Monday's Food Tip: Try This Spicy Chicken Rub!

If you’ll be grilling chicken today for a holiday barbeque, try this spicy rub. You probably already have all the ingredients for this mixture in your cupboard. It makes enough rub to coat about 4 large chicken breasts or 1 small (cut up) chicken. Use chicken that still has the bones and at least some skin. As the chicken grills, the sugar and fat melt with the herbs and spices so the meat is moist and flavorful.




SPICY CHICKEN RUB


1/4 c. sugar

1 Tbsp. salt

2 tsp. freshly ground pepper

1 1 /2 tsp. lemon zest

2 Tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. oregano

2 tsp. dry mustard

2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 1/2 tsp. onion salt

1 1 /2 tsp. garlic powder


Wash the chicken pieces. Blend together all the rub ingredients in a large shallow bowl or other wide dish. Dip each piece of chicken into the spice mixture. Rub the mixture into the skin, and under the skin, of each piece of meat. Put the coated chicken pieces in a large resealable plastic bag and place the bag in the refrigerator until time to grill the chicken.

When it’s time to cook the chicken, grill it as you normally would. It will smell wonderful as it cooks!

NOTE: The longer you leave the chicken in the rub mixture in the refrigerator, the better (but allow for at least 3 hours).