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Friday, January 29, 2016

The Best Taco Seasoning You'll Ever Eat


I love to cook. I love food and I try hard to make our dinners as delicious as possible...and, well, there's my husband. The man who loves Mexican food but ended up marrying a German girl (with a crazy attitude and temper) who had little exposure to Mexican or Tex-Mex cooking.

Our first few “Let's try Mexican food” nights ended usually with me not liking dinner, crying over Jalapenos or starving. I just simply didn't like it when we'd try it in restaurants.

So, what changed?

I learned how to cook it myself. I experimented with spices and recipe ideas, I had a Mexican neighbor who helped explain to me the basics and taught me a trick or two. Now I love it and Mexican dishes have become a regular part of our dinner plan that we all look forward to.

As I learned to prepare meals myself, I never learned to like the store bought Taco Seasoning packets. To me it just tastes super salty and is either flavorless or the flavor is unsatisfying.  The ingredients list doesn't exactly make it more appealing either.

One day I got so annoyed with it that I spent hours over hours researching the ultimate Taco Seasoning Recipe, I pinned a ton of pins on Pinterest and wasted a ton of spices by trying them all out.

The realization of the day was that taco seasoning is basically Chili powder, Cumin, Black Pepper, Salt, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Oregano (optional) & Crushed Peppers (optional), and you somehow have to carefully balance them all to create a delicious seasoning.

What I also realized in my research was that the quality of your spices is something very, very essential for a good seasoning mix.

I need to admit that I am a real spice snoop and a lot of times I make my granny send me spices from my favorite spice store in Bamberg, Germany.  Oh the memories I have of going there and blasting all my money on pure, delicious, organic spices. (I know, I know, I am insane and should get help, working towards it lol)

But don't worry if you only have the regular McCormick seasonings or cheap store brand alternatives at home, it will still create something delicious and so much better than the seasoning pack blends.

After all that research and trial, I honestly just threw a whole bunch together and tried it. And liked it!
It just became a thing of feeling the amount of each that is needed, but for you guys I took the time and tried to measure it all out as accurately as I could :)

Here's the recipe that (hopefully) will change your life (because Tacos are Life - just ask my husband).

Taco Seasoning Mix

4 Tbsp Chili powder
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp dried Oregano
2 tsp paprika (used smoked paprika if you want a more rustic flavor)
6 tsp ground cumin
4 tsp sea salt, fine
4 tsp ground pepper (I prefer a mix of black, white and rose pepper but regular ground pepper will also do)
2 - 4 tsp crushed pepper flakes (optional, for a little spice kick)

Just mix them all up and put them in a mason jar or zip lock bag. This mix makes approximately ½ pint jar full of seasoning.

Use 2.5 Tablespoons for each packet you'd otherwise use - but one of the advantages of getting away from the packets is that you can decrease or increase the amount as you prefer.

Let me know in the comments below how you liked that recipe and if you ended up changing it a little bit to fit your taste buds!




27 comments:

  1. Thank You for the recipe because I don't like the taco packets.

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  2. I love making my own scratch mixes because I cannot eat garlic so I can omit that. I will try your mix cause we eat tacos once a week in this house. Lol! Thanks for sharing. Also, love you cute blog name.

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  3. Can't wait to try this! Thanks for sharing :)

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  4. What a great plan!! This would make taco night so much easier! Thanks for sharing on the "What's for Dinner" linky party!

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  5. I can't stand the preservatives and unidentifiable stuff in shelf foods, but had never gotten to a point with my own seasoning mix that my husband didn't tell me it had too much chili powder or cumin. Thank you, and I cannot wait to try this! Taco Tuesday just got better!

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  6. what an interesting combination of seasoning and spices - much more exciting than the packet variety. Thanks for sharing with us on our #OverTheMoon link up ~ Leanne

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  7. This sounds like an awesome alternative to that terrible store-bought stuff! Thank you for sharing on Meetup Monday!

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  8. The store bought seasoning is yucky, this will be nice to try. I normally just add in chili powder and chipolte powder when it calls for taco seasoning. I think I'll make up a batch of this tomorrow.
    Thanks for sharing!
    Blessings, Amy

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  11. Thank you! Visiting from the NO Rules blog hop.

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  12. The spices in this mix are similar to the recipe I use, but mine has a couple other interesting ingredients: cornstarch and beef bouillon powder. I haven't bought taco seasoning in years!

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  13. I was LITERALLY just looking for a homemade taco seasoning last night. PERFECT. Pinning, stumbling and tweeting this! <3

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  14. I was LITERALLY just looking for a homemade taco seasoning last night. PERFECT. Pinning, stumbling and tweeting this! <3

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  15. Great little recipe - I have a very similar one that I use myself - so inexpensive and easy, I absolutely CANNOT used the pre packed store bought seasoning anymore, too salty! Thanks for sharing, found you at Home Matters :)

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  16. Hi Patricia,
    Great homemade taco seasoning recipe that is economical and healthy - so much better than buying the store bought that has so many additives and chemicals added. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & tweeted!

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  17. This looks amazing and it is something that I have been wanting to try for awhile! Pinning for future reference. Thanks

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  18. Mmm, I love tacos - and this seasoning sound perfect plus it's so much healthier than that processed stuff!

    Thanks for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).

    Wishing you a lovely day.
    xoxo

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  19. Thank you so much for sharing with us for our 5th Anniversary of Full Plate Thursday! Hope you have a fantastic week and hope to see you again real soon!
    Miz Helen

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  20. Patricia, this is awesome. Most of the taco seasoning that we grab is too much for me and it has gluten, which I can't have. I've pinned this and will come back to it the next time we make Mexican food, this way I can use the amount we like and not have to worry about ingesting some of the crazy chemicals in the packets!! Thanks!

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  21. Yum! I’m drooling right now! Pinned and tweeted! Thank you so much for sharing this with us at our linky party. We hope to see you next Monday @ 7 because we can’t wait to see your new creations! Happy Monday! Lou Lou Girls

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  22. Your taco spice mix sounds delicious. I agree, the quality of the spices you use really is so important! Pinned. Thank you for sharing this post with us at the Hearth and Soul hop.

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  23. What a great recipe!! I will make a batch to have on hand! :-) Thanks for sharing on My 2 favorite Things on Thursday! Hope to see you again tomorrow ! Pinned!

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  24. We LOVE tacos at our house too! Your seasoning mix sounds amazing! Thanks so much for sharing with us at the Healthy Living Link Party :) We will be featuring your recipe tonight so don't forget to stop by and grab your featured button!

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  25. Thanks for sharing with the Let's Get Real party. I do not have a taco mix that I'm completely happy with, so I am going to give this one a try.

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  26. Looks great! Why buy the packet when you can make your own??

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