When you have an amazing dry rub mix for ribs, you’ll don’t even need to use the BBQ sauce. You might be shocked by this statement, by I promise you it’s true!
I know there’s much debate out there if ribs should be served just with a dry rub for pork ribs, with barbecue sauce, or if the ribs should have both dry rub and sauce. What camp do you usually fall in?
Up until recently, we always put both the dry rub mix and barbecue sauce on our pork ribs, but now that we’ve cut sugar from our diet and came up with a savory and high flavor rub mix for pork ribs, we don’t even add any sauce.
But oh man, you don’t even need sauce if you use our pork rib rub.
And we’ll kid you not, this definitely makes the best dry rub mix for ribs, in our humble opinion.
We also made this dry rub mix without sugar and we used stevia as a sweetener instead. By chance you’re fine with a little sugar and don’t have stevia on hand, you can add in 2 tsp of white or brown sugar as a substitute.
We absolutely love to cook ribs in all sorts of ways, whether it is in a crockpot, on the grill, in an instant pot or oven-baked. This dry rub mix is especially our favorite for making baby back ribs.
The baby back ribs in the photo below were baked in the oven with only a dry rub mix. This mix would taste fantastic on chicken too!
Pork Ribs Recipe Ideas:
Instant Pot Country Style Ribs
Dry Rub for Pork Ribs
The ingredient list for the dry rub mix is listed below, by chance you don’t have all of this in your cupboard already, shopping for spices in the grocery store bulk section is the cheapest way to buy dried herbs and spices.
- 1 Tbsp cumin
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 1 Tbsp ground garlic
- 1 Tbsp ground onion powder
- 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 Tbsp sea salt
- 1 Tbsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp stevia (or 2 tsp brown sugar)
If you aren’t trying to follow a sugar-free diet, by all means, swap the stevia for brown sugar and make this a brown sugar rub for ribs!
How to Make Pork Rib Rub
The pork rib rub is seriously so simple it feels funny to even call this a recipe.
To make the dry rub mix, you simply put the cumin, chili powder, ground garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and sweetener in a small bowl.
Mix all pork rib rub ingredients until combined. It’s that simple!
The pork rib rub recipe makes 7 Tablespoons of dry rub mix, and you’ll need 2+ Tbsp per pork ribs recipe.
Storing Dry Rub Mix
Storing your dry rub for pork ribs works well in a 4 oz small mason jar. Ground spices last up to 2 to 3 years before they start losing their flavor, so this rub should last that long as well.
Although, I highly doubt you’ll be keeping your rub mix in the pantry that long, since I’m sure you’ll be using it up quickly since it simply makes the best ribs!
We use 1/4 cup of rib mix for one rack baby back ribs, we used a little less for our country style ribs since we also add sauce to that recipe.
Other Pork Recipes You’ll Enjoy
- Instant Pot Country Style Ribs
- Baby Back Ribs in Oven
- Instant Pot Bratwurst
- Baked Swedish Meatballs
- Low Carb Baked Pork Chops
Let us know your thoughts and feedback about our dry rub for pork ribs! Comment below, rate the recipe, and/or post your photos on the Pinterest pin. 🙂
Pork Rib Rub
An easy dry rub for pork ribs mix that is so delicious, you won't even need BBQ sauce! Our version is sugar free and makes enough for multiple batches of pork ribs. This makes the BEST pork rib rub!
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp cumin
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 1 Tbsp ground garlic
- 1 Tbsp ground onion powder
- 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 Tbsp sea salt
- 1 Tbsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp stevia (or 2 tsp sugar or brown sugar)
Instructions
- Put all of the ingredients in a small bowl and mix until combined
- Store in a 4 oz jar for up to 2-3 years, until it starts losing flavor.
- The recipe makes 7 Tablespoons of dry rub for pork, most recipes will call for 1-2 Tablespoons of dry rub mixture.
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Becky says
Do you think using Swerve Brown or Lakanto Golden would work in place of the stevia? I plan on smoking these ribs and am just not sure how they hold up with that kind of cooking. Thanks!
WholeLottaYum says
Hi Becky, yes, Swerve or Lakanta should work fine just add a little more of it since Stevia is much sweetener in a small consistency. I haven’t personally tried to smoke ribs with those products, but they should hold up fine. My husband has a smoker and has used Stevia with good results.
Sheldon says
What does 1T mean, tablespoon or teaspoon? Google says it can mean either.
WholeLottaYum says
1 tablespoon! Thanks for asking! 🙂
Patricia Geisenheimer says
Sheldon, when you see a capital “T” next to a number… it most generally means Tablespoon. When it’s a lower case “t” next to a number, it is usually for teaspoon. Hope this helps. 🙂
Chrissy says
Where is the rest of the directions?
WholeLottaYum says
Hi Chrissy~ Thanks for the feedback! I had a pork rib recipe ideas in the post to go with the dry rub but realized they were at the bottom of the post and not as easy to find. I’ve moved the recipe ideas up top. Here’s a couple pork rib recipe ideas we use this dry rub for pork ribs on: https://wholelottayum.com/easy-instant-pot-country-style-ribs/ and also https://wholelottayum.com/baby-back-ribs-in-oven/ . Thanks again! Jen