Lemon Pepper Steak Rub

I was speaking to a friend, who follows the blog, last night and she commented on these rub recipes. She mentioned that she typically has all the ingredients in her spice cupboard, so it is easy to make a spice blend like these at home. It is so true. Mixing spices at home is simple and far cheaper than the prepackaged ones at the store. Some of the specialty spice blends are quite expensive. There is no need to spend a lot of money. Make any of these rub recipes and people will be raving about your mastery of the grill!

So far we have had two rub recipes.

Day 1 was the Island Spice Rub – an awesome dry jerk style seasoning

Day 2 was the Sweet and Smokey Chipotle Rub – I just love this on pork chops!

Update: The rest of the week got filled up with:

  • Cafe Mocha Rub – this rub is perfect for beef. Try it on beef tenderloin.
  • Curry in a Hurry Rub – a sweet curry seasoning that is ideal on chicken.
  • Ragin’ Cajun Rub –  this classic cajun seasoning is really good with shrimp, but great on fish, chicken, pork chops and more.
  • Asian Five Spice Rub – an exotic spice blend that is great on chicken and pork

Today we are going to grill steak. HUZZAH!! This lemon pepper rub has the perfect balance of lemon zest, salt and black pepper. There is a little bit of garlic powder and onion powder to round out the flavours.

Instead of buying premade lemon pepper seasoning, I make my own. Zest 4 lemons and spread the zest on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Set the oven to its lowest heat setting (the lowest setting of my oven is 100F). Place the zest in the oven and cook until dry and crumbly. For me it takes around 2 hours.

The zest can be stored in a mason jar for weeks. It can also be ground in a mortar and pestle if needed, but since it will be ground with the other spices, that is not necessary for this recipe.

Mix all the ingredients together and place grind in coffee/nut/spice grinder. I needed to do this in two batches.Pulse the grinder for 15-20 seconds. This allows the peppercorns and coarse salt to grind a bit but still be somewhat coarse.

Store in an airtight container.

Rub on steak and grill to desired doneness.

Lemon Pepper Steak Rub

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Steak spice rub that is perfect for grilling. Lemon zest, black pepper, salt, onion powder and garlic powder. Great for striploin, ribeye and other beef steaks.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 1 cup

Ingredients

  • 4 lemons
  • 1/3 cup black peppercorns
  • 1/3 cup coarse salt
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp onion powder

Instructions

  • Zest 4 lemons and spread the zest on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Set the oven to its lowest heat setting (the lowest setting of my oven is 100F). Place the zest in the oven and cook until dry and crumbly. For me it takes around 2 hours.
  • Mix all the ingredients together and place grind in coffee/nut grinder. I needed to do this in two batches.Pulse the grinder for 15-20 seconds. This allows the peppercorns and coarse salt to grind a bit but still be somewhat coarse.
  • Store in an airtight container like a mason jar.
  • Use on beef or other meats.

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6 comments

  • I tend to make more marinades than rubs, but I’m going to print off some of your great ideas, Steve. This one, especially, would be a hit at our house 🙂

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  • I had no idea that you could dry out lemon zest in the oven! This looks so amazing, I really love this idea.

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  • Boy, that steak looks good! Great to have a recipe for lemon-pepper…one of my favorite spices for everyday cooking!

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  • This is already making me pucker… Love lemon and pepper!! I could not live without my spice cabinet. 🙂

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  • Mm..mm…good. I bet this tastes out of this world. I love rubs on steak. So delicious. Great recipe, I am totally taking this one for a spin.

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  • Ha- I think this is the first time I have seen you use a spice that fits your blog name Steve!
    Great to have a recipe for lemon pepper rub, my husband loves the stuff! However, we have not ever used this type of rub on beef-so I need to catch up with your trend here. Great series!

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