Homemade Dry Rub for Chicken

Finally a dry rub for chicken with no additives that actually packs a flavor punch! Make a batch of this dry rub with ingredients you likely already have in your pantry and be ready anytime the dry rubbed chicken mood strikes.

Use this dry rub for chicken on the best grilled chicken legs and pair with our olive oil parmesan grilled corn, foil pack grilled red potatoes and grilled peach crumble and you’re off to the perfect summer meal. Enjoy!

The Ultimate Dry Rub for Chicken

We don’t say this lightly, but this dry rub for chicken is THE ultimate dry rub. It’s great on chicken legs, thighs, wings, breasts and more. We’re already planning to try it on slow-roasted pork ribs this weekend, so no need to limit yourself to just poultry for this rub either.

But isn’t it time-consuming to make your own dry rub?! We get this question all the time, and our answer is: it doesn’t have to be! We created this dry rub for chicken with ingredients that you likely already have in your pantry, and what we really love about making our own dry rub at home is that there are NO additives!

No additives + minimal salt

If you turn the label around on many of the store-bought dry rubs, you’ll see a combination of ingredients you can’t pronounce as well as salt and more salt. Not with this dry rub! You’ll have full control of the amount of salt, spice, and sweetness your make at home dry rub has, which is great for so many reasons.

What does this chicken dry rub taste like?

This recipe is the perfect blend of savory, but it’s also slightly sweet and has a hint of spice. It’s made from a base of garlic powder, but the addition of onion powder, chipotle powder, ground cinnamon, and mustard make it uniquely delicious.

Chicken Dry Rub Ingredients

Yay for chicken dry rub ingredients you can pronounce! And yay for ingredients you likely have on hand already! Nobody likes having to spend $30+ on spices that you’ll use infrequently to create a dry rub recipe at home, especially if it doesn’t end up tasting as flavorful as you’d like.

This dry rub is both flavor-packed and includes simple, easy to find ingredients, including:

• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Coconut sugar
• Paprika
• Chili powder
• Ground chipotle powder
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground mustard seed
• Table salt
• Ground pepper

Now, you’ll see in the recipe card the exact amounts of each of these spices, but feel free to tweak the amounts if you like it a little hotter (amp up the chili powder and chipotle powder by a 1/4 teaspoon each) or a little sweeter (amp up the coconut sugar and cinnamon by a 1/4 teaspoon each).

If you like things REALLY hotty hot hot, add a pinch of cayenne. Make this rub your own!

How to Use this Dry Rub

The great thing about a homemade dry rub is that uses are endless. And, it doesn’t even have to stop at chicken! Think pork, beef, veggies, etc.

Cuts of Meat

Good news for you, this is the perfect chicken spice mix to use on any cut of poultry. We’re talking…

• chicken legs
• chicken breast
• whole chicken
• chicken thighs
• chicken wings

Method

You may think dry rubs only come in handy when grilling, but let me tell you…I beg to differ! You can use dry rubs for sauteeing, baking, steaming, Instant Potting and more!

• grilled chicken
• baked chicken
• sous vide chicken
• sauteed chicken
• Instant Pot chicken

I’ve actually used this rub on our Foil Pack Red Potatoes plenty of times and it is so tasty! Try it on our Roasted Red Potatoes, Grilled Carrots, or Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin.

Recipe Pairings

Whether you’re making grilled chicken legs or another meat dry rubbed in this deliciousness, here are some go-to recipe pairings we’re always coming back to to flesh out a top notch meal:

Salads

• Grilled Kale and Watermelon Salad
• Creamy Greek Pasta Salad
• Fresh Caprese Quinoa Salad

Sides

• Foil Pack Grilled Red Potatoes
• Grilled Mediterranean Sweet Corn 
• Vegan Potato Salad

Desserts

• Peanut Butter Banana Nice Cream
• Lemon Vegan Cheesecake Bars
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Fat Bombs

More Rubs and Marinades

• Homemade BBQ Sauce
• Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
• Chimichurri Sauce
• Homemade Fajita Seasoning
• 42 Easy Marinades and Dressings

Watch how to make this recipe!