BBQ Sauce vs Rubs: What’s Better for Your Tastebuds?

Barbecue Sauces, Rubs, Marinades, and Mop Sauces

Before we go any further into determining the best flavour package for your tastebuds, it’s important to establish the differences between each.

BBQ Rubs
Rubs are powders made of spices and herbs. When cooked, they form a hardy crust that offers a delicious contrast in texture, and they are best applied just before cooking.

BBQ Sauces
We’ve divided sauces into two categories, differentiating between the viscosity (thickness) of their liquid. With thicker sauces often comes the inclusion of sugar, which helps caramelize the sauce and offer a greater depth of flavour. These sauces are best used near the end of the cooking process.

BBQ Marinades
Marinades are one of the oldest methods of instilling flavour into meats. This process involves soaking your meat in the marinade for up to a day before cooking. Most recommend only letting the marinade sit for two hours or so, but more time can be better for a more complex and robust flavour.

BBQ Mop Sauces
Finally, we have mop sauces. In contrast to regular barbecue sauces, these are usually thinner sauces made from tomato sauce, beer and other liquids. They add moisture and flavour to low-heat cooking and are best basted on throughout the cooking process.

Rubs, Sauces or Marinades: Which One is Best?

Don’t shoot the messenger here, but we firmly endorse every single one of these barbecue methods! As you can see, each one of them comes into the cooking process at a different time and provides a unique benefit. And, of course, they are all delicious. What we do know is the best, though, is the sauces and rubs always available at BBQVille Canada!