Chicken Seasoning Rub

This Chicken Seasoning Rub is a delicious herb blend to use on any kind of chicken that’s being roasted, pan-fried, or baked. And this salt-free chicken seasoning is a fun idea for something to give as a holiday gift, and this recipe makes plenty to give away.

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I’ve been doing a series of posts about homemade herb blends to give as gifts and this recipe is for a wonderful Chicken Seasoning Rub. Everyone who cooks chicken would love to get a small container of this for a holiday gift!

This is a blend with lots of herbs that compliment the flavor of baked, pan-fried, or roasted chicken, plus the addition of paprika and a bit of cayenne pepper so you can create that slightly spicy rotisserie chicken flavor at home.

What ingredients do you need?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

• Garlic Powder (affiliate link)
• Dried Thyme (affiliate link)
• Dried Parsley (affiliate link)
• Onion Powder (affiliate link)
• Dried Sage (affiliate link)
• Dried Cracked Rosemary (affiliate link), use cracked rosemary or a slightly smaller amount of ground rosemary, or see notes
• Sweet Hungarian Paprika (affiliate link)
• Cayenne Pepper (affiliate link), more or less to taste

Why am I making my own chicken seasoning rub?

When I decided to make my own chicken seasoning, it was originally because the Szeged Chicken Rub (affiliate link) I love so much became unavailable. And this blend I came up with is just as tasty to use on chicken, and it doesn’t contain any salt. I’m confident that anyone who likes roasted chicken will enjoy this seasoning rub, but it’s also great on any kind of chicken that’s baked or pan-fried.

Prefer to just buy Chicken Seasoning to give away?

Although really like this Chicken Seasoning Rub, I have to confess that once I started finding it again I’ve been happy to just buy Szeged Chicken Rub (affiliate link) for myself and don’t make this much these days. If you don’t have too many friends you’re giving a spice gift to, I might give them the Szeged Chicken Rub. But if you’re making holiday gifts for very many people, making this chicken seasoning rub from the individual spices will definitely be cheaper. Your choice on that!

Suggested uses for Chicken Rub:

• Wash whole chicken and dry with paper towels. Rub outside of the chicken with olive oil or butter, then rub on about 1 T Roast Chicken Seasoning Rub. Roast the chicken or cook on rotisserie, about 15-20 minutes per pound, or until chicken tests 165F/75C degrees with Instant Read Meat Thermometer (affiliate link).
• This chicken seasoning blend is a perfect recipe to season any of my chicken bake recipes or sheet pan meals with chicken. (You can find those in Chicken Recipes.) 
• The Chicken Seasoning Rub would be a tasty addition to any marinade for grilled chicken breasts.
• This seasoning rub would also be great on pork roast or as a seasoning blend for slightly-spicy roasted vegetables.

More Spice Blend Gifts to Make or Buy:

Check out Spice Blends to Give for a Holiday Gift for lots more ideas for seasonal gifts when you don’t want to give sweets!

How to Make Chicken Seasoning Rub:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. Here are the herbs and spices of various brands I combined to make this chicken seasoning, from a big cupboard of spices where I keep large sizes I buy when they’re on sale.
2. The cayenne pepper and paprika give it a lovely salmon color, and it makes the outside of the chicken a beautiful color when it browns, but those can be adjusted to taste.
3. If you don’t have cracked rosemary or ground rosemary, I would buzz the rosemary in the food processor with the steel blade. Nobody like biting into a hard piece of rosemary.)
4. Then combine all the ingredients. You can give them a couple of pulses in the food processor if you like, but I just stirred them together in a bowl.
5. You can put this in jars, but if you’re giving it away to a lot of people you might just want to opt for small plastic bags.

More Herb and Spice Blends from Kalyn:

• Rosemary Salt
• Kalyn’s Herb Blend
• Sugar-Free Montreal Steak Seasoning
• Rosemary Garlic Seasoning
• Kalyn’s Taco Seasoning Mix

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Yield: 4 cups

Chicken Seasoning Rub

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

This Chicken Seasoning Rub is a delicious herb rub to use on any kind of chicken. This makes enough to give for a homemade food gift, so cut it down if you're only making it for yourself.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup garlic powder
• 1/2 cup dried thyme
• 1/2 cup dried parsley
• 1/3 cup onion powder
• 1/3 cup dried sage (see notes)
• 1/3 cup dried rosemary (use cracked rosemary, or see note below)
• 4 T sweet paprika
• 4 T cayenne pepper (or less, but this is only mildly spicy)

Instructions

1. If you don't have cracked rosemary, start by putting the rosemary in the food processor with a steel blade and buzzing it for 2-3 minutes, until all the dried rosemary leaves are broken into small bits.
2. Then add other ingredients and process about 30 seconds, until ingredients seem well combined. (You can also make this by just blending the spices together if you don't mind some bits of dried herb in the mix.
3. This should be stored in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid if you're keeping it for yourself.

Notes

Dried sage is sometimes called rubbed sage.

Nutritional information is based on 1 teaspoon serving size.

This recipe created by Kalyn with inspiration from Szeged Chicken Rub (affiliate link).

Nutrition Information

Yield

192

Serving Size

1 teaspoon
Amount Per Serving Calories 6Total Fat 0gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 1mgCarbohydrates 1gFiber 0gSugar 0gProtein 0g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Herb blends like this Chicken Seasoning Rub have negligible calories or carbs, and would be suitable for any type of diet. This blend doesn’t contain any salt.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Food Gifts to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe for a seasoning blend for chicken was first posted in 2006! The recipe was last updated with more information in 2024. (Many years ago Kalyn’s Kitchen was featured as part of Holiday Recipes at Oprah.com, and this was one of the recipes featured there.)

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