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When you have homemade taco seasoning in your pantry, you never have to worry about running out on Taco Tuesday! This flavorful and versatile mix will quickly become a staple in your kitchen.
I’m not sure what the weather is like in your neck of the woods, but it’s downright swampy here in Ohio.
I’m not even exaggerating when I tell you it has been raining for weeks.
It’s so bad that my dad can’t even put his boat at his dock because the dock is completely submerged.
I had to invest in two large umbrellas because regular sized umbrellas were just no longer cutting it here in the swampland.
Needless to say, it doesn’t feel much like summer. More like early fall, except with loads of mosquitos and a disgusting thickness to the air even though it’s only been in the high sixties.
Since we rely heavily on our grill during the summer months, we’ve been having to get a little more creative in the dinner department. Let’s be real, no one wants to grill in the rain even if you do have a cute, giant umbrella overhead.
Since our summer staples like Grilled Garlic Basil Shrimp, Sweet and Spicy Beef Kebobs, burgers and grilled chicken breasts are pretty much out of the question for the foreseeable future, we’re eating all the tacos.
Because for one, tacos are amazing, and for two, tacos are super easy. And quite frankly, I’m all about that easy summer life right now.
As long as I have the essentials like taco shells, shredded lettuce, cheese and my homemade taco seasoning, we’re good to go.
WHY DIY TACO SEASONING IS THE BEST
There is nothing worse than being in the middle of making a recipe only to realize that you’re out of a key ingredient.
This has happened to me an embarrassing number of times. But these moments of pantry inconvenience have resulted in a number of my favorite recipes, including my favorite pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice and chai spice blend.
I figured there had to be a way to make homemade taco seasoning, too. After all, I might as well avoid any future Taco Tuesday mishaps, right?
A quick visit to Google told me I was only a few minutes away from a flavorful homemade taco seasoning.
A little recipe tweaking told me I was able to control the level of heat and the salt content from making my own spice mix and my tacos have never been the same.
Now whenever I made my own taco seasoning, I make a large batch and store it in my spice cabinet for everything under the sun.
HOW CAN YOU USE TACO SEASONING?
This perfect taco seasoning has become something of a multipurpose spice blend in our house.
Obviously it is great for making tacos any night of the week. But I like to add it to everything from spicy taco cheese ball to 7-layer dip to roasted potatoes.
I even like to use it as homemade chili seasoning, too.
Gasp! Yes. I know it’s controversial, but I like to use the same mix for tacos and chili.
I’ve found that taco and chili seasonings are usually so similar in flavor that it made sense to consolidate them in my pantry and use this mix for both!
So I add it to hearty chili when the weather gets cold.
Turns out, being well prepared with flavorful homemade spice blends in your pantry can lend lots of flavor to nearly any recipe you make.
Homemade Taco and Chili Seasoning
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 3 teaspoons sea salt
- 4 teaspoons black pepper
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, oregano, paprika, ground cumin, sea salt, and black pepper.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
- Stored in an airtight container, this spice blend will keep for up to a year.
- When making chili or tacos using one pound of ground beef, start with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the seasoning blend and adjust according to your tastes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Excellent recipe! Will be using over and over again in our chili.
Wonderful, Robin! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Annie — Sorry again, but you’re actually the one who is confused. You just repeated Michael’s mistake. There is such a thing as chili seasoning, which does contain the ingredients you mentioned, and there is such a thing as chili powder which does NOT contain the other ingredients, but is just ground chiles.
This recipe does not contain the seasoning as an ingredient — it replaces the seasoning.
This is the chili powder I use in your recipe and it is delicious (no fillers or mystery stuff):
http://www.foodfacts.com/ci/nutritionfacts/spices/archer-farms-ancho-chili-powder-3oz/202717
Thank you so much for your recipe- it’s a keeper.
Thank you for your chili powder suggestion, Paula! I’m so glad you like the recipe!
@SC, sorry but you’re the one who’s confused. Michael is saying that “chili powder” you buy in the spice aisle already has cumin, garlic, oregano and maybe other stuff in it. It’s better to combine different “chile” powders with your own seasonings.
I tried this today as it was chili night and I couldn’t find my little packet. It is soooo good! so glad I found this, now I’m saving and using instead of buying!
I’m so glad you liked it, Kelly!
Oh and I added 1 teaspoon of ground coriander too. Just my preference.
That sounds like a great addition to me!
Hi there,
Just found this recipe yesterday. I used it last night for turkey fajitas and it was perfect. Thank you for this. However, I could only get onion salt and garlic salt and not powder so I adapted it to from 3 to 1 teaspoon of sea salt. No more shop bought chilli mixes for me.
I’m so glad it worked out for you, Jamie!
How much of this mixture do you use per chili recipe?
I usually start with about 1 1/2 tablespoons and add more as needed. I hope this helps.
Jamie
@Michael you might be confused. What you buy from the store in packets is chili seasoning, and that is what this recipe makes. You can get chili powder (which contains ground up chili peppers) on the spices aisle, and that is what this recipe calls for as an ingredient – not the seasoning packets. Hope that cleared up the confusion.
Wikipedia does say that chili powder is sometimes the name used for blends of seasonings including chili powder, so that may be the cause of confusion.
I hate to be a jerk, but there is HUGE a problem here. What you have done is taken store bought chili powder, add the EXACT ingredients required to make chili powder and then add salt & pepper.
OMIT the chili powder, double all the ingredients other than salt & pepper, then add the salt & pepper in the original recipe amounts and you have your own chili powder recipe.
This adjusted recipe actually works without all the excess cost of the store bought chili powder!
Sorry, but redundancy is just wasted time and money. Best.
Michael. Chili powder is not the same thing as Chili seasoning.