A simple coffee rub made in minutes with ingredients you should already have in your pantry. Once you try this, you’ll be making it again and again. Try it on chicken, pork, beef, or even vegetables. You’re gonna love this rub. Oh yes you are.

A decorative pewter spoon filled with coffee rub with some spilled over.

If you’ve been following me then you know how I like to make my own spice combinations and rubs. Well, my friends, I wanted to try one with coffee and whipped up this batch of my soon-to-be famous coffee rub, and let me tell you, it’s pretty damn amazing. I mean, just ask me and I’ll tell you how amazing it is!

I saw a coffee rub at Trader Joe’s and found it intriguing because it was made with coffee. Duh, hence the name coffee rub. I tried it once and thought it was very good. But it’s not available year round. I didn’t know my tastebuds were on a schedule, so being me, I decided to make it myself.

The ingredients on my coffee rub might not match up to the Trader Joe’s version but when I tasted it, I thought it was pretty amazing. In fact, I ran around the house with a spoon and made everyone in my family taste it and they thought it was amazing too.

The next logical step was to actually try it on something so I liberally sprinkled it over some chicken thighs and let me tell you it was so good, I had to make it again that week. I have the recipe for those juicy flavorful thighs here. I’m sure Google is loving my key words in this post!

So my friends, if you want something different and delicious, and you have a few minutes, make this coffee rub. It doesn’t make a lot so you don’t have to worry about having tons of it around to use up. But, I know I don’t have to tell you that you can scale this recipe up or down to your liking, right? Ya, I know you are all too smart for that. I don’t like blogs that make me feel dumb. I even wrote about it.

A tablespoon on its side filled with some coffee rub with some spilling over .

Sprinkle this on whatever you like and let me know what you think.

If you love this coffee rub then you need to try:

Taco seasoning

Sweet and spice BBQ rub

Adobo seasoning

Tgc spice rub

Life is too short for mediocre food.

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee Rub

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Makes ~¼ cup

Prep Time: 5

Author: Natalie Gregory

Ingredients

1 tablespoon ground coffee
1 tablespoon kosher salt or to taste
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon granulated onion
1 teaspoon granulated garlic

Instructions

In a bowl, mix all the rub ingredients until combined.
Sprinkle and rub on chicken, ribs, brisket, pork, or chops.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

Notes

Recipe can be doubled, tripled, etc.

If stored, it may clump because of the sugar. Just break it up and it will be fine.

Nutritional Information

I don't post the nutritional value because I don't trust the accuracy of the nutritional apps. I’m not a nutritionist and don't want to post misinformation.

Did you make this recipe? Tag @thegeneticchef and use #thegeneticchef and tell me all about it!