Dry Rubs vs Marinades: What’s the Difference?

There are few things more useful in a kitchen than knowing how to make chicken, fish, meat or a tray of vegetables taste like you actually planned ahead.

Enter: dry rubs and marinades.

Both are simple ways to season and transform food before it hits the heat, but they work differently. A dry rub builds a concentrated layer of spice and seasoning on the surface of food, while a marinade combines seasoning, moisture, acidity, oil and time.

Knowing the difference between dry rubs and marinades can completely change the way you approach everyday cooking.

What is a dry rub?

A dry rub is a blend of dry spices, herbs, seeds, chillies and seasonings that is rubbed directly onto the surface of food.

Unlike a wet marinade, a dry rub contains little or no added liquid. The spice mixture coats the food and forms a concentrated layer of flavour that gets toasted, roasted and caramelised as it cooks.

Think of a dry rub as flavour designed for heat.

A good dry rub isn't simply a mixture of chilli powder and spices. The ingredients should each have a role: chillies for heat and colour, spices for aroma, seeds for nuttiness, salt for seasoning and sometimes dried souring ingredients for acidity.

This is where Indian dry rubs and South Indian spice blends get particularly interesting.

Instead of relying on the usual paprika, cumin and black pepper combination, regional Indian cooking gives us an enormous range of ingredients to work with — ragi, uchelu, Byadagi chilli, Teja chilli, gongura, kodampuli and black pepper, to name a few.

These ingredients don't just make food spicy. They bring acidity, bitterness, nuttiness, fruitiness, aroma and depth.

The result is a South Indian dry rub that can completely change the character of a piece of chicken, fish, prawns or vegetables.

What does a marinade do differently?

A marinade adds moisture as well as flavour.

A traditional marinade can contain an acidic ingredient, oil, spices, aromatics, salt and sometimes something sweet. The food sits in the mixture before cooking, allowing the seasoning to coat the surface and, depending on the ingredients and food, influence its texture as well.

A good Indian marinade can transform something as simple as chicken or fish into a deeply flavoured meal with very little preparation.

Marinades are particularly useful when you want food to be juicy, well-seasoned and coated in flavour.

They're also one of the easiest tools for everyday cooking.

Marinate. Cook. Eat.