Homemade Taco Seasoning
Homemade taco seasoning is a great, edible gift for the people in your life who can’t eat any more cookies! But seriously, for years I’ve eschewed pre-mixed seasoning blends in favor of individual spices and combinations to suit my delicate whims.
Put a kid into that sitch, though, and those lofty goals go straight down the crapper.
More and more often, I’ve found myself struggling to get something on the table in 15 minutes or less. Never mind “30 minutes meals” — even that takes too long some nights! So I made up this handy “taco” seasoning mix. But it’s more than for just tacos; it’s an all-purpose Tex-Mex seasoning blend that you can use with ground beef or turkey (add some sauteed onion, peppers and garlic) to make tacos; use it on chicken before grilling; add a little to some bland beans.
I find that 3-4 teaspoons of this is a good start for 1 pound of ground beef. I prefer to make the seasoning blend without salt so that I can adjust the salt on its own, but for a one-step seasoning, add the salt to the mix and 3-4 teaspoons/pound should be about perfectly salted, too.
Homemade Taco Seasoning
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 7/8 cup 1x
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons ancho* chile powder
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon crushed dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika or sweet paprika
- 1/2 –1 teaspoon cayenne pepper for a spicy chili powder
- Optional: 3 tablespoons salt
Instructions
- Shake everything together
- Store in an airtight jar (I use a tiny jelly jar).
Notes
If you can’t find ancho powder, use ground New Mexican chile powder (be sure there’s no added salt or seasoning)
Made with salt, the mixture has about 1/5 teaspoon salt in each teaspoon of seasoning
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 teaspoon
- Calories: 6
6 Comments
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You`re homemade taco seasoning has been my go to for years now. I don’t know when it was you first published it, but the printout I made is covered with more stains than I can count. Great flavor… Just love it.
Oh wow! I think I posted it in a comment on another recipe post a few years ago
I should’ve made this long ago. The lazy bachelor in me has been buying those premade seasoning packets for far too long. Thanks for the reminder!
Get on it, Smooshy!
This is a super awesome seasoning! We had it with steak tacos tonight and mixed it with our sour cream as well. I’ve used it in taco soup as well!
Thank you – you rock!
So happy you like this seasoning mix, Kelly! I use it almost every day