BBQ Rub Ratio Calculator
Enter your meat weight and pick a rub style — get exact ingredient amounts scaled to your cook. Tune the sweet, heat, and smoke balance, then save a short link to your custom blend.
That is about 4.00 lb of meat to season.
💡 Apply a heavy, even coat the night before — the long cook needs it.
Fine-tune the blend
Nudge the balance to match your taste. Each slider scales its spice family up or down proportionally — the rest of the recipe stays intact.
Memphis Sweet for Brisket
≈ 7.4 oz total rub- SugarBrown Sugar6 tbsp
- SpicePaprika4 tbsp
- SaltSalt1 tbsp + 1 tsp
- SpiceBlack Pepper2 tsp
- SpiceGarlic Powder2 tsp
- SpiceOnion Powder2 tsp
- SpiceDry Mustard1 tsp
- HeatCayenne1 tsp
Save & share this recipe
Get a short link that reopens this exact weight, cut, style, and tuning — handy for your phone at the grill or sharing with a cook-team.
How to use a dry rub
A dry rub does two jobs: the salt seasons deep into the meat and the spices build the bark — that crusty, flavor-packed exterior every pitmaster chases. Getting the ratio right matters more than the brand of paprika you reach for. Too much salt and the meat turns hammy; too much sugar over a long cook and the surface scorches before the inside is done.
Scale the rub to the weight of your cut, not by eye. A 12-pound brisket needs roughly three times the rub of a 4-pound pork loin, and the calculator above keeps every spice in the same balanced proportion as you scale. Apply large cuts the night before so the salt has time to work; season quick-cooking chicken and salmon right before they hit the grate.
Picking the right style
Regional styles are less about rules and more about how the rub behaves on a given cook. Texas Bold leans on just coarse salt and pepper because brisket spends hours over heat where sugar would burn. Memphis Sweet and Kansas City Classic layer in brown sugar for ribs and pork, where the sticky bark is the whole point. Carolina Tangy swaps sugar for mustard and vinegar powder, brightening pulled pork without weighing it down. Cajun Heat pushes cayenne and herbs for chicken, shrimp, and grilled salmon.
Frequently asked questions
How much rub do I need per pound of meat?
Plan on roughly 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of finished rub per pound. The calculator scales each spice in a balanced ratio so you mix only what the cook needs and avoid waste.
Should I add sugar to a brisket rub?
Skip it. Texas-style brisket relies on coarse salt and pepper because the long, hot cook can scorch sugar into a bitter bark. Save sweet rubs for ribs, pork, and chicken.
When should I apply the rub?
For large cuts like brisket and pork shoulder, rub the night before so the salt can penetrate. For quick-cooking chicken and salmon, season just before grilling so the surface stays dry enough to crisp.
Can I mix a big batch ahead of time?
Yes — multiply the per-pound ratio and store the dry blend in an airtight jar. It keeps for months, though ground spices lose punch over time, so blend what you will use within a season.