The Best BBQ Chicken Rub Recipe

There  are many great barbeque rub recipes out there and while they all appear very similar it is the subtle differences that make them great. Each meat, type and cut, requires a different barbeque rub recipe. There are many out there for beef and pork, but sadly it seems that a barbeque rub recipe for chicken is somewhat lacking. I have a barbeque chicken rub recipe that I have used for years with great success.

My Classic BBQ Chicken Rub Recipe

First up you need to get the ingredients for the recipe:

1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup salt
1/8 cup garlic powder
1/8 cup dried chipotles peppers ground
1 tablespoon celery salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon pepper; black, fresh ground
1 tablespoon chimayo red chile; ground

This much bbq dry rub will cover one whole chicken. For each additional one you will need  to double the rub. Now you can cook the chicken a number of different ways and I will get into that below. Take all of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. The thing that adds the real kick in this recipe is the chipotles peppers. They, in my mind, blend very well with chicken. Just make sure that you do not use canned chipotles, but rather the dried ones. This will bring out the true smoky flavor of the pepper. If you can not find them try a store  with a Hispanic section. In addition the Chimayo red chile may be tough to find, but you can easily substitute cayenne for it. The flavor profiles on those peppers are very similar.

Once you have coated the chicken you have two methods you can use to cook it. One that works very well is the beer can chicken method. Basically cut the top off of a beer can, fill it with liquid (your choice based on the flavors you want, although I find a mixture of beer and chicken stock to work very well), then insert the can in the chicken and cook on the grill upright. You can also smoke the chicken. Get the smoker up to 225 degrees then smoke for 70 minutes per pound. This could take some time with your average sized chicken, but in my mind is the perfect barbeque rub recipe. Either method will work and the chicken should come out with a nice smoky flavor that is totally unique. Both of these methods make a moist, smoky chicken that is unmistakable.