Bring the taste of classic Memphis BBQ to your grill with this wonderful dry rub from Marlowe Restaurant in Memphis (on Elvis Presley Boulevard, of course). A spice rub that is full of flavor without much sugar, just great flavor. Use it with any meat that needs a rub.
The Recipe Story
This recipe is from the famous Marlowe Restaurant in Memphis (on Elvis Presley Boulevard, of course). If you watch a lot of Food Network, you have seen them. It is the mandatory stop in Memphis for ribs.
The recipes were given to Guy Fieri of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives by the restaurant. But the original recipe (apparently already cut down) produced 11 1/2 cups of rub plus you need to put together Marlowe's Black Magic Seasoning, and that recipe is 12 more cups of spices.
My Rating
Oh yeah, it is a strong 5.
Recipe Size
Even though the original recipe was "cut down", I would say it was not really "Cooking For Two" friendly nor home cooking friendly as originally published. So I cut it down to a more reasonable size.
The ratio I used was 1 tablespoon for each cup of recommended seasoning. A 1:16 reduction was making about 3/4 cup of rub, which is about what I use on most recipes. It is now home friendly.
Storage
This will keep fresh in tightly closed containers for up to 6 months. You can go longer, but most of the flavor is lost after the bottle is opened, and by 9 to 12 months, it should be tossed.
It is better to be away from light and cooler but not the refrigerator where moisture could condense on the container during use and then damage the spices later. A full container is good, and a vacuum-sealed would be great.
Black Magic Seasoning
One of the components of this dry rub is Marlowe's Black Magic Seasoning. The restaurant kindly provided that recipe at the same time, but again in a huge size. I have cut that recipe down also in another post.
Do I have to use black magic? No. Although Black Magic Seasoning is full favor seasoning that has many uses, you will still have a great rub without it. The seasoning shares several spices with this rub and does add a touch of other flavors, but it is not mandatory. I can tell the difference a tiny bit, and I think most people won't be able to tell.
Having said that, I usually do the black magic, so I have it for other grilled meats.
Tips
Dry rubs and the sauce you use should complement each other. I suggest my Memphis sauce listed below or another sweeter sauce like a Kansas City or St. Louis sauce. Not a Carolina vinegar-based sauce.
This is generally a rub for ribs, but you can use it anywhere that a dry rub is needed.
There is not much sugar in this rub, so don't pack it on as much as the higher sugar-based rubs.
There is also a large amount of salt between the seasoning salt and regular salt in the recipe. I normally skip about half the normal salt and use coarse salt that cuts it even more.
Memphis Recipes
Memphis Barbecue Sauce - A Wonderful Thing
The Best Grilled Pork Tenderloin - Memphis Style
Grilled Memphis Boneless Country Style Pork Ribs
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📖 Recipe
Marlowe's of Memphis BBQ Dry Rub
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon seasoned salt - Lowery's
- ½ tablespoon chili powder
- ½ tablespoon black pepper
- ½ tablespoon Black Magic spice mix
Instructions
- Mix well.
- Store in an airtight container.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Dry rubs and the sauce you use should complement each other. I suggest my Memphis sauce or another sweeter sauce like a Kansas City or St. Louis sauce. Not a Carolina vinegar-based sauce.
- This is generally a rub for ribs, but you can use it anywhere that a dry rub is needed.
- There is very little sugar in this rub, so don't pack it on as much as the high sugar rubs.
- There is also a large amount of salt between the seasoning salt and regular salt in the recipe. I normally skip about half the normal salt, and use coarse salt that cuts it even more.
- This will keep fresh in tightly closed containers up to 6 months.
- It is better to be away from light and cooler but not the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Publisher's Note: Originally published June 26, 2010, and re-edited with expanded discussion and additional photos.
Margaret Pidde
HELP! Love your recipes and generally trust them without much questioning...
But, you say above in the text "There is no sugar in this rub...".
However sugar is the 2nd ingredient in the recipe.
Was presented with frozen ribs (defrosting as no room in my freezer) and want to pop them in the slow cooker on Low for overnight. No label on package (probably donated from a restaurant that closed here in the time of the Covid-19) that came home from the food shelf. From the size I'd guess they are NOT baby back, but probably spare ribs. My slow cooker is 7qt and I plan to cook them vertically/on edge.
Would love to use your dry rub recipe; please verify ingredients. Thanks, a very faithful reader, Margaret
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Margaret,
My bad on the wording but the ingredients are correct. I should have said it was low in sugar. Usually the sugar will be about 2/3 of the volume but it is much less here. I have fixed all the wording. If somebody is use to a heavy coat of a typical high sugar rub and uses the same amount here, it will be way over spiced.
Hope that helps. If they fit in the crock pot, that works well. I have recipes around here for grill, oven and crockpot.
Hope that helps and thanks for asking so I could fix it.
Dan
Margaret Pidde
Thanks for the quick response Dr Dan. As it turns out, the package of ribs was still hard frozen when I sent you my query and it took another 2-3 days to finish defrosting in my refrigerator (much like a Thanksgiving turkey). Ended up using this rub (modified to our taste preferences, of course) and baking in a 300F oven. The ribs were spare ribs, not baby back, so very dense. There was a lot of fat to trim off and it took closer to 3 hours for the bones to stick out as you've described elsewhere. The flavor from the rub was Very Good. One day I'll try this in my slow cooker, when the timing works out. Thanks again for your thorough coverage and explanations surrounding the cooking of ribs. It's been an education.
Simon
Having first found this recipe on food network I feel your scaling down is well off mark for the reasons..1 tbl of sugar will weigh a lot more than 1 tbl oregano etc better to scale it down weight for weight from the original recipe
DrDan
Hi Simon,
Welcome to the blog.
I just went to the original recipe and everything is in cups and not by weight so my ratio using volume is correct.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/marlowes-bbq-dry-rub-recipe-1939608
You are correct that if they were using weight, things like sugar would weight a lot more. But to do this by weight. First you would convert the volume to weights. Then cut them down proportionally. Then since most people do volume at home and can not measure by weight in small volume at home, convert back to volume. The results would be the same.
Dan