Make Your Own Taco Seasoning

Making your own taco seasoning mix at home is really simple. I've made my own taco seasoning mix for ages – it's one of the changes we made early on after one of the kiddos started having issues with red food dye. We try to eliminate as many highly processed foods as we can, without going crazy. Because seriously, some people go a little nutty over food. Y’all know someone who’s gone round the bend.

Anywho, the taco seasoning mix. This is super simple, people. And it has no weird preservatives in it.

These are the listed ingredients of the major brand taco seasoning we used to buy:

Chili pepper, salt, maltodextrin, spice, onion powder, corn starch, yellow corn flour. Contains less than 2% of: partially hydrogenated soybean oil, silicon dioxide (anticaking agent), sunflower and/or cottonseed oil, natural flavor, ethoxyquin (preservative).

Um, yeah. I don’t have a clue what most of those ingredients are – and the ones I know what they are, I’m mystified as to why they’re in it at all. Corn flour? Oil? Why??

So, I was thrilled when I did a little research and found out how easy it is to make my own seasoning. And how I can customize what I add for our own preferences. I use this mix for tacos, burritos, nachos, any type of Mexican food. I’ve used it on ground turkey, ground chicken and boneless chicken. I’m sure it would be great in any slow cooker meal.

I haven’t tried it on ground beef, since we’ve been beef free for so many years. But, if you want to use this on ground beef, I would suggest reducing the salt you add. I’ve found that ground turkey and chicken have naturally lower sodium content than beef.

After some trial and error, here’s my recipe.

Taco Seasoning Mix

12 teaspoons chili powder
10 teaspoons paprika
11 teaspoons cumin
6 teaspoons onion powder
6 teaspoons garlic granules
6 teaspoons sea salt

Combine all ingredients and store in a container with a tight fitting lid for up to 6 months. For ground turkey, we use about 1-2 TABLESPOONS per pound.

I whipped up this batch for burritos while the Hubster was cooking. That would explain the salt scattered in the photo. <sigh> Also, full disclosure? All the gorgeous pics you see on my blog? THOSE are the result of The Hubster’s amazing eye. All the so-so pics with poor lighting and composition? Yup, those are a result of yours truly. I am not a mom-with-a-camera. The Hubster? He’s the one with the amazing eye for lighting, composition, and opportunity. He’s kind of amazing. But, he was cooking last night (I *know*, right? All that and he cooks, too??), so you’re stuck with my less than stellar pics. Sorry. But the recipe is worth it!