BBQ Seasoning
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This homemade BBQ seasoning is made without sugar, but you’d never know it! Add all the rich, smokey flavors you love to your favorite barbecue recipes without any added sugar. Mix up a batch today and get ready for grilling season.
Why This Recipe is a Favorite
Get your grilling recipes ready, because it only takes two minutes to make this fabulous BBQ seasoning blend! It’s such an easy way to add great flavor your home cooked meals.
Once you have it mixed up, you can use this sugar-free spice blend to jazz up a variety of foods. Use it on everything from grilled chicken and pork chops to ribs and veggies. You’ll be a grill master in no time.
One big benefit is that you control the ingredients in your spice blend! Tons of premade seasonings include additives like corn starch, sugar, and maltodextrin, which aren’t necessary! It’s why we love homemade seasonings like this one and our air fryer dry rub.
Ingredients
The best thing about this barbecue seasoning spice blend is that you probably already have all of the ingredients in your pantry. And if you don’t, you can grab them at any grocery store.
Here’s what you need:
- Chili Powder
- Salt
- Smoked Paprika — hot paprika and regular paprika works too!
- Black Pepper
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Cayenne Pepper, optional
- Swerve or Stevia, optional
How to Make the BBQ Seasoning
Making homemade rubs and seasonings is easy! You can throw all the ingredients into a bowl and stir it up, or toss them into a mason jar and shake it up!
Then funnel it into a spice jar for use in all your favorite barbecue recipes.
How to Use a BBQ Dry Rub
To use as a rub, start by simply patting the meat dry with some paper towels.
Season it liberally with the spice blend, rubbing it into the meat on all sides until it’s fully coated. For best results, let it sit for 5 minutes or so and you’ll see the meat start to glisten and “sweat”. Then, it’s ready to grill or cook however you want!
How to Store It
Transfer the spice mix to an airtight container or Ziploc bag. Store it at room temperature. I like to keep my spices in small mason jars, labeled with the date I made it and readily accessible in my pantry.
Recipes with BBQ Seasoning
This BBQ seasoning is very versatile and has the perfect blend of spices. You can add a bit to almost anything with BBQ flavor or BBQ sauce that could use a little extra oomph, like meat rubs for chicken, pork, beef, and vegetables. If you’d serve it at your next barbecue, you can use this spice rub!
Chicken: It’s delicious with chicken, especially. Use it in BBQ chicken drumsticks or BBQ chicken lettuce wraps or even sprinkle it over chicken thighs, chicken wings, chicken breasts and more!
Pork: You can rub it onto pork chops or pork shoulders.
Beef: BBQ rub is also a great seasoning for meatloaf or even beef brisket.
I like to season my meat with the blend before cooking it on the grill or in the slow cooker or Instant Pot.
FAQ
For best taste, use any of your homemade spice blends within a year, unless the expiration on any of the individual spices comes before that.
I typically use mine up faster than that, since this recipe only yields about 2 servings. *To easily multiply the recipe below, tap the serving size and use the slider bar below!
If you make this recipe, please give it a star rating and leave a comment below to let me know how it went!
Sugar Free BBQ Seasoning
Ingredients
- 1½ teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper optional, depending on how spicy you want it
- ¼ teaspoon swerve or 1/8 teaspoon stevia, optional
Instructions
- Measure each ingredient and add to a small dish. Use a spoon to mix together well, until fully combined.
- Transfer the mixture to an airtight container and store at room temperature until you're ready to use it.
I made this! I replaced teaspoons with tablespoons, doubled the amounts and added a wee amount of Cumin and Turmeric. It was awesome, correction, it IS awesome.