Skip The Cayenne — This Is The Best Spice To Pair With Honey In A Rub

Creating a spice rub can be tricky, considering the wide array of available spices, how compatible they are with different meats, and the inevitable personal flavor preferences. Adding a very specific binding ingredient multiples the conundrum, especially when it's the remarkably sweet flavor and sticky texture of honey. That gives new meaning to the sweet-and-savory concept, which is exactly what happens with typical honey rubs. 

While popular spices for honey rubs are cayenne pepper and paprika, we decided to widen the possibilities by consulting an expert, celebrity chef Jeff Mauro, who partnered with Bayer Aspirin to promote heart health. While acknowledging that smoked paprika does go well with honey, he revealed a different option with more depth, flavor, and a little heat: chipotle powder. With chipotle, he says, "you get the smoky with the honey and the sweet."

"I'm not a big cayenne fan, because it doesn't really bring flavor, just heat," he explains. "So if I'm going to put heat in a rub, I like getting double duty with the smoky flavors from the chipotle powder." Those two ingredients provide the bulk of a nice honey rub for various types and cuts of meats. But there are actually two more background actors in the story here, ones that provide subtle hints rather than show-stealing performances.

Honey and chipotle are merely the base of Mauro's flavorful sweet-heat rub, but there's a bit more to the equation. His method is to also add a little hint of onion and garlic, but in a specific format: granulated, dehydrated garlic and onion, not the powdered forms. "I mean, half the powder goes into the atmosphere when you try to work," he says. 

Now you've got a lovely honey-chipotle rub  — but what kind of meat is the most compatible blind date? In Mauro's opinion, it's pork, particularly country-style pork ribs. They're affordable for most families and flexible enough for smoking, braising, or whatever you choose. He also provides a big tip on marrying the honey-chipotle rub with pork. "Sometimes I'll do a little cheat," Mauro reveals, "and I'll do a pork shoulder in the oven, low and slow with a nice rub on it; you pull it and mix it with all the juice that it rendered with, and then you can eat that for days."

Mauro also shares something his teenage son loves. You use the rub on the bottom and top of a piece of pork, adding extra on the top, and then put it in a nonstick skillet and let it caramelize. "It's like you got this hash almost, just full little pork." He also agrees that it's pretty good for breakfast as well; just add a couple of eggs and some sweet potatoes.