Learning to mix and match spices becomes one’s foundation for good eating in the world of cooking. When we learn to combine flavors, we start on the road of taking otherwise basic meals and really creating something special.
I will admit, I love using pre-purchased spice blends. They allow me to try new flavors without committing a portion of my life savings to new spices because quality spices sure can add up.
There are a few staples that we use nearly every day. I still splurge on Herbamare , an organic seasoning salt, because it’s our favorite all purpose salt, and it lasts forever.
I’ve also shared repeatedly our love of all things Mexican.
We love our taco seasoning. In fact, I purchase it in bulk, but with kicking off the 17 Day Diet tomorrow, I am eliminating all things wheat, sugar (and processed).
When you glance over the list of ingredients, wow, some of those line items I can not even pronounce, so why not take just a few minutes to mix up an easy, homemade taco seasoning, which is 100% healthy for you?
I think I will thank you.
This is my kind of convenience food. 🙂 It’s so easy to mix up rubs and favorite seasonings.
Remember, preferences with spices vary greatly, so try this base recipe and then increase or decrease amounts based on what you enjoy the most. I know that may make some of you nervous, but if you can master spices, you can master any kind of meals.
I love garlic, so I typically add more garlic anything, and I love it spicy, so I add more red pepper flakes than you may enjoy. That’s why ‘I always recommend seasoning to taste, especially with a mix like this.
It’s so good though that I can add this into plain sour cream as just a little daily dip with veggies or chips.
I hope you enjoy it too.
Recipe: Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix
Summary: This easy homemade taco seasoning mix is wonderful option to the processed store bought variety.
Ingredients
- 3/4 TB of sea salt
- 1/2 TB of Pepper (cayenne is excellent)
- 1 TB of Garlic Powder
- 1 TB Onion Powder
- 2 teaspoons Oregano, dried leaves
- 1 TB paprika
- 1 TB onion flakes, dried (optional, but I love this addition.)
- 2 TB Ground Cumin
- 3 Tablespoons of Chili Powder
- 1 tsp. red pepper flakes (Or more if you like a kick. We add more, but some may choose to omit this altogether if you use cayenne pepper instead.)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine all the spices completely.
- Pour into air tight container, zip lock bag or mason jar for storage.
- Use approximately 2 TB per pound of meat.
- Adjust amount based on your preference.
Preparation time: 5 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 6
Hello there,
Do you really mean 3 TABLESPOONS of chili powder? It seems a lot to me…
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Jen Reply:
January 10th, 2014 at 8:28 am
Yes, I do, but you may feel free to cut it down to 2 TB and taste test to your preference. It’s easy enough to add more if you need to then take it out.
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I started making homemade taco seasoning last year and I will never go back to the premade stuff again (unless I get them free and save for when I run out of stuff to make my own). And, yes this recipe takes a lot of chili powder. But when I make a batch of this I usually can get 3 taco meals out of it per month, depending on how much you use on your ground meat. I usually add a couple TBSP of water after I add to the cooked meat (just like the premade stuff). The cumin is what really gives this the authentic flavor.
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I love homemade taco seasoning. One of the easiest and most-used in our home!
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Thanks for the recipe! I’ve been using just Cumin to get that taco flavour for my meatless taco salad, but I wanted to find a recipe to make a more intricate taco mix for when I use meat. I will definitely be trying this!
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Regarding garlic–recipe says 1 TB teaspoons of garlic powder–so do I add 1 TBSP or 1 tsp of garlic powder? Thank you!
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Jen Reply:
February 2nd, 2014 at 3:10 pm
oh my. I really need an editor. It is supposed to be TB. I deleted the teaspoon. 🙂 Thx for the catch.
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