Grilling Season is Here: Try Homemade Tea Rubs!

Time to grill! Chicken, seafood, veggies — and you can add many of your favorite teas to your grilling rubs. Explore different teas, as a rule of thumb try lighter fare with lighter teas.

Green tea is mild and it will pair well with delicate seafood, veggies, and white meat. Use black tea, or a smoky Lapsang souchong, on steak, pork or portobello mushrooms.

Basic Tea Rub Recipe

Use this as a base and add your own variations:

2 tbsp of green or black tea (ground fine in your mortal and pestle)
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

Homemade Steak Seasoning and Rub

4 tsp coarse salt
2 tbsp black tea (ground fine)
1 tbsp cracked pepper
1 tbsp onion flakes
½ tbsp crushed red pepper
½ tbsp thyme
½ tbsp rosemary
½ tbsp coriander seed
½ tbsp dill
1 tsp garlic flakes

Combine ingredients in a glass jar and shake well to combine. If seasonings are whole, process in a blender or food processor so that they’re still large, but not whole.

How to Turn Seasoning into a Rub

Turn any seasoning into a rub by adding either brown sugar or a tablespoon of olive oil. The molasses in brown sugar adds moistness and caramelizes the meat as it cooks.

When working with a rub remember to 1) lay it on thick and 2) let it marinate for several hours.

Recipe for Mightynest.com

Smoked-Tea Beef Rub

1 1/2 cups Lapsang Souchong tea leaves
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup red pepper flakes
1/4 cup chipotle chili powder
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons dried chives
2 tablespoons five spice powder
Enough flank steak to feed four people
Kosher salt and fresh ground white pepper to taste

For the spice rub, combine all ingredients in a bowl. * This recipe makes a LOT of tea rub. Feel free to halve, or even quarter the recipe if you desire. Store leftover rub in a ziploc bag in your freezer, where it will last practically forever. Note: Bulk tea leaves will generally be coarser and will therefor give you and more textured / crunchy coating on the steak. Tea pulled from tea bags will be finer and leave you with a smoother rub.

Remove the steak from the fridge and rub all over with the smoked-tea spice mix. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let sit for about an hour to come to room temperature. Grill over a medium-high flame for only 2-3 minutes per side for medium rare. Let rest 5 minutes before cutting across the grain, and serving with the mango-ginger salsa.

Mango-Ginger Salsa

2 large, ripe mangoes peeled and cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 small red onion cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 Jalapeno pepper, finely minced
1 tablespoon sambal (chili paste)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and finely minced
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl, season to taste with salt and pepper. Use immediately or refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Recipe from: Food52

Enjoy the summer!