Creating your own grilling rub is a great way to add unique flavor to meals, regardless of the cooking method you choose, or your cooking skill level.

Healthy cooking calls for less fats and salts. Many commercially available seasoning mixes for the grill contain a large proportion of salt. Salt is inexpensive and heavy. It’s easy for a manufacturer to weigh-down and thin-out a pre-made grill seasoning mix with salt.

Also, salt has an osmotic effect, it PULLS moisture from food. It’s best to avoid putting salt on protein products until just before cooking, otherwise they’re more likely to dry out.

Why pay someone else to mix your spices for you? A few simple combinations of dry seasonings can have you creating your own grilling rub without the addition of salt and fillers.

Start by reviewing your spice rack and arranging spices into “ethnicities”. As I’ve said before, Ethnic Profiling Is The Key To Cooking With Spices. Simply smell each spice and think what it reminds you of. For example, oregano and basil will certainly remind you of Italian food or tomato sauce. You can create an Italian grilling rub with garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, and basil.

You can now create an endless number of unique dry seasoning combinations. Curry powder, turmeric, celery seed and onion powder will remind you of Indian food, and can add this particular flavor profile to your seasoned ingredient. Cumin, coriander, thyme, and chipotle pepper will combine for a Mexican or Latin-American flavor.

Avoid one of the 5 biggest grilling mistakes most people make without even knowing it and always apply your grilling rub to a DRY product. Your steak or chicken breast should be totally dry before applying the seasoning. Let the item rest at least an hour to allow the seasoning to penetrate the meat.

The real advantage of this type of seasoning is that the cooking method doesn’t really matter. Once you’ve created your favorite dry seasoning mix, you can apply it to something sautéed, grilled, roasted, or even braised!

You can add great flavors to any healthy cooking recipe, no matter HOW it’s cooked, with a grilling rub. It will give you pronounced flavor without having to add fats and salts to your diet.

Do you have a combination of dry seasonings that always produces amazing results?
If it’s not a generational family secret, please share it with a comment below: