Rubs and Marinades. What are They And When To Use Them

Rubs and marinades are both great ways of introducing new and exciting flavors into your food, but they both do it in very different ways. Let’s take a look at the difference between rubs and marinades and when you may want to use one over the other.

A rub, also known as a dry rub, like the name implies is composed of all dry ingredients. On the other hand, a marinade is made up of a mixture of dry spices and an acidic liquid. Some common liquids that are used are vinegar, citrus or wine.

Most dry rubs are made from a mixture of sea salt, sugar, and a mix of spices and can be applied to your food ahead of time and then left to rest. But if you decide you want to try something new at the last minute they can be added on short notice.

The main advantage of using a marinade is the acidic liquid. It will break down the meat and change the texture, not just the taste of your food. But this change takes time; therefore, marinating your food must be done ahead of time.

Now that you have the basic idea of what rubs and marinades both are, let’s take a look at the advantages of one over the other and when you may want to marinate versus when you may want to use a dry rub.

When To Use Dry Rubs

There’s really no wrong time to use a dry rub. It really all depends on your mood and how much flavor you’re looking for. Using a dry rub on something like a steak can help to spice things up. If your using it on something like chicken, you can get a great barbecue flavor even if you don’t cook it on the grill.

Advantage or dry rubs

One big advantage of using a dry rub is that you can decide to do it on short notice. Or for that matter no notice if you decide you just don’t want plain chicken tonight, you can go ahead and put a rub on and get to cooking.

Don’t get me wrong if you decide the night before that you wanted to try a new dry rub, go ahead and put it on the meat right away. The longer it sits, the more flavor penetrates into your food. Just be careful on some thinner cuts of meat: a rub can pull too much moisture out.

Another great advantage of it is that it doesn’t add any extra moisture to your food that might inhibit you from getting a good sear. When you add more moisture to your food it has to start evaporating before it starts to cook. This is a problem you’ll never have if you go with a dry rub.

Drawbacks of dry rubs

Now there’s some drawbacks to using a dry rub. If you get them to hot when your cooking, spices and herbs can start to burn. You’ll end up with a bitter tasting meal afterwards. But if you cook them right you’ll end up with a nice crust and a mouthful of flavor with every bite. If you use a rub with sugar in it, you’ll end up with a nice caramelized coating on your food.

If you would like to learn more about dry rubs, you can check out my article (What Does Dry Rub Mean) and learn everything you need to know about how to use a dry rub, what dried spices are, and how long to leave meat rest with a rub on it. There are even some ideas on how to make your own dry rubs.

When To Use Marinades

Just like dry rubs there’s no right or wrong time to use a marinade. Although if you’re working with a tougher piece of meat, using a marinade is advisable due to its ability to help tenderize the meat.

Unlike a dry rub, marinades are not applied to your food, but more so your food is immersed in it and left to rest for an amount of time. This allows the seasonings to penetrate into the meat and infuse it with flavor. It’s also going to break down some of the tissue in the meat and help tenderize it.

When should you use a marinade over a rub

On your leaner pieces of meat, a marinade can be a great way to help tenderize them. Like I mentioned above the acidic liquid or the enzymes in a marinade are going to start to breakdown the tissue in the meat. That means it’s tenderizing well, and it also is infusing with flavor all at the same time.

But you have to be careful when using a marinade. You have to watch with thin cuts of meat or softer pieces of meat like fish or thin chicken fillets. Marinating for too long can break meat down too much and completely ruin it by turning it into mush.

What’s A Marinade Doing?

So I’ve mentioned a couple times acidic liquids and enzymes are tenderizing your meat. What’s actually going on here is they are breaking down the bonds between the muscle fibers in your meat. That’s going to help give you that flakiness when you eat the meat later.

How long is too long

Knowing what’s in your marinade will help you determine how long you should allow your meat to rest in it. In the same token the type of meat and the thickness of it will help determine the amount of time you need. As a good rule, I wouldn’t do a cut of chicken or fish for more than 30 minutes to 1 hour. But something in the red meat family that’s an inch or more thick then you may consider doing 3 or 4 hours or even overnight.

Advantage of Marinades

By far the biggest advantage of using a marinade is that it tenderizes the meat while it’s infusing it with flavor all at the same time. This is going to be excellent in cases where your cooking over high heat, like on the grill in the backyard. There’s a lot less chance of you drying your meat out and ending up with dry meat afterwards.

Drawbacks of Marinades

By far the biggest drawback of using a marinade is that you can actually over marinade some cuts of meat. Acidic marinades will actually dry meat out and make it tough if they’re left soaking for too long. Marinades with lots of enzymes can actually completely dissolve the meat and leave you with a bag full of mush later on.

What’s better rubs or marinades

There really isn’t one that’s better than the other in my opinion. They both have there places in the culinary world, and they both add ample amounts of flavor to your food.

I’m sure you’ll find yourself from time to time needing to use a marinade over a rub, perhaps on your leaner pieces of meat just to get it a little tender before you throw it on the grill.

There’s going to be times when you just want to add a little spice to your chicken or your fish just to change it up. I’m sure your favorite rub will come to mind and that’s what you’ll go for.

As always, happy grilling!