Lamb Rub: Savory Dry Rub for Lamb & Game Meat

When seasoning lamb, you must exercise some moderation. Typical BBQ rubs that are too sweet and spicy simply don’t cut it.

When it comes to herbs and spices for your next lamb dish, savory is your best friend.

We eat a lot of lamb in my family, and I’ve discovered a fantastic combination of herbs and spices to employ to produce a great savory crust to accentuate the taste of the lamb.

Why buy a pre-mixed packet rub when you probably have the ingredients in your pantry?

That is why we all like how simple and fast it is.

Everything these days is about how fast you can get it, but I’m sure most of you have all of these components in your pantry, so weighing them out and mixing them up will be significantly faster than visiting to the local shop and getting a pre-mixed rub.

You may also customize the taste to your preference. You know precisely what goes into it, so you know exactly what you and your family are eating.

How to make it and to tweak it to your taste

Although lamb and other game meats may not like particularly sweet or spicy flavors, it doesn’t mean you can’t add a little to this dish.

Personally, I would add more pepper for the hot factor rather than chilli, and if you wanted to sweeten it up a little, I would go towards mint rather than the sugar bowl.

I believe it is much too simple to add chile for spice and sugar for sweetness. Finally, all rubs begin to taste the same, and we must remember that proteins not only taste differently, but they also respond differently to varied tastes.

Having said that, I’ve discovered that with a few tweaks, this rub recipe works incredibly well with chicken and seafood.

You are welcome to jump ahead to the recipe, but if you read on, you may just pick up a small trick or two that will improve your BBQ.

Check out my grilled lamb backstrap recipe to learn how this rub is produced and utilized.

Here are a couple more ideas for varying the flavors:

• Add a couple of tablespoons of black pepper for extra heat. For an additional kick, sprinkle with mustard powder.

• Add two or three tablespoons of dried mint leaves to the rub to sweeten it up.

• To make it suitable for poultry, I increase the salt, lemon pepper, and add a couple of tablespoons of paprika.

• For a seafood combination, I use half the rosemary, twice the salt, and use two tablespoons powdered garlic for the granulated garlic.

For a different taste profile, try our lemon pepper lamb rub.

Make it ahead of time

This rub can survive for months if stored in an airtight container. So create a batch and have it on hand at all times.

Just remember to give it a thorough stir before each usage since there are varied sizes of herbs and spices and the smaller bits tend to settle to the bottom over time.

By mixing it up before each usage, you can ensure that each cook gets the same taste.

You may create other types right away, but I recommend starting with the basic rub and then, if you want to modify it for a different meal, mix it up, take out half a cup or two, and add your choice of herbs or spices to change the taste profile to a sweeter or spicy conclusion.

Allowing a rub time to act on the protein

Allow plenty of time for a rub to activate and begin to permeate its tastes into a protein. As a result, I try to massage my meat as soon as I take it out of the fridge to get it to room temperature before cooking.

Allowing the herbs and spices to infiltrate your meat will only increase your enjoyment of the dish at the end of the day.

Recipes to try this lamb rub on

• How to Smoke a Whole Lamb
• Smoked Leg of Lamb With all the Trimmings
• Wraps of smoked lamb with baba ganoush and chimichurri
• Lemon & Rosemary Grilled Lamb Ribs