Charcoal Seasoning: What's In It and How to Use It

Why is that steak rub black? Activated charcoal. Charcoal seasoning is a dry rub of salt, spices and charcoal for steak and other grilled meat, and there’s no standard recipe. The best-known one, Black Magic, goes back to the 1930s at the Penny Profit grocery in Montgomery, Alabama, though the two local accounts of its origin differ on the details, and neither says whether the original recipe had charcoal in it. And note that New York City’s health department says activated charcoal is approved only to filter food, not as a food additive.

At a glance


What it is	A dry rub or seasoning salt containing activated charcoal
Typical other ingredients	Salt, sugar, black pepper, garlic, onion, chile (varies by brand)
Best-known origin story	Black Magic seasoning, Penny Profit grocery, Montgomery, Alabama, from the 1930s¹²
Main use	Steak, burgers, ribs and pork before grilling or searing
Regulatory note	New York City’s health department: activated charcoal is approved only to filter food, not as a colorant or additive³

What is in it

No standard defines charcoal seasoning, so it really comes down to the product in your hand. Here are two named products side by side:

	Mis’ Rubin’s Black Magic⁴	Hardcore Carnivore Black⁵
Charcoal	“Coconut husk activated charcoal”	Activated charcoal (source not stated)
Salt	Called a seasoning salt; labeled “Low Sodium”	Sea salt (listed first)
Sugar	Not stated	White sugar
Pepper and chile	Not stated	Black pepper; chili powder (chili pepper, salt, cumin, oregano, garlic)
Alliums	Not stated	Dehydrated garlic and onion
MSG	Labeled “No MSG”	Not listed
Other	Full ingredient list not on the maker’s page	Silicon dioxide, under 2%, as an anti-caking agent

Neither one lists MSG. You’ll often read that charcoal seasoning is built on MSG with onion and garlic powder. For these two products, the MSG part doesn’t hold up, though one of them does use garlic and onion. Other brands may differ, so read the label.

You’ll also see claims that the charcoal in these blends is made from bone char or olive pits. We couldn’t trace either to any product we checked. The one maker that names its charcoal’s source says coconut husk.⁴

Flavor

What the charcoal itself does for flavor is unclear. Tasting Table’s Elizabeth Okosun calls activated charcoal “the key to the bold flavor” and says the seasoning makes stovetop steak taste grilled.⁶ Mis’ Rubin’s says its charcoal “teases the meat’s natural gamey flavors.”⁴ Those are opinions, and we found no sensory test. The flavors you can count on come from the rest of the label: salt, pepper, garlic, onion and chile. For a merchant’s take on how charcoal tastes in salt, see black lava salt.

Origin: Black Magic in Montgomery

The best-documented charcoal seasoning is Black Magic, from the Penny Profit grocery in Montgomery, Alabama. Two local accounts agree on the outline and differ on the details.

	Southern Jewish Life¹	Exploring Montgomery (2016)²
Rubin Hanan’s background	Left Rhodes; arrived in Montgomery in 1925	Emigrated from Greece in the early 1920s
Julia Hanan	Born in Atlanta in 1912; married Rubin in a Sephardic ceremony in 1935	Known around town as Mis’ Rubin
The store	Rubin and Julia opened the Penny Profit Grocery Store after marrying; it became a leading Montgomery meat market	Rubin opened a corner grocery in 1935
Who created the seasoning	Julia developed the seasonings to make their meats stand out	Rubin “invented charcoal-blackened steaks”; his wife created the dry rubs and seasonings
Later	The Hanans sold the store to the Landers family and a partner; it closed in the early 2000s	The store and its “secret meat treatment” were later taken over by a son

Southern Jewish Life adds that for a long time, the only way to get Black Magic was to buy the steak it came on. Black Magic was made for red meat, and a companion White Magic was made for poultry, seafood and vegetables. Robert and Ashley Landers revived the seasonings, which now sell in supermarkets in Alabama and Mississippi and online.¹

Neither account says what the original 1930s recipe contained, or whether it had activated charcoal in it. Today’s Black Magic does.⁴ So it’s fair to call the Hanans’ Black Magic the best-known early charcoal-style steak seasoning, but not to say charcoal seasoning was “invented in 1935.”

How it is used

Steak and red meat. Mis’ Rubin’s says Black Magic is made for steak, ribs, burgers and pork, cooked over flame.⁴ The maker says to apply it generously.
Pan-searing. Tasting Table recommends it for giving stovetop steak a grilled taste.⁶
Seafood and poultry. The Montgomery company makes a separate White Magic for these.¹ Whether you put a charcoal rub on fish is up to you.

Use it like any salt-based rub. It already has salt in it, so go easy on any extra.

Safety

Regulatory status. New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene tells food service operators that activated charcoal is “only approved to filter food; not approved as a food colorant or food additive.” It adds that charcoal may cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation and may reduce the absorption of certain nutrients or medication.³ That guidance is written for New York City food businesses. We didn’t find a federal statement specific to charcoal seasoning.

Medicines. In medicine, activated charcoal is a gastrointestinal adsorbent given in some cases of acute poisoning. The gut doesn’t absorb it, and it may reduce the absorption and effect of medicines taken at the same time.⁷ If you take oral medication regularly, it’s worth asking a pharmacist before eating charcoal-containing foods often.

“Detox” claims. Charcoal seasoning often gets sold or described as detoxifying, kidney-friendly or good for gas. We found no evidence for any of that at seasoning amounts. Even in hospital poisoning care, the StatPearls review notes that no studies have shown improvements in patient-oriented outcomes from activated charcoal.⁷ You may also see online that charcoal works because “toxins have positive charges.” That has no source, and it’s not how the review describes what charcoal does (adsorbing ingested substances in the gut).⁷

Black lava salt and Hawaiian sea salt: salts colored with activated charcoal
Smoked sea salt and smoked paprika, for real smoke flavor
Best spices for steak
Garlic powder, onion powder and MSG

“There’s the rub: Montgomery favorite Mis’ Rubin’s Magic seasonings live on”, Southern Jewish Life. sjlmag.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
“Penny Profit Food Store”, Exploring Montgomery, 2016. exploringmontgomery.com · Publication ↩ ↩²
“Adulterated Food: What Food Service Operators Need To Know”, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. nyc.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²
“Black Magic Seasoning”, product page, Mis’ Rubin’s. misrubins.com · Merchant ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Hardcore Carnivore Black Beef Seasoning, product listing, H-E-B. heb.com · Merchant ↩
Elizabeth Okosun, “The One Seasoning You Need To Make Any Steak Taste Charcoal-Grilled”, Tasting Table, 2024. tastingtable.com · Publication ↩ ↩²
Taylor, Galuska and Patel, “Activated Charcoal”, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf, 2026. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov · Peer-reviewed ↩ ↩² ↩³

Charcoal Seasoning: The Black Steak Rub Made With Activated Charcoal