A Wingstop Louisiana rub recipe is a dry spice blend of brown sugar, smoked paprika, garlic powder, oregano, cayenne, salt and pepper, tossed onto hot crispy wings. Wingstop calls the flavor a dry rub with “a distinctly Cajun drawl” and rates its heat as mild to medium. It publishes no recipe, so the five copycats I read share a skeleton and disagree on the rest.
I built the working version from where they overlap. I haven’t made this exact blend, so treat the amounts as a starting point you can tune!
What Wingstop says about Louisiana Rub
Wingstop’s Louisiana Rub page describes “no sauce, just perfectly layered seasoning,” with a taste it sums up as savory and spicy heat, Cajun seasoning and herbs. It says the rub comes with mild to medium heat and can be tossed on classic wings, boneless wings, chicken tenders and a chicken sandwich.
What does “dry rub” mean here? Wingstop’s own answer is wings coated in spices and seasoning instead of sauce, which is why they’re less messy than the sauced flavors.
The allergen page links a chart, and in it the Louisiana Rub row has one mark, in the soy column. The Hot Honey Rub row has the same single mark. The chart lists no ingredients and no amounts, and it adds that fried foods share one oil and that Wingstop doesn’t claim its products are gluten free.
The Wingstop Louisiana rub recipe I’d start with
This makes enough rub for about 2 pounds of wings, using amounts that sit inside what the five copycats print.
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 pounds chicken wings, 1 tablespoon oil and 1 teaspoon salt for the wings
- Heat the oven. Set it to 450°F with a wire rack over a lined baking sheet, the setup Chef Jar and The Cagle Diaries both use.
- Dry and season. Pat the wings very dry, then toss them with the oil and 1 teaspoon salt.
- Bake. Give them 35 minutes, flip, and bake 10 minutes more until crisp. Chicken should reach 165°F.
- Mix the rub. Stir all nine spices together while the wings bake.
- Toss while hot. Coat the wings in the rub right out of the oven. A spoonful or two of melted butter helps the rub cling, according to I’m Hungry for That.
Want more heat? Add cayenne a pinch at a time. Pocket Friendly Recipes says it uses a little more cayenne than the restaurant does, and suggests tasting a pinch stirred into oil before you commit a whole batch.
Five copycat rubs, spice by spice
The rubs below are copied as printed. Batch sizes differ, so the last row shows how many pounds of wings each one is written for.
| Spice | Chef Jar | Pocket Friendly | Cagle Diaries | No Dash of Gluten | I’m Hungry for That |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown sugar | 1 1/2 tsp | 1 1/2 tsp | 1 1/2 tbsp | 2 tsp | 1 tbsp |
| Paprika | 1 tsp smoked | 1 tsp smoked | 2 tsp | 1 tsp smoked | 1 tsp smoked |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | 1 tsp | 2 tsp | 1 tsp | 1/2 tsp |
| Onion powder | 1 tsp | 1 tsp | 2 tsp | None | None |
| Oregano | 1/2 tsp | 1 tsp | 1 tsp | 1/4 tsp | 1/4 tsp |
| Cayenne | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | None in the rub |
| Cumin | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1 tsp | 1/2 tsp | None |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1 tsp | 1/2 tsp | 1 tsp |
| Extras | Optional lemon juice | None | None | 1/2 tsp chili powder | 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp thyme |
| Written for | 2 lb wings | Rub only | 2 lb wings | 2 lb wings | 1 lb wings |
All five use brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Four use cumin and four put cayenne in the rub, while only three use onion powder, and ginger and thyme show up in just one.
The biggest gap is sweetness. For the same 2 pounds of wings, the brown sugar runs from 1 1/2 teaspoons at Chef Jar to 1 1/2 tablespoons at The Cagle Diaries, a threefold swing! Cagle also doubles the paprika, garlic powder and onion powder compared with Chef Jar.
Storing the rub and the wings
Chef Jar says to keep the rub in a jar in a cool, dark place, and Pocket Friendly Recipes says a sealed batch stays good for months. For cooked wings, Chef Jar says 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, and The Cagle Diaries says up to 4 days, or up to 3 months in the freezer.
Wingstop’s own page also lists the rub on tenders, so you can try it there. My Hot Honey Rub recipe covers the sweet-heat flavor, and these cookout side dishes round out a wing night.
You can match the idea and tune the heat at home, but only Wingstop knows what’s in its own blend.
FAQ
What is Wingstop Louisiana Rub?
Wingstop describes it as a crispy, spiced dry rub with a distinctly Cajun drawl, with no sauce and mild to medium heat. It can go on classic wings, boneless wings, chicken tenders and a chicken sandwich.
Is Wingstop Louisiana Rub spicy?
Wingstop says it has mild to medium heat. Home blends control the heat with cayenne, which four of the five copycats set at half a teaspoon in the rub.
What’s in Wingstop Louisiana Rub?
Wingstop doesn’t publish an ingredient list for it, and its allergen chart marks only soy. Home copycats build it from brown sugar, smoked paprika, garlic powder, oregano, cayenne, salt and pepper, with extras that vary.
How do you make a Wingstop Louisiana rub recipe at home?
Mix brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, cayenne, cumin, pepper and salt, then bake dry wings on a rack at 450°F for 35 minutes, flip, bake 10 more, and toss them in the rub while hot.