All-Purpose California Beef Rub Recipe (2024)

I was taught by a Samoan chef to always coat my beef cuts in soy sauce prior to applying any rubs. It worked great with this recipe, first allowing the soy sauce to dry a little so it was nice and sticky. The salty soy seals in the juices, and this delicious rub gave it a great crust. I had to delay the cooking by 36 hours, and it came out perfect. The soy sauce works great on burgers too.

Recipe for rub
2 Tlb ground coffee
1 Tlb Course salt
1 Tlb garlic powder
1 tsp proper
1 Tlb brown sugar
1/4 Tsp each crane, cloves, cinnamon

I was taught by a Samoan chef to always coat my beef cuts in soy sauce prior to applying any rubs. It worked great with this recipe, first allowing the soy sauce to dry a little so it was nice and sticky. The salty soy seals in the juices, and this delicious rub gave it a great crust. I had to delay the cooking by 36 hours, and it came out perfect. The soy sauce works great on burgers too

This is a fabulous rub--I left out the sugar and it was still great on in-expensive tri tips.

This recipe makes quite a bit of rub. I am having trouble figuring out how much to put on my tri tip. One person said "all" and another said that he only had a third of a cup left. Other recipes for tri tips specify two tablespoons of whatever rub you choose. Help? I don't want to ruin this! Thank you.

This run is my absolutely fav for and beef dish: steaks, flank steak, lovely tri-tip. I like to serve it with a fruit salsa, since it matches with the coffee so well. Diced pears, dried cranberries, slivered red onion and a little jalapeño go well.

Add some smoked paprika to the rub, complements the BBQ nicely

I make a lot of my own rubs, and have tried many others. This rub on Tri-tip tonight was superb. I might up the black pepper and the cayenne next time, but as is, it is a keeper.

I grilled a Tri-Tip over the weekend for friends and family. I did what another reviewer suggested and put soy sauce on meat before the rub and omitted the salt. I put in container and left overnight. It got rave reviews from everyone! Thanks for this great recipe.

Try adding 1 Tbsp cocoa powder.

This is the dry rub I will take to my grave. I honestly have no desire to try any others because it is phenomenal. I prepare it exactly as written and have always had wonderful results. I've got some on tri tip right now.

I'm wondering if maybe you used garlic salt instead of garlic powder or granulated garlic?

This one's a keeper! Nice, perfectly balance rub that gives a nice crust on the meat and a BBQ like taste. I omitted the coffee as my other half doesn't like it and poked a few slivers of garlic in the meat. Came out perfectly!

This is a great, basic rub that I make in a big batch (3x the ingredients) at the beginning of grilling season. I sub ancho chili pepper for cayenne, and I halve the amount of coffee and add 1 an equal amount of cocoa powder. Didn't have ground cloves, but used some turmeric to punch up the flavor. Yum!

Too SALTY, but i think this is because I kept the rub on for two days. May be better to not keep it on longer than a couple of hours?

Slight tweaks: a little less coffee, add some cocoa and smoked paprika. Sheer amazingness on a tri tip kissed with hardwood smoke!

I’ve been making this for years, and love it, but I always add 2 tsp of chili powder too.

This has become our go-to beef rub. My husband was skeptical at first about the coffee and cinnamon, but it just enhances the beefy flavor without overpowering it.

For those who says this rub is too salty, keep in mind that you’re supposed to use larger-flaked kosher salt. If using a finer sea salt reduce the amount of salt by 1/2 tablespoon.

I agree this came out way too salty! I usually cook with pink Himalayan but I used the kosher as written and it ruined it. it was inedibly salty. Soy sauce is always nice on beef but def decrease the salt amount in the rub to account for the soy if you are using both together. Another reviewer suggested cocoa powder and that was brilliant. I did it and the flavor was deep and delicious. It took the coffee to an even richer place. But the salt was outrageous and i usually dip each bite in salt!

Outstanding! My husband was skeptical about the ground coffee but had to admit it was excellent. I think it would also be great on grilled pork chops.

We live in California; in tri tip country. Honestly, this was better than any tri tip recipe we've gotten here! I'll go further to say this was one of the best recipes I've made.I substituted Aleppo pepper for the cayenne because we like it, and it's not quite as hot-spicy as cayenne and has a wonderful flavor. I used 1/2 T ground garlic in place of the granulated because that's all I had. It was perfect. The coffee was freshly ground from dark roast beans we bought within the past week.Yum!

Wasn’t sure I would like this rub, but it was absolutely magical on a grilled tri-tip!

I loved this recipe! I rubbed the Tri tip with olive first, then used the rub, placed in a plastic bag and marinaded for two days before grilling it. It was perfect!

Substitute for coffee? We don’t drink it.

Modified somewhat but was a great flavor on the grilled tri tip. I lowered coffee to 1/2 Tbsp and added 1 Tbsp cocoa powder. Only had garlic powder so lowered amount to 1 Tbsp. Also added some smoked paprika. Served with corn on cob and baked bean. Something cheesy like Costco Macaroni and Cheese would go great

Made about half of the recipe just enough for a 4lb chuck roast. Added smoked paprika and used a starbucks "via" instant coffee packet for the coffee flavor (dissolves completely no graininess). Clove was a good add. Super yummy everyone raved about it.

Didn't have clove so used the same amount of cumin. Was a hit.

How many pounds of meat is this amount of rub for?! Sorry if I missed this, yet please, NYT... be specific and accurate in your recipes, and note ingredients right up front in your recipes.