Delicious Recipes for Coffee-Based Meat Rubs

Did you know that coffee is a natural meat tenderizer? It’s possesses some of the necessary acid compounds for breaking down the connective tissues, helping to create a more tender, juicy meat for your enjoyment.

There are multiple popular methods of incorporating coffee with meat. Some folks use liquid forms of coffee to create marinades or brines. But one of the most popular uses of coffee with meat is using ground coffee in coffee rubs. In this blog post we’ll be sharing some coffee rub recipes for you to try out.

How to Use Coffee In a Meat Rub

Obviously, there’s a wide variety of coffee choices and options for using coffee in a meat rub.

Some people like to use an instant coffee in their rubs since it tends to break down and dissolve better and doesn’t burn as quickly as actual coffee. However, there is also a likely trade off in both the tenderizing ability of instant coffee as well as the obvious lower quality of coffee flavor.

We like to use a medium to dark roast coffee that is finely ground (think espresso grind) for our coffee rubs. This fine grind both makes so that it doesn’t create a coffee crunch on your meat and allows it to mix in better with the other ingredients and blend into the meat better.

Is the Coffee Flavor Strong in Coffee Rubs?

No, not really. Most coffee meat rubs incorporate a lot of other ingredients as well. The coffee flavor provides a subtle smoky coffee flavor that blends especially well with pork and beef flavors. A lot of coffee rub recipes call for brown sugar or some other form of sweetener in the rub, making for a delicious blend of sweet and smoky.

Delicious Burger Recipe with a Coffee Rub

A Delicious Grilled Burger Coffee Rub Recipe from Javataza Customer Laurel Bennetch

Makes 8-9 mouthwatering 1/4 pound burgers

Burger Recipe

2 lbs hamburger

1 egg

1/2 c bread crumbs

1/2 c milk

2 T sour cream

3/4 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 T BBQ sauce

Instructions:

1. Thoroughly mix hamburger, egg, milk, and bbq sauce together.
2. Combine all dry ingredients, add to burger and mix well.
3. Shape into 1/4 pound burger patties (or desired burger size)

Coffee Rub Recipe

3 T finely ground coffee

1 T salt

1 T paprika

1 T brown sugar

1 T pepper

1 T onion powder

1 T garlic powder

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients together and stir well
2. Sprinkle generously on both sides of each burger
3. Grill to desired temperature and enjoy with your favorite burger toppings

Amazing Coffee Rub Recipe for Mouthwatering Grilled Pork Chops

A Favorite Coffee Rub for Grilled Pork Chops

Coffee Rub Recipe

2 T finely ground coffee (

2 T Cane Sugar

1 ½ T Sorghum Molasses

1 T Smoked Paprika

1 t Dried Onion flakes or powder

1 ½ t Salt

½ t Black Pepper

½ t Oregano

½ t Chili Powder

Sugar and Sorghum molasses can be substituted for brown sugar – we like the extra molasses flavor that comes from using actual molasses in this recipe.

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients together and stir well.
2. Spread generous coating on both sides of thawed pork chops. If using molasses, the rub will be a sticky rub that you’ll need to apply by rubbing on with clean (or gloved) hands.
3. Let set in fridge overnight (at least 8 hours)
4. Grill to internal temp of 150 degrees F for a juicy, delicious porkchop.
5. Shape into 1/4 pound burger patties (or desired burger size)

Feel free to experiment with these recipes and tweak them to your liking. That’s the fun of meat rubs, you can play around with them and make it your own!

If you have your own favorite meat rub recipe for another meat, we’d love to include it in this blog post. Please email your recipe (along with a photo of the finished meat) to [email protected] to get it included in this post.