Homemade Taco Seasoning Blend
Maybe you’ve heard it said before that the one thing you can count on in life is change. The older I get the more I find that to be so very true. Things just don’t stay the same . . . and that can even be true for making your own taco seasoning!
My original homemade taco seasoning was one of the first recipes I published on my blog and what I loved about that recipe was that I had formulated it to be a replacement for one taco seasoning packet and it was the perfect size to season one pound of ground beef. It was just what I needed.
But guess what? That’s exactly what’s NOT working out for me now. Very seldom do we use ground beef in our tacos anymore. Instead we sometimes do a bean-rice-corn-salsa blend as our filling. Sometimes we do roasted cauliflower topped with slaw in our tacos. Sometimes we still use a little bit of chicken. And for all those options I found myself wishing for an easy DIY taco seasoning blend in a shaker jar that I could just sprinkle on here and there when cooking to add a boost of mexican flavor. It was time to give myself a new recipe.
How To Make Taco Seasoning From Scratch
The good news is that was very easy to create a new recipe! My original taco seasoning recipe was a great starting point from which I decided to make a batch about triple that original size.
I also decided to get rid of a couple of the “chunkier” ingredients (minced onion and red pepper flakes) and replaced them with more finely ground ingredients (onion powder and ground cayenne) so that the mixture would be more of a powdery blend. The other ingredients all remained in the recipe (chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic salt, and oregano) in new adjusted quantities.
Every time I make a homemade seasoning blend I’m reminded of just how easy it is to make them from scratch. It only takes a minute or two to measure out the ingredients and stir or shake them together. They’re inexpensive to make and there’s no mystery filler ingredients to worry about either. I almost never buy seasoning packets from the store anymore but on the couple of occasions when I have, I really notice now how heavily salted they are. Salt is cheap and the manufacturers often use that as an inexpensive filler ingredient too.
More Easy DIY Seasoning Blends:
Homemade Cajun Seasoning
Homemade Italian Seasoning
Homemade Vegetable Seasoning
So this new taco spice blend recipe option is what’s working for me during this season of life and has the flexibility I’m currently in need of. I can use it to sprinkle on foods here and there as needed in smaller amounts – OR – I can still use this as a replacement for a packet by using a couple tablespoons of the mixture.
It was just the change I needed!
Homemade Taco Seasoning
Ingredients:
- 6 tsp Chili Powder
- 3 tsp Cumin
- 2 tsp Paprika
- 2 tsp Garlic Salt
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Dried Oregano
- 1/2 tsp Ground Cayenne Pepper
Instructions:
- Combine all ingredients and store in a shaker jar or other small jar with a cover.
- Sprinkle on foods as needed, or use 1-1/2 to 2 tablespoons to replace a packet of store bought taco seasoning.
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Thank you. I actually remember my mom putting rice in our salt shaker many, many moons ago. It’s worth a shot.
I have used your original recipe for years and we all love it. My only hesitation with making your new and improved recipe is the onion powder. I will use a little bit in a recipe and the next time I go to use the jar of onion powder, it has turned into concrete! I don’t want to waste it so I chip away at it until I get enough to use in the recipe. It is a vicious cycle of chipping away every time a recipe calls for onion powder. Do you have any hints for how to keep onion powder from drying up after the first use. And, yes, I do keep the jar tightly sealed and in a drawer with all my other spices.
My onion powder can sometimes get clumpy too. I think it’s more prone to that than other spices. One time I read a hint to put some grains of dry rice in the jar to help absorb moisture (which is the usual cause of hardness and clumping). Another thing is to be careful holding the jar over a steaming skillet or pot as you sprinkle some in as once again the steam/moisture can be the problem. So there are a couple of thoughts. Otherwise you could still use minced onion in the new mixture instead of the onion powder.