I think coarse would be fine, too. 🙂
These are so great!
Quick question – where did you get the jars? They look PERFECT for this!
Hobby Lobby! 🙂
I am in LOVE with your Homemade Holiday series!! Just thought you should know! 🙂