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Made with everyday pantry spices, this Homemade Taco Seasoning delivers bold, balanced flavor without the preservatives, fillers, or excess sodium found in many store-bought packets.
I have used this blend for years to season everything from classic taco meat to taco soup, casseroles, and roasted potatoes. It takes about 5 minutes to mix together, and because you control the ingredients, you can easily make it mild, spicy, or lower in sodium.
Why Make Your Own Taco Seasoning?
- Better flavor. This blend has the right balance of earthy, savory, and mildly spicy flavors.
- Easy to customize. Reduce the salt, leave out the red pepper flakes, or add extra heat to suit your family.
- Simple ingredients. No preservatives, fillers, added sugar, dairy, or mystery ingredients.
- Budget-friendly. Mixing pantry spices costs far less than buying individual packets repeatedly.
- Incredibly versatile. Use it for tacos, burritos, soups, casseroles, dips, potatoes, and more.
5-Star Reader Review
Yum. Making my own allows me to cut the Kosher Salt 50% for a family member's sodium restriction, still is absolutely delicious and easy to make. I sprinkle it on all kinds of things besides tacos. -- Laurie
Spices in Taco Seasoning
This taco seasoning is made with basic dried spices, but a few small choices make a noticeable difference in its flavor.
- Chili Powder: Use basic American-style chili powder, which is a mild blend of ground chiles and spices. Ancho or chipotle chile powder will make the seasoning taste stronger and potentially much hotter.
- Cumin: Adds the earthy, warm flavor that gives taco seasoning its unmistakable Tex-Mex character.
- Paprika: Use regular paprika for balanced flavor. Smoked paprika can overpower the other seasonings.
- Garlic and Onion Powder: These round out the stronger spices with savory flavor. If you dislike garlic, omit the garlic powder and slightly increase the onion powder.
- Dried Oregano: Either Mexican or Italian oregano works well in this blend.
- Red Pepper Flakes: Add a gentle kick of heat. Leave them out for a mild, family-friendly taco seasoning.
- Kosher Salt: Kosher salt distributes well and contains less sodium by volume than table salt. You can reduce or omit it as needed.
- Black Pepper: Adds subtle warmth without making the seasoning noticeably spicy.
Kristen's Tip
For the best flavor, use dried spices that are less than 6 months old. They will not spoil immediately after that, but they do begin to lose their strength.
How to Make and Store Taco Seasoning
Making homemade taco seasoning couldn't be simpler.
- Combine. Add the spices to a small bowl or jar and stir or shake until well combined.
- Use or store. Use immediately or keep in an airtight container in a cool, dark cabinet for up to 6 months.
How to Use Taco Seasoning
- Replace a Store-Bought Packet: This recipe replaces one standard packet of taco seasoning, or approximately 2 tablespoons.
- Make Tacos: Brown 1 pound of ground beef, turkey, or chicken and drain off excess grease if needed. Add one batch of taco seasoning along with water and tomato sauce to make my famous saucy taco meat. Or use it to flavor shredded chicken tacos, black bean tacos, sweet potato tacos, lentil tacos, and more!
- Make a Creamy Taco Dressing: Mix 2 tablespoons with 1 cup of sour cream and the juice of one fresh lime for a thick dressing for taco salad or southwest chicken salad. Feel free to thin with milk if desired.
- As a Seasoning: For a Tex-Mex twist, swap seasoned salt or kosher salt with homemade taco seasoning to flavor roasted red potatoes, baked fries, chicken, vegetables, homemade burgers, and more.
Make a Big Batch
If tacos appear on your menu as often as they do in my house, make a larger batch and keep it in your pantry. It takes the same amount of effort as making one batch, which is to say, almost none.
- ¼ cup chili powder
- 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
Store in an airtight jar in your pantry for up to 6 months. Use 2 tablespoons for every 1-ounce packet of taco seasoning. This larger batch yields the equivalent of about 8 packages.
Recipes Using Taco Seasoning
Taco seasoning is one of my most reached-for homemade spice blends. It is good for so much more than tacos -- although we certainly enjoy our fair share of tacos around here.
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Homemade Taco Seasoning
Video
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or ¾ teaspoon table salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, +/- to taste
- ⅛ tablespoon dried oregano
Instructions
- Add the spices to a small bowl or jar and stir or shake until well combined.
- Use immediately or keep in an airtight container in a cool, dark cabinet for up to 6 months.
Notes
- ¼ cup chili powder
- 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Good
Flavors look good. Thank you for the recipe.
Regarding using the tool for making fewer servings: The software changes the quantities, but not the units. For example, if I say I want to make 5 packets, it reduces the garlic powder to 0.06 cups, which is in fact 1 tablespoon (well, actually that would be 0.0625 cups, but the software does rounding). The software would be far more useable if it did unit conversions: just call it 1 tablespoon. This is a trivial programming problem for first year students.
Since the software does have this problem, the base recipe would be better published for fewer packets. It is easier for people to scale up in their heads than it is to deal with the (rounded) decimals.
Again, thank you for what looks like a good recipe. I prefer to try it out with smaller quantities.
Hi Tina! I am aware of this issues and have included the amounts for 1 packet in the recipe card, but thank you for the feedback 🙂
I have been doing research on the amounts of sodium in food. According to the American Heart Association, your Nutritional values need to change on this great Taco Seasoning and many other recipes. Apparently the software you use is giving off false values. But those of us who search making our own seasonings need to have the proper amounts since the salt flavoring is so good and critical to both our cooking and health. This information can be found on the AHA web site. Thank you for the delicious recipes especially for the Instapot we have come to love.
sodium in a given amount of salt:
1/4 teaspoon salt = 575 mg sodium
1/2 teaspoon salt = 1,150 mg sodium
3/4 teaspoon salt = 1,725 mg sodium
1 teaspoon salt = 2,300 mg sodium
Hi Jeanne! I absolutely agree that having accurate information is crucial for dietary purposes. The nutritional info is based on 1 taco packet seasoning. This recipe makes 20 packets using a total of 16 teaspoons of KOSHER salt or 1/3 cup). Kosher salt actually only 1800 mg vs table salt which has 2300 mg. That can really add up to make a huge difference in a recipe or in your daily diet. 1/3 cup of Kosher Salt is the equivalent to 28,800 mg which when divided by 20 (for 20 packets of seasonings) equals 1440 mg per serving (which is what the nutritional information states). I hope that helps clear up any confusion 🙂
Great bulk taco seasoning recipe and terrific reasons why taco lovers should make it!!!!!
This is delicious. Thank you for the small amount directions. I ended up making more and tossed it with some popcorn. Maybe I should have just made a bigger amount to start with after all. Lol
Next time 🙂 I am happy you enjoyed it so much Teri!
Hi Kristen!!
This is my go to now for taco seasoning it's so amazing and tastes just like store bought. The only issue I ever had was it not sticking to the meat loo ike the packets do. I now add just a little corn starch to the meat the very end to make it thicker. It's not a precise measurement each time but it works perfectly!
Thanks for sharing your cornstarch trick and the fact you enjoy the taco seasoning! 🙂
Great recipe, love having a big batch on hand! I keep making more. Thank you for sharing.
I love this taco seasoning mix. However, if I try to adjust the recipe to fewer than 20 packets, it converts it to metric measurements. I have used your DIY chili seasoning and Homemade Ranch Seasoning recipes too and when I converted them to less than 20 packets, it converted them correctly. Is there a way to fix this for the Taco Seasoning Mix?
Hi Terry! I have tested this recipe on several devices and am not having the issue of the ingredients changing to metric measurements. I submitted a help ticket though to see if it can be fixed for you! So sorry!