Homemade Taco Seasoning
Homemade Taco Seasoning is SO much better than those grocery store packets, and it’s super easy to make!
If you love making beef tacos at home, you’ll love mixing up your own, personalized Taco Seasoning Mix Recipe to have on hand to make tacos, taco salads, and fajitas whenever the mood strikes, You can adjust it to your palate from mild to super spicy!
Why You Must Make
Once I can find homegrown tomatoes at my local farmers’ market, I declare it taco season. I’ve been making my own seasoning for years, just dumping in the usual suspects. Always yummy, but never measured, until today!
- Feel free to tweak it as desired: more garlic, more heat, or quadruple it so you have a stash for the rest of the summer!
- Once you have a jar in your pantry, it won’t take long to get tacos on the dinner table.
- This taco seasoning is perfect for beef tacos, but try it with chicken, shrimp or even on flank steak with a squeeze of lime for fajitas.
Ingredient Notes
- Kitchen Staples – Kosher Salt, Dried Oregano, Paprika, Garlic Powder
- Chili Powder – A classic ingredient in Tex-Mex recipes.
- Ground Cumin – A classic ingredient in Tex-Mex recipes.
- Crushed Red Pepper Flakes – Adjust the amount for more or less heat.
How to Make
- Measure out all the ingredients and place them in a mixing bowl.
- Whisk together until the ingredients are well incorporated.
- Pour into a jar with a lid and close tightly.
- Store in a cool, dry location.
- Mark the date made on the jar.
- Use within two years. The intensity of the spices will decrease over time.
Recipe Tips
- To make my ground beef tacos, start by sauteing a chopped onion and a half a diced red or green bell pepper in some olive oil till soft. Add your ground beef along with the 2 teaspoons of my homemade taco seasoning per pound of meat.
- PRO-Tip: Adjust the amount of taco seasoning to your taste when making beef, chicken or even seafood tacos. Start with a teaspoon if you’re unsure about how much to add, then taste and add more if desired.
- PRO-Tip: For less heat, decrease the amount of red pepper flakes.
- Cook and break up the beef with your spatula until the beef is cooked through. Taste for seasoning and add more of the spice mixture or salt as needed.
- Make sure to drain off any excess grease before serving this taco meat in a soft flour tortilla.
- Offer a variety of toppings including diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce and cheddar cheese. Jalapenos, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, chopped white or green onions are other topping additions to consider.
- It’s such a simple summer meal, especially since there’s no need to turn on the oven.
More Tex-Mex Recipes You’ll Love:
- This homemade taco seasoning mix would be fabulous in this gorgeous Taco Salad.
- If you are a fan of fajitas, this Fajita Seasoning from Rachel Cooks is also a winner!
- Grilled Flank Steak Fajitas
- Shredded Chicken Tacos
- Grilled Fish Tacos
- Asian Pork Tacos
- Soft Shell Salmon Tacos
- More of the Best Main Dish Recipes
Homemade Taco Seasoning
A homemade taco seasoning that can be tweaked as needed for more or less heat.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together all the spices.
- Store in a covered container at room temperature.
- Use approximately 2 teaspoons of seasoning per pound of ground beef.
Notes
Adjust the red pepper flakes to your palate. Add more if you like spicy tacos.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1 teaspoonAmount Per Serving: Calories: 7Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 392mgCarbohydrates: 1gFiber: 1gSugar: 0gProtein: 0g
25 Comments on “Homemade Taco Seasoning”
I love being able to make seasonings from scratch! I plan on attempting to incorporate this in gifts too for Christmas this year!
I found this to be the perfect mix of spices and it is so handy to have it on hand in bulk so that I can add a little or a lot. I find myself using it more often that way.
Made up a batch today! It’s so easy to make and much better tasting than the processed packets!
Making our own seasonings is such a wonderful thing. We especially like cumin, so I always add more of that to our taco seasoning. Thank you so much for the taco salad love!
Liz, I just printed your recipe. I’d love to try this. Thanks~!!
Taco season is year round with us but we don’t indulge as much as we would like to. Typically for seasoning I throw in a little bit of this and that. Instead of winging it I will try your recipe, thanks a bunch!
Definitely something to keep, Liz! xoxo
Thank you so much for this recipe, Liz. I love tacos and I buy the taco seasoning but have become increasingly concerned about the additives it contains. Wonderful to now have a recipe where I can make my own. Thanks so much! And yes, grateful to have finished clinical! Working with dementia patients with very challenging behaviours was quite wearying xx
I like to do this as well.
Great idea! I hate buying those little packets in the grocery store. They really don’t have great flavor, and you’re paying a lot of $$$ for not much taco seasoning. So much easier and tastier to develop your own blend! This looks great. Hmm, tacos for dinner? 🙂
Mexican food is my husband’s favorite so I can’t wait to try this on our next taco night! Homemade is always better 🙂
I should definitely make this taco seasoning to have on hand. My family has burritos/tacos at least twice a month and this would surely flavor things up 🙂
I love tacos and you can’t buy taco seasoning in the UK so this recipe is definitely a keeper.
Fantastic, Liz! Just reading the ingredients list, I can already tell that this will be way, way better than any off-the-shelf taco seasoning I’ve ever had. Bookmarked for our next taco night!
I’m such a fan of making your own seasoning mixes, store bought versions have so many random ingredients (and often a ton of salt). This looks delicious!
I have never event thought about making my own taco seasoning!! And I have all the ingredients. Perfect!
Alwasy better a personal spice mix, I can see this one being also used in other recipes 🙂
I never buy taco seasoning either, it’s the unpronounceable ingredients that scare me. My mix is very similar to yours but I use smoked paprika and granulated garlic (from Costco) and I add dried onion flakes (that have been granulated in my coffee gender). It’s too easy!
Such an awesome share, Liz. Love homemade seasoning but never made the one for tacos. But that needs to be change soon, will try it for sure. Thanks for this!
I want to have tacos at your house, this sounds yummy – and without all the preservatives and weird sounding stuff in the packaged taco mix.
I’ve been doing this lately, too, Liz. Soooo much better, and you can adjust the heat. Now that I know “heat” is good for me, bring it on!
Home made is always so much better. And it’s so easy! I can already think of a dozen other things to do with this little jar of gold! Happy 4th! 🙂
I used a homemade taco blend the last time I made refried beans and really liked it. Yours sounds good! Happy 4th of July-enjoy:@)
This is definitely a keeper. I think it would be fantastic for some chicken and legume too.
Thank you for the recipe, Liz. I tend towards meatless dishes but am heading to Florida soon to care for my stepmother and see my brother. Long sentence short: I need tasty, easy to make meals =)