I’ve always been a fan of a spice rub on pork ribs rather than a sauce.  I don’t know why except I love texture over the sauce.  Sauces also tend to be sweet, which is an issue when eating out.  But even at home I love making spice rubs (dry rubs) for all the proteins my husband Shawn and I enjoy.

Normally salt and sugar are integral elements in dry rubs.  The salt opens our taste buds for more flavour and the sugar caramelizes on the protein, creating a skin to keep juices inside.

In knowing this you can still enjoy salt-free and sugar-free dry rubs.  Rather than needing to open up your taste buds with salt, it may be more healthy to salt detox your palate.  This way your palate becomes more sensitive and you won’t notice the lack of salt in your dry rub.  Our tastebuds rejuvenate themselves every 10 days.  So, if you eliminate salt from your diet for about 10 days you can reset your palate.  By eliminating the salty food you’re accustomed to eating, your taste buds will adjust and reverse their tolerance. 

You also don’t need sugar to hold the juices into your protein.  Before adding a dry rub to your protein, coat it in olive oil.  Dry your protein, coat in olive oil, and then dredge in your rub.  The oil will allow the outside of your protein to sear and seal, thus keeping juices inside.  On some proteins, I like to combine the dry rub with almond flour.  The olive oil and almond flour almost act like a seasoned shake n bake coating on your protein. 

Dry rubs can be made from a number of seasonings and spices.  Experiment to find the flavour combinations you enjoy most. 

Here are my favourites…

KETO, PALEO, WHOLE30 SALT-FREE SUGAR-FREE ULTIMATE STEAK RUB

KETO, PALEO, WHOLE30 SALT-FREE SUGAR-FREE CAJUN SPICE MIX

KETO PALEO WHOLE30 SALT-FREE SUGAR-FREE BEEF SPICE RUB

KETO, PALEO, WHOLE30, SALT-FREE SUGAR-FREE MONTREAL STEAK SPICE

KETO, PALEO, WHOLE30 CHINESE 5 SPICE