Mexican Taco Seasoning: Simple Ingredients with Fantastic Flavors

Homemade taco seasoning is very easy to make and uses simple pantry ingredients. This recipe is flavorful and a great substitute for a commercial taco seasoning blend. Making your own seasoning blend allows you to customize adding more or less of any ingredient. Creating something that’s exactly what you like is much better than any store-brought variation that you just accept or tolerate. If you have the ingredients, you only need 5 minutes or less to make it from scratch. 😊

What is Taco Seasoning?

Taco Seasoning Ingredients

While taco seasoning’s name implies that the seasoning is used for “taco” meat, it is much more versatile. The individual ingredients in the blend are commonly found in Mexican or Tex-Mex cuisine, thus it works on or with most traditional Mexican dishes. The main ingredients are chili powder, cumin, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and oregano. For heat and flavor balance there is often red pepper flakes, black pepper, and salt.

Taco Seasoning on Your Taste Buds

The flavor profile of taco seasoning excitedly ignites the taste buds. The cumin provides earthiness and smokiness. The chili powder, paprika (if used), and peppers yield heat and smokiness. The onion and garlic powders add sweetness and a mild bitterness. The oregano contributes to the earthiness or woodiness while supplying an almost fresh, herbaceous lightness to the heat, sweet, and bitter ingredients. The salt concludes the blend by balancing out all flavors enhancing umami (what the Japanese refer to as the “essence of deliciousness” or the 5th taste bud 😉). You can imagine the dishes and simple vegetables and meat this flavor combination would enhance.

Taco Seasoning Origins

Is Taco Seasoning really from Mexico?

While taco seasoning spices are associated with Mexico, cumin (a primary ingredient) was introduced by Spanish explorers during the 16th century. In fact, from my understanding, cumin is rarely in authentic Mexican food. Cumin is actually an American addition to Tex-Mex cuisine. Americans associate it with Mexico because that’s the primary or secondary seasoning ingredient in many Tex-Mex dishes.

Taco Seasoning Started with the Chili Powder Creation

Taco seasoning, as we know it today in America, is really an American creation. However, the heat spice, like the chili powder in the blend, is Mexican. In the late 19th century, Native Texan, Germany Willie Gebhardt, was the first to grind the Mexican dried chili into chili powder. His creation began the chili powder and taco seasoning movement. What followed were many Mexican seasoning blends making “Mexican food” (Tex-Mex), accessible to Americans.

Why Bother Making Your Own Taco Seasoning?

Commercial taco seasoning blends often include preservatives and fillers that are difficult to discern from the ingredient list. By making your own, you have total control over what goes into your family’s bodies. Homemade spice blends require individual specific spices without fillers. You control the quality of each ingredient, ratio of each, and quantity of the amount for your needs and taste preferences. If you use simple ground and dried herb ingredients, you can make spice blends in under 5 minutes with no waiting, toasting, grinding, resting, ripening, or drying period; it’s that simple. The homemade version easily lasts as long as the individual spices, normally about a year.

My Taco Seasoning Inspiration

Many years ago, I used to buy the big plastic container of taco seasoning from my local warehouse store. About 10 years ago, I was planning to make a baked creamy, cheesy refried bean dip for the Super Bowl (by the way, still my favorite bean dip 😉). The recipe called for taco seasoning mixed with the refried beans. I didn’t have any on hand and although I had time to buy it, I just didn’t want another processed package in my pantry. It occurred to me that maybe I could make my own. After looking into the ingredients, I decided on a recipe. Since then, I have only made taco seasoning from scratch, and that’s what I’m sharing with you in this post. I hope you enjoy it!

Taco Seasoning Ingredients

This quick and simple recipe includes chili powder, ground cumin, paprika, salt, black pepper, dried oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper flakes.

Combine the Ingredients

In a small bowl, add all the ingredients. You’ll need 1½ tablespoons (12 grams) of chili powder, 1½ tablespoons (12 grams) of chili powder, 2¼ teaspoons (5 grams) of ground cumin, 1 teaspoon (4 grams) of paprika, 1 teaspoons (6 grams) of salt, 1 teaspoon (2 grams) of ground black pepper, ½ teaspoon (~1 gram) of dried oregano, ½ teaspoon (2 grams) of onion powder, ½ teaspoon (2 grams) of garlic powder, and ¼ teaspoon (~1 gram) of crushed red pepper flakes.

Tips on Combining the Ingredients

Rub oregano and crushed red pepper between your fingers to crush prior to adding them to the bowl. Give the mix a good stir until well combined. Be sure to use the back of a spoon to breakdown any powder lumps that might be present. You can also use a strainer and push the powder mixture through the strainer with a spoon to breakdown any lumps. For larger non-powder ingredients that won’t push through the strainer, just add them to the mixture after the rest has been strained. Taste the mixture and increase slightly any preferred spice or herb. This recipe makes ¼ cup which is enough fill a small spice jar.

Final Product!

Can you pick out any of the individual seasonings? The oregano flakes are pretty clearly defined along with large flakes of salt. The onion and garlic powders along with the white seeds from the crushed red pepper lighten the red color of the chili powder, cumin, and paprika.

Storing Suggestions

Store the taco seasoning mix in an airtight container at room temperature for up to year. Keep in mind that the seasoning mix should keep as long as the expiration dates on the individual seasoning bottles. Thus, the newer and fresher the individual seasonings, the longer the mix will keep.

TIP: Stir the mixture well before adding it to a dish, particularly after the mixture has settled.

Usage Suggestions

Use it in your favorite meat and vegetable Mexican dishes like tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, chili con carne, beans, and chili. Add it to soups, stews, and casseroles for additional flavor. Rub it on meat and vegetables before grilling or roasting. Dust it on popcorn, French fries, or sweet potato fries. Add it to sour cream, Greek yogurt, bean, or cheese dips. You can also flavor your homemade tortilla chips.

How to Substitute Commercial Taco Seasoning brand for Homemade Taco Seasoning

You can use this homemade taco seasoning in any dish where the recipe calls for taco seasoning. This recipe makes ~¼ cup (4 tablespoons). Use 1 tablespoon of homemade seasoning per 1 pound of meat or vegetables. For substitution, use 3 tablespoons of homemade seasoning for 1 package of commercial taco seasoning.

Final Thoughts

The individual components of this seasoning blend are commonly found in most pantries (at least in North America and if you cook). There is a nice mix of flavors without a lot of heat, but you could certainly add more if that’s your preference. This spice blend is a good seasoning blend that add lots of flavor to your favorite Mexican (Tex-Mex) dishes. You can simplify this seasoning blend by leaving out the red pepper flakes and black pepper along with the paprika, garlic and onion powders. Use what you have and create a blend that works for you.

Check out my short YouTube video for visuals of each step. “Mexican Taco Seasoning: Simple Ingredients with Fantastic Flavors!”

Check out some of these other seasoning recipes and those that use seasonings.

Simple Chili Powder Blend

Mexican Tortilla Chips

Jamaican Meat Pies

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