Zippy Coffee Rub, Another Fine-Tuned Glover Gardens Spice Mix

Spice mixes are a thing at Glover Gardens—and Zippy Coffee Rub is the latest installment. It was fabulous on our steak bites, a recent discovery in the test kitchen.

Zippy Coffee Rub Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp smoked paprika (or regular, if you don’t have smoked)
• ¼ cup ground coffee, dark roast
• 3 tbsp coarse kosher salt
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp white pepper
• 1 tbsp finely ground black pepper
• 1 tsp nutmeg

Cooking Instructions

Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container.  Makes a little more than 3/4 cup.

Note: To transform this delectable spice mixture into a blackening rub for meat or fish, add 2 tsp. of brown sugar to the Zippy Coffee Rub. But don’t feel like this is necessary, because the coffee mixture blackens beautifully without the addition of sugar.

Another note: Zippy Coffee Rub is great to have on hand at all times or to give away; you can make it in bulk by changing the amounts: 1 tsp. to 1/3 cup and 1 tbsp. to 1 cup. 

You Want This, I Promise

Why do you need the Zippy Coffee Rub spice mix?

• It’s great on beef of any kind; what about a coffee-rubbed brisket???!!!
• It’s savory but not so spicy you have to serve something else to your grandmother or your toddler
• It lends a richness and an umami flavor to whatever you’re grilling
• It makes it easy to create something fab on a weeknight, with just you, the grill or cast iron skillet, the rub and the meat

How else can it be used? O, let me count the ways!

• On Brussels sprouts or broccoli, tossed with olive oil and grilled or seared in a cast iron skillet
• On acorn squash, before roasting, or tossed with spaghetti squash, after steaming
• As a rub for apple slices, baked at high heat
• On chicken, pork, salmon or tuna
• As a coating rub for a log of goat cheese, to make a quick appetizer
• As a coating rub for a cheese ball made of goat cheese or cream cheese and shredded cheddar and/or pepper jack
• As a rub for small potatoes before roasting
• On grape tomatoes, after tossing them with oil
• As a seasoning mix for a mushroom, red onion and grape tomato sauté, in the same cast iron skillet you seared the steak bites in (photo below)

The Backstory

You can find the backstory for this delectable spice mix below.

Let us know how Zippy Coffee Rub spices up your plate!

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