Homemade Taco Seasoning
This easy homemade taco seasoning mix can be made in just five minutes. Keep it in the pantry for quick taco nights!
When I was a kid, McDonald’s never fazed me. I could take or leave a Happy Meal, no big deal. What I really craved was tacos. Point me in the direction of a Taco Bell and I was the happiest of campers.
Looking back on it, I don’t really understand it. No one in my immediate family has ever been a big fan of Mexican food, and kids can be tremendously picky (I, for one, was notorious for never eating a morsel of anything green and clung to my peanut butter and jelly like there was no tomorrow). So where I picked up this love for tacos is beyond me. But if I found myself at the mall with my mom and the food court presented itself, I marched straight to Taco Bell. If I was given the opportunity to choose what my mom cooked for dinner on any given night, you guessed it. Tacos.
Needless to say, back in the day taco kits were certainly the way to go for taco nights at home – shells, seasoning mix and sometimes sauce all in one box. Super easy. Heck, even up until a few years ago I wouldn’t have thought to make tacos any other way, and surely wouldn’t have thought to make my own taco seasoning! However, over time, I’ve become keenly aware of the things that I eat and where they come from. Prepackaged seasoning mixes are full of salt and preservatives, artificial flavors and colors. For example, look at this ingredient list from a popular brand of taco seasoning:
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Um, no thank you. Making my own homemade taco seasoning and knowing exactly what’s in it makes me feel much better. Whipping up your own taco seasoning mix takes less than 5 minutes and you can keep it in your pantry for the next time a taco craving hits. Use it in place of the packet to make taco beef or chicken, and easily substitute it in any recipe that calls for a taco seasoning mix (like my mom’s famous taco dip!).
So there you have it – an incredibly easy and super flavorful homemade taco seasoning that you can feel good about!
One year ago: Copycat Chipotle Chicken Recipe
Two years ago: My Favorite Guacamole Recipe
Five years ago: Mint Julep Jello Shots
Seven years ago: Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread
Eight years ago: Three Cheese Beer Bread
Homemade Taco Seasoning
Ingredients
- ¼ cup (0.03 g) + 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon + ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon + ½ teaspoon ground paprika
- 1 tablespoon + ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon + ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1¾ teaspoon (1.75 teaspoon) garlic powder
- 1¾ teaspoon (1.75 teaspoon) onion powder
- 1¾ teaspoon (1.75 teaspoon) dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients until thoroughly combined. Store in an airtight container or glass jar at room temperature for up to 1 year.
- To Make Taco Meat: Brown 1 pound of meat (ground beef or chicken) over medium heat until cooked through. Drain. Return to the stove over medium-high heat and add ⅔ cup of water and 2 tablespoons of the taco seasoning mix. Simmer, stirring frequently, until all of the liquid has evaporated.
Notes
- This amount of seasoning mix will be enough for about 8 pounds of meat.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
This recipe was originally published on May 5, 2010.
Love the flavor. It is perfect for my taste bud’s 😋. Beats all the other ones I’ve tried. This is a keeper for sure 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽.
For some reason my very organized self can’t find my taco seasoning recipe. This came up in a search, and we like it even better! A keeper for sure.
Thank you for the recipe.
As an aside, it was necessary to print the entire web page because the “Print” feature doesn’t seem to be working. (The feature has worked for other recipes on this website.
So glad to find this recipe but this was just a tad spicy for my taste. What adjustment would you to suggest? (I used cayenne pepper instead of the red pepper flakes)
Hi Teresa, I would omit or reduce the cayenne/red pepper flakes. Hope that helps!
This was amazing. We used it on ground turkey. It turned out very flavorful and tender. The added cornstarch allowed the seasonings to cling to the meat. Fantastic recipe, my family loved it.
I made your taco seasoning mix tonight because the hubby had the jones for tacos. Since I’m a huge fan of your molasses cookies I jumped into this one with both feet. Sort of. I backed off the sea salt thinking it might be too salty, but I ended up adding the whole amount. Thanks. This saved the day for taco night.
If all you people would MAKE THE RECIPE FIRST, it would be nice to know how you liked it not that your going to make it!
Sophie, Simply click on the “REVIEWS” tab at the top of the comments, and you’ll only see the actual reviews of the recipe. Easy!
I’m severely allergic to corn, do you have a suggestion for suggest for replacement? I usually use tapioca flour, but I tjink the sor is s large part of the flavor.
Hi Suzanne, You could definitely use tapioca flour; the cornstarch is in there as a thickening agent.
I am looking forward to making this Home made Taco seasoningd. After reading a comment from a lady who said she was allergic to corn. She asked about substituting Tapioca Flour. I honestly didn’t know there was such a thing lol. I’ve used Arrow Root Powder in place of Cornstarch. Much healthier in my opinion. Just wanted to share. Thanks
Delicious! We all loved it!
I ran to the store last night to buy the ingredients for tacos. Upon my arrival at home, I realized I forgot the taco seasoning. I looked on the internet and found this recipe. We loved it! I had all the ingredients in my cabinet except the paprika. We didn’t miss that. Even my husband noticed the difference in the taste and commented that it was really good and less salty. Again, we loved it!
This taco seasoning is easy to make, with seasonings I usually have on hand, including non-gmo cornstarch. It’s delicious in my taco salad, and I don’t have to worry about toxic artificial additives.
I like this better than store brands! Of course, I adjusted it just a smidge for my taste (a little less cayenne). Thanks for sharing!
Why would you make a taco seasoning from scratch (in order to omit additives) only to use a store-bought chili powder? Isn’t chili powder just a blend of seasonings that require additives to stabilize it (just like the taco seasoning would have been)? Also, chili powder contains cumin, which seems redundant since your recipe already contains cumin. Why not just list out whatever ingredients are actually needed from the chili powder so as not to use a product with its own additives? Otherwise you might as well use a store-bought taco seasoning pack as well.
Most of us know there are additives in almost every food item like this that we buy.
Mostly, I don’t like the flavor of store-bought taco seasonings, additives or not. So, I’m going to try this recipe and, if it’s good, I’ll probably keep making it bc it’ll be worth it just for the taste for me.
You are free, as we all are, to not ever make it if you don’t want to or don’t see any benefit for you. Just keep scrolling. To each his or her own.
Let’s just enjoy the sharing of recipes offered on this site…whether we make them or not.
Made slight improvisations due to missing a few ingredients, but my family and I really loved it. Now we have a salt shaker filled with it for taco nights.
I have all these ingredients in my pantry so that means I’m good to go!!!
I’m a big taco lover too but I’m thinking it’s because I’m Mexican and it’s basically a requirement ????
Love this post and definitely agree with making your own taco mix instead of using the store bought pouches ☺️
Just in the knick of time! I’ve been using a packaged mix and I noticed a change in it a couple months ago. It’s just awful and I wanted to start making my own! Thank you.
How much meat will the 2 tablespoons flavor? One pound?
Hi Danni, Yes, 1 pound, so sorry that wasn’t clear.
This is great! I worked at Taco Bell in the late 80’s. The way we made the taco meat (about 10 pounds at a time!) was to put the meat in a pan, add the seasoning mix, and then start breaking up the meat with a special meat “rake” to keep it from “meatballing”. We didn’t drain the meat or add water. Just used the juices from the meat. Taco Bell was somuch better back then.
Thank you. Good to know. I had wondered about trying that with this recipe just to test that change.
I have been making taco seasoning for a while. Recently, I started to wonder if there are any preservatives in the Penzey’s seasonings I use. I guess I better find that out.