Looking for a Sweet Rib Rub

aawa said:

Plowboy's yardbird is more salty than it is sweet.

A good option for sweet rub is Simply Marvelous Cherry Rub and then add in a secondary layer of Simply Marvelous Sweet Seduction. This is my go to rub combination on ribs. I did a rack of full spares last night (no foil or sauce) and they loved it. It has a very natural sweetness that isn't overly sweet.

If you like your ribs sweeter you can do a foil step, where you put in butter, brown sugar, honey/agave nectar. Add in hotsauce if you want to give it a sweet heat, add more rub in to give it a little bit more salt/base flavor. Be careful with how much brown sugar/honey/agave nectar you use, the ribs might turn out with a very candied meat flavor where you lose the taste of pork.

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nthole said:

Are you sure they were just dry rubbed? A lot of the sweetness I see comes from the honey, brown sugar and juice they are soaked in during the foiling. They don't look like they've been mopped with sauce, but they have a particular candied glaze to them when done that way.

That said... like was previously said, I'd just take something you already like and mix it 50/50 with brown sugar and rub that on to start with.

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lance0623 said:

It's been a long time since I've been to a BBQ restaurant (leave me alone - I live in Southern California), but I'd be shocked if many 'q joints actually foil their ribs.

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lance0623 said:

I think you misunderstood my point there NT, I'm not arguing for or against foiling - even though I foil mine.

OP was at a restaurant that had sweet ribs, and because of the time and effort involved with foiling I'd be surprised if the restaurant foiled theirs. I think it's much more likely the sweet flavor came from sugar in the rub; or sprinkled sugar/slathered some honey over them towards the end of the cook.

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mytmouz said:

SM's Cherry rub...

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