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If you’re looking for bbq dry rub for pork, barbecue spice mix or bbq dry rub for chicken, this homemade BBQ seasoning recipe is all you need. With sweet, spicy and smokey flavors, it will surely transform any ribs, pork, chicken or roast to taste like you’re on a BBQ competition team. While you can use any sweetener that you prefer, I use a brown sugar replacement to have all the flavors of bbq without refined sugar. Use this on my air fryer ribs, keto ribs, air fryer bbq wings, crockpot bbq chicken wings and more.

Why Make This
- Competition Team Flavor: this easy BBQ dry rub recipe uses simple spices, but has all the flavor of rubs you might find on a BBQ competition team.
- Option without sugar: most bbq dry rub recipes include brown sugar. This recipe includes all the flavor of brown sugar, while using a 1:1 brown sugar substitute.
What is BBQ Seasoning Made of?
Making your own homemade bbq seasoning is super easy. All you need are a few spices and a air tight storage container. For this recipe, you’ll need to gather the following:
- Smoked Paprika: this gives the bbq seasoning a smoky taste without any smoke or grilling.
- Cayenne Pepper: you can adjust this to taste. I personally like sweet and spicy flavors in my bbq spice mixes.
- Brown Sugar: In this recipe, I’m using a keto brown sugar because it tastes the same as regular brown sugar without actually having any sugar. You can pick this up in many grocers in the baking aisle.
- Sea Salt: I use fine grain sea salt
- Chili Powder
- Black Pepper
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Italian Seasoning
- Dried Thyme

How to Make BBQ Seasoning
- Add all of the spices to a glass jar.
- Shake or whisk until incorporated.

Top Tips & FAQs
- Allow the bbq seasoning to sit on the meat: similar to my chicken dry rub, I recommend allowing this bbq seasoning to sit on the meat for at least four hours. This allows all the flavors to mix with the meat. It also creates a syrup like coating that caramelizes when the meat is cooking.
- Use regular brown sugar or keto brown sugar for the same results: you can certainly use whatever sweetener you prefer, but I find that I get the same results using keto brown sugar.
- Use two tablespoons of bbq seasoning rub per pound of meat: I’ve used this on chicken and pork. I personally enjoy two tablespoons per pound of meat.
When I make things like my keto ribs or air fryer ribs, I sit the dry rub on the meat overnight (or about 6-8 hours).
Yes. This allows the flavors to soak into every part of the meat.
6-8 hours.
When using this bbq rub on chicken, I find that you don’t need as much time. You can sit the rub on chicken for at least 4 hours. For chicken wings, I’ve had success using it right away.
Recipes to Enjoy This BBQ Seasoning Recipe With
- Keto Ribs
- Air Fryer BBQ Wings
- BBQ Chicken Thighs
- Air Fryer Frozen Wings
- Air Fryer Ribs
- Best Keto Sides for BBQ
If you try this recipe, please stop back and leave it a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Stay connected & share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!

BBQ Seasoning & Dry Rub Recipe
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Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 tbsp Cayenne Pepper
- 2 tsp Chili Powder
- 1 tbsp Black Pepper
- 1.5 tbsp Garlic Powder
- 2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1.5 tbsp Natural Ancient Sea Salt
- 1.5 tbsp Italian Seasoning
- 1.5 tbsp dried thyme
- 1/2 cup Keto Brown Sugar Replacement
Instructions
- Add all of the spices to a glass jar.
- Shake or whisk until incorporated.
Nutrition Details
The nutrition facts come from entering the recipe ingredients into Spoonacular API, a database of food ingredients. They may vary for any recipe based on the exact product used. The keto sweeteners I use have 0g net carbs & are not included because sugar alcohols do not impact most people. This is provided as a courtesy, but you can do your own calculations if you wish!
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