How long does dry rub last? Spices shelf life.
So, how long does dry rub last?
Dry rub and pretty much all other spices or seasonings do have a shelf life. And it can vary widely depending on what ingredients are used in your dry rub, how it’s packaged, and the environment it’s stored in. But, spices also don’t really go bad the way other things go bad. I mean they don’t usually rot or spoil, they just lose flavor and get stale. That being said, dry rubs are ground seasoning blends and they will ‘go bad’ after about 1-2 years.
Dry rubs will ‘go bad’ after about 1-2 years.
What does it mean when dry rubs ‘go bad’?
Dry rub’s ‘gone bad’ quick list:
- Your dry rub is wet.
- Your dry rub is stale.
- Your dry rub is clumpy.
More detail on ‘gone bad’ dry rubs:
Your dry rub is wet.
Dry rubs don’t usually rot, spoil, grow fungus or mold, etc. Because they are dry. And all of those nasty things mentioned before require moisture or water to survive. So the first check is whether your dry rub is dry. If it is not dry it has effectively ‘gone bad’. This is the most obvious case that we’ll talk about.
Your dry rub is stale.
But just because dry rubs don’t rot doesn’t mean they can’t ‘go bad’ in other ways. One of most common ways spices can ‘go bad’ and also one of the most insidious ways is for them to get stale. This is pretty much where the 1-2 year shelf life recommendation comes from. Because spices are relatively cheap and you don’t want to waste good meat on stale spices, we consider stale spices to have ‘gone bad’. This will happen over time as the spices give up their smells and tastes to the air inside your cabinet. There’s not much you can do to prevent this issue but you can find it by tasting your dry rubs and spices before applying them to your food.
Your dry rub is clumpy.
The last and most annoying way your dry rub can ‘go bad’ is if it gets clumpy. Clumps usually happen because the rub has absorbed some moisture from the air over time and solidifies kind of like concrete. It can also happen just from compressing on itself over time. But either way it makes for an annoying experience when you’re trying to spread a rub evenly. I say, if you can’t break up all the clumps in the first few rattles, toss it out.
How to tell if dry rub is still good:
Well, assuming that your dry rub hasn’t ‘gone bad’ per the previous sections fairly simple rules, follow the steps below. Be forewarned that this is a fairly subjective process and will take some time to really get the hang of…
Give your dry rub a visual inspection
You want to pour some dry rub out into a bowl, napkin, spoon, whatever. Then just look at it. Does it look vibrant and crisp? Or does it look kind of pale and sickly? If it’s vibrant and crisp, move forward to the next step. Otherwise, throw it out.
Next step, the smell test
Try smelling some of your dry rub, carefully though! Does it smell like what you expect or not? If your dry rub smells funky or like other spices that aren’t actually in your dry rub you want to get rid of it. The salts and herbs in your dry rub might absorb other smells over time.
Finally, the taste test
If you’ve passed the first two checks, the final test is to taste your dry rub. You don’t need to try a lot, just a dab. But it should taste probably a little bit too salty and or sweet but not funky or off in any way. If there’s a weird flavor or too much of any flavor, move on to the next option.
Can you make your dry rub last longer?
There are a few tried and true ways to make a dry rub last longer if you’ve really got to stretch that last bottle from your vacation or something. It all basically boils down to keeping the dry rub cold, dry, and dark. Hint: your freezer is all of these. I’ll get into it more down below:
Keep your dry rub… dry.
Moisture will cause your dry rub to either clump or mushify or some other gross thing. Prevent this by using a container that doesn’t allow outside moisture in, like a screw cap bottle. The next level step is to vacuum seal larger amounts of dry rub that you don’t expect to use for an extended period.
Keep your dry rub… cold.
In a heated environment smells and flavors contained within your dry rub will begin to leak out into the air and the spices around them. Over time, this will cause your dry rub to get stale. It will also cause your dry rub to absorb unwanted flavors and smells from the environment around it. Keeping your dry rub cold will help prevent this flavor seepage effect and keep the appropriate smells and flavors where they are.
Keep your dry rub… dark.
It probably has negligible affect in all reality, but keep your dry rub out of direct sunlight. Direct sunlight, from say a kitchen window, contains UV rays which can break down the flavors in your dry rub. I’m not really convinced this is really a huge issue though because only the outside layer is exposed to light. Meaning only the outside layer can really be largely affected by light. Either way, darker is better.
Related outside resources:
- “Storing Spices: How Long Do Spices Last?” StillTasty, https://www.stilltasty.com/articles/view/67.