I spotted a jar of Kingsford Original All Purpose Seasoning at the store the other day and decided to give it a try. The label advertises “Bold and Authentic Smoky Flavor” so it least it sounded interesting.
It looks like the blend is actually made by Badia through a marketing arrangement with Kingsford.
Kingsford Seasoning Ingredients
I flipped over the 8 ounce jar and took a peek at the ingredients. The seasoning contains:
- Salt
- Spices
- Paprika
- Turmeric
- Sugar
- Garlic
I’ve gotta be honest…these ingredients don’t shout “Bold and Smoky” to me. When I tried the rub by itself it tasted nearly identical to Morton’s seasoned salt.
Is the Rub Good?
I used the Kingsford Original Seasoning to coat some chicken legs before they went on the grill.
The rub had a fine texture that easily poured from the jar without clumping. The color of the seasoning was acceptable but not particularly interesting.
I followed my standard recipe for chicken legs on a pellet grill and cooked the legs for about 30 minutes.
When the legs were just about done they got a light glaze of sweet chili sauce and were then pulled from the grill.
My opinion is that the Kingsford Original Seasoning is just slightly more interesting than just using salt and pepper. There was nothing about the rub that delivered “Bold and Smoky Flavor” and really the only flavor that came through for me was salt.
How I Will Use the Seasoning
There are a lot of great dry rub recipes on this site that use salt as a main or secondary ingredient. Some examples are:
The next time I make up batches of these rubs I will use the Kingsford Seasoning to replace the salt component until I use up the jar. It might make the battle tested Award Winning rubs more interesting and will let me recoup the cost of the Kingsford product.
You could also use this rub as a base for a two layered rub.
For example, you could use this rub to put down a salty flavor base on some Country Style Ribs, let it soak in for 30 minutes and then come back and hit the pork with another rub with a Sweet Heat flavor profile.
The rub would also be fine on something like smoked hamburgers and these grilled frozen burgers since there will be a ton of other flavors already coming to the party from the sauce, bun and assorted toppings.