Smoked Paprika Rub is the perfect dry rub recipe for pork, chicken and even seafood. This homemade BBQ rub is one of those spices everyone should have on hand for grilling season.
This smoked paprika rub has a wonderful smoky flavour which makes it the ideal dry rub for grilling. I’m obsessed with smoked paprika so I had to develop a rub dedicated to this amazing spice.
Having smoked paprika rub in your dry rub spice arsenal is like having a secret ingredient that you aren’t sure whether to tell the world about or not. One of those things you almost want to keep to yourself because it’s so good. But that would be wrong. Things this good need to shared with the world. Shouted from the rooftops. Used in every dish you can find reason to use it in. It’s my secret weapon when grilling, and cooking in general. The flavour this imparts is beyond words. You need to try it for yourself to see why I sing its praises so loudly, and publicly.
When I cook indoors I whip out smoked paprika often. It has such a smoky, earthy flavour to it. So, it lends itself perfectly to grilling as well. It’s not only great in rubs, but it’s also amazing in barbecue sauces. It really is a wonderful spice.
I generally have a hard time finding it locally. I ended up scoring a bottle when my daughter went shopping state-side. She goes over about once a month. I mentioned I wanted a bottle this past spring and she surprised by remembering and picking me up some. She’s cool like that. Always looking out for her mom.
To be clear, I suggest starting with less and making sure you like the taste. It’s one of those spices that a little goes a long way. I happen to love it so I use quite a good amount of it in this rub. You could dial that back and start with 1/2 to 1 tablespoon to make sure it’s not too intense for you. I’d hate to put you off loving smoked paprika by giving you too much of it on your first go with it. But I also write my recipes the way we use them, and we like a lot of this stuff. You’ve been warned.
Grill Tip:
With any rubs or spice blends you need to use your judgement about your own taste. It’s okay to adjust the amounts to your own needs. I am constantly playing around with measurements and will adjust based on lots of variables. If we have young kids visiting I’ll dial back the heat a lot. You always need to keep your guests in mind when entertaining. While I love heat and smoky flavours, I tend to lighten up when we have other people here. It’s just the right thing to do. Always put your guests first and think about their palates as well as your own.
Are you a heat lover or a more mild spice type of person?
We always thought we had a high heat tolerance. Then last year we went on our annual trip to St. Jacobs, Ontario. They have an olive oil/sauce tasting bar there that will blow your mind. It’s set up like a bar and instead of alcohol it’s all oils, sauces and condiments. You get to taste test them before buying. It’s a spectacular place to visit. We did a heat test to see what our heat tolerance levels were. Both myself and my daughter thought we had a real high tolerance. Turns out we are both sissies and our heat scale is pretty low. It was cool to find that out and play around with different heat levels. I thought for sure we’d both be really high on the heat scale. Not so much! Total sissies!
I really hope you get to try this one out. Smoked Paprika is an amazing thing. I want you to fall in love with it just like I did.
More Dry Rub and Sauce Recipes
- Italian Herb Rub
- Bring da Heat Rub
- Homemade Peach Barbecue Sauce
- Bacon Barbecue Sauce
- Chimichurri Sauce
Places to stalk Kiss My Smoke!
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Smoked Paprika Rub
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika (start with less your first time and adjust to your taste)
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp garlic powder or salt
- 1 tbsp onion powder or salt
Instructions
- In a bowl combine all the spices and mix well.
- Transfer to a spice jar, or mason jar, and store in a cool, dry, dark space until needed.
- When using coat your meat first with some oil. Then sprinkle the rub over top and rub it into the meat. Make sure it gets everywhere.
- Cover the meat and pop in the fridge for a couple of hours, or overnight if you want a really intense smoky flavour.
- Make sure you take the meat out of the fridge about 30 minutes before grilling. Do not grill cold meat.
Notes
Nutrition
Now be confident and get your grill on!
Kim xx
I have some smoked paprika I use on baby back ribs…so I have all the ingredients for this lovely rub. I’ll use it next weekend if we grill some chicken…it sounds perfect!
I love it on ribs. And pretty much everything else. It’s so good.
Thanks so much Liz.
We used this as a rub for a slow cooker pork loin! so so good! My husband used a healing tablespoon of smoked paprika instead of 2 and it was perfrct!
I’m so glad you liked it.
Hi Kim- love your new site. I agree, smoked paprika is a must with a bbq rub, I use it on everything!
Awe, thanks so much for stopping by Robyn. It’s a thrill to have you here.
It is just so good. Something about that smoky, earthy taste just does it for me every time. It can be hard to find here so I’m having my daughter grab more in the states. So much easier to get there.
I love smoked paprika! I love dry rub so I want to make this!
Me too, it’s just perfection. Let me know what you think of it when you make it. Thanks for visiting.
Love big batches of herb mixes and spice rubs! This sounds great.
Thanks Kita. I like to keep lots on hand. That way when I’m feeling lazy I can just pull them out without much fuss.
I have been perfecting rubs for over a year or so. I have tasted hundreds if not thousands.
This is the most wonderful rub I have ever tasted. It is so versatile and can be kicked up with the addition of some other ingredients such as habanero etc etc. My wife and I are not into heat so this is perfect. Thank you for changing my taste buds.
Do you have any more to share?
I love your comments. I was off work due to illness but I’ll be back posting this week. I have some others to share. I love rubs so there will definitely be more.
I JUST FOUND YOUR ITALIAN HERB RUB. ABSOLUTE PERFECTION!!
I went looking for a rub that specifically uses smoked paprika and isn’t too spicy. Yours came up and it’s perfect! Thank you for posting!
Thanks so much Theresa. I love spices but I don’t like them to be overpowering.
Love this rub!! I tried it tonight on pork tenderloin which I cut into medallions, flattened a bit, then grilled on my electric grill inside. So tasty! I’m so happy to have found found this nice little recipe and the delicious smoked paprika at the grocery store today.
Use yellow mustard instead of the oil
It acts a glue for the rub and does impart mustard flavor after chicken is smoked..
trust me you’ll love it!!
I’ll give that a try! I use mustard for pork a lot.