Sweet and Spicy Pork Rub

This sweet and spicy pork rub (not too spicy) is the perfect match for pork and chicken. Use this to create a flavour bomb for your next pulled pork or chicken recipes that will keep you coming back for more.

Perfect Pork Rub

The combination of spices in this rub make it ideal, not just for pulled pork, but also pork chops of pork fillet. It doesn’t really matter the flavour is like a party in your mouth, truly, it is.

Most people will have these ingredients in their pantry cupboard at home so why not make up a batch or two to keep for later. You can also adjust the amount of the individual spices to your taste buds.

This is the exact same rub I used on my Smoked Pulled Pork post. Like it extra hot n spicy, add more cayenne pepper, or even throw a little shake of chilli in there as well.

Don’t worry if you can’t use the rub all at once as they are dry spices and will store for ages ready for your next pork masterpiece, and they’ll be ready to go this time.

Best Pork Rub Ingredients

There’s only 8 ingredients in this sweet and spicy pork rub so check you have them in your cupboard or grab from the shop before you start.

Brown Sugar
Smoked Paprika
Coarse Salt
Ground Cumin
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Black Pepper
Cayenne Pepper

How to Make Sweet and Spicy Pork Rub

Making this sweet and spicy rub at home is the easy part, in fact it’s child’s play.

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well with a spoon or fork until all of the spices are mixed in and any lumps are broken up.

Use it straight away or store it in your cupboard in an airtight container or jar ready for when required.

Tips for Making Sweet and Spicy Pork Rub

Here are a few quick tips to get the most out of this great tasting pork rub.

Be sure to use Smoked Paprika otherwise it just won’t carry the same flavour. Plain paprika is not much more than just colour so keep that in mind.

Adjust the flavour or heat to suit your taste buds. The pork rub has just over a handful of ingredients which makes it really easy to adjust the flavour.

Make the rub well in advance otherwise your big pork butt just might be larger than anticipated and you may find you don’t have enough rub to finish the job. This brings us to our next tip.

Make a double batch at least, this way you can be sure to have enough sweet and spicy pork rub to cover your pork shoulder or Boston butt. You can always store what’s left for next time.

Rub in well and cover every side of your meat. Get every nook and cranny so that the flavour gets right into the pork or chicken.

Apply the rub at least an hour, up to 2 hours, before you are going to barbecue, grill or smoke your pork. This gives the rub time to soak into the pork.